John Stephens (baseball player)
Encyclopedia
John M. Stephens is a former professional baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 player. He pitched part of the season for the Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...

. He last pitched in for the Reading Phillies
Reading Phillies
The Reading Phillies are a minor league baseball team based in Reading, Pennsylvania, playing in the Eastern Division of the Eastern League. Since the 1967 season, they have been the AA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies....

. He also pitched for several years with the Australian national team, winning an Olympic silver medal in 2004. Stephens was a right-handed pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

 with a listed height of 6'1" and a listed weight of 204 pounds.

Professional career

Stephens signed with the Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...

 as an amateur free agent on 3 July 1996. He was regarded as a top international prospect, but while fielding a bunt during a game in 1998, he sustained a neck injury which resulted in nerve damage to his shoulder. The injury sapped most of the velocity from his fastball
Fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch in baseball. Some "power pitchers," such as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, have thrown it at speeds of 95–106 mph and up to 108.1 mph , relying purely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit...

, leaving him with a top speed between 82 and 86 miles per hour. By relying more heavily on his curveball
Curveball
The curveball is a type of pitch in baseball thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball causing it to dive in a downward path as it approaches the plate. Its close relatives are the slider and the slurve. The "curve" of the ball varies from pitcher to...

 and focusing on throwing strikes, Stephens was able to overcome this obstacle and re-establish himself as a prospect. His 217 strikeout
Strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....

s with the Delmarva Shorebirds
Delmarva Shorebirds
The Delmarva Shorebirds are a minor league baseball team based in Salisbury, Maryland. They are one of three Single-A affiliates of the Baltimore Orioles and a member of the South Atlantic League. The Shorebirds play at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.The "Shorebirds" name refers to the marine waterfowl...

 in 1999 were the highest total in the entire minor leagues. He also set a Delmarva record by striking out 17 batters in a 5 June game against Charleston, and at the end of the year the Orioles honored him with the Jim Palmer
Jim Palmer
James Alvin "Jim" Palmer , nicknamed "Cakes", is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played his entire 20-year baseball career for the Baltimore Orioles . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in .As of 2008, Palmer and his wife Susan have homes in Palm Beach, Florida, and...

 Prize, an award given annually to the best pitcher in Baltimore's farm system.

Stephens was even more dominant in 2001. Playing for the Bowie Baysox
Bowie Baysox
The Bowie Baysox are a minor league baseball team located in Bowie, Maryland. They are the class-AA affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, and play in the Eastern League...

, he was named the Eastern League
Eastern League (U.S. baseball)
The Eastern League is a minor league baseball league which operates primarily in the northeastern United States, although it has had a team in Ohio since 1989. The Eastern League has played at the AA level since 1963. The league was founded in 1923 as the New York-Pennsylvania League...

 Pitcher of the Year and Eastern League Player of the Month for June. He also made the league's All-Star team, pitching an inning of scoreless relief during the game. His 1.84 ERA led the league, he compiled a streak of 33 consecutive scoreless innings, and on 31 July he pitched a seven-inning no-hitter
No-hitter
A no-hitter is a baseball game in which one team has no hits. In Major League Baseball, the team must be without hits during the entire game, and the game must be at least nine innings. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter"...

 against the Harrisburg Senators
Harrisburg Senators
The Harrisburg Senators are a minor league baseball team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals....

. At the end of the season, the Orioles awarded him the Palmer Prize for the second time.

Stephens started the 2002 season with the class AAA Rochester Red Wings
Rochester Red Wings
The Rochester Red Wings are a minor league baseball team based in Rochester, New York. The team plays in the International League and is the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins major-league club. The Red Wings play in Frontier Field, located in downtown Rochester.The Red Wings were an...

. Continued success brought him a spot on the World roster for the All-Star Futures Game
All-Star Futures Game
The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game between a team of top minor league prospects from the United States and a team of prospects from other parts of the World...

, and on 30 July 2002, he made his major league debut with the Orioles, starting a game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Stephens spent the remainder of the season in the Orioles' rotation, finishing the year with two wins, five losses, and a 6.09 ERA
Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...

 in 65 innings pitched
Innings pitched
In baseball, innings pitched are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning pitched. One out counts as one-third of an inning, and two...

. He maintained a strong strikeout rate after his promotion to the majors, but his performance was damaged by the 13 home runs he allowed. His performance may have been affected by complications related to a broken foot, which was not properly diagnosed until August. At the end of the year, the Orioles awarded him the Palmer Prize for the third time in four years.

Stephens struggled during spring training
Spring training
In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...

 in 2003, and he was optioned back to Rochester after he failed to make the Orioles' 25-man roster. He went to camp with Baltimore again the next year, and on 8 April the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

 claimed him on waivers and optioned him to Pawtucket. He pitched for Pawtucket in 2004, was cut by the Red Sox during spring training in 2005, then bounced between three AAA teams during the 2005 season. He returned to the Orioles system as a minor league free agent
Free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....

 in 2006, but was released at midseason, before signing with the Phillies.

Amateur competition

As an Australian, Stephens has been called upon to represent his nation in several international competitions. He pitched for Australia during the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

, in which Australia won a silver medal
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

, its first for baseball in Olympic history. He was also a member of the Australian team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic
2006 World Baseball Classic
---------Pool B:-------------Pool C:-------------Pool D:-------------Pool 1:-----------------Pool 2:-------------Finals:-Semifinals:-Final:-Final standings:...

.

External links

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