Brandon Finnegan

Brandon Kyle Finnegan (born April 14, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Cincinnati Reds organization. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals and the Cincinnati Reds.

Brandon Finnegan
Finnegan with the Cincinnati Reds.
Cincinnati Reds
Pitcher
Born: (1993-04-14) April 14, 1993
Fort Worth, Texas
Bats: Left Throws: Left
MLB debut
September 6, 2014, for the Kansas City Royals
MLB statistics
(through 2018 season)
Win–loss record16–18
Earned run average4.11
Strikeouts230
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Prior to his professional career, Finnegan attended Texas Christian University (TCU) and played college baseball for the TCU Horned Frogs baseball team. He was drafted by the Royals in the first round of the 2014 MLB Draft, and made his MLB debut that season. The Royals traded Finnegan to the Reds during the 2015 season.

Amateur career

Finnegan attended Southwest High School in Fort Worth, Texas. He was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 45th round of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign and attended Texas Christian University (TCU).[1]

As a freshman in 2012, he pitched in 23 games with 11 starts. He finished the season 4–5 with a 3.47 earned run average (ERA) with 56 strikeouts in ​62 1⁄3 innings. As a sophomore in 2013 he pitched in 16 games with 15 starts, going 0–8 but with a 3.18 ERA and 86 strikeouts in ​79 1⁄3 innings. After the 2013 season, he briefly played collegiate summer baseball with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League,[2] and also pitched for the United States collegiate national team.[3][4] After not winning a game during his sophomore season, he earned a victory in his first start of his junior season in 2014.[5] During the season, he missed a few starts due to a minor injury.[6][7] He finished the year 9–3 with a 2.04 ERA and 134 strikeouts in ​105 2⁄3 innings.

Professional career

Kansas City Royals
Finnegan with the Royals

Finnegan was considered a top prospect for the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft.[8] The Kansas City Royals selected Finnegan in the first round, 17th overall, of the draft.[9] He signed with the team on June 28.[10]

Finnegan was called up to the majors for the first time on September 1, 2014 becoming the first player from the 2014 Draft to be promoted to the majors.[11] He made his major league debut on September 6 against the New York Yankees. He struck out Jacoby Ellsbury for his first Major League strikeout. He earned his first major league hold on September 22 by pitching a scoreless seventh inning against the Cleveland Indians. He made his MLB postseason debut in the American League Wild Card game vs the Oakland Athletics on September 30, 2014. He pitched ​2 1⁄3 innings, allowing one earned run while striking out three in the extra innings victory.

On October 3, 2014, in the second game of the 2014 American League Division Series, Finnegan came in relief and picked up the 4–1 win, becoming the youngest relief pitcher in Royals postseason history to log a win.[12] Finnegan became the first player to play in a College World Series and an MLB World Series in the same year when he took the mound in the seventh inning of Game 3 of the 2014 World Series against the San Francisco Giants.[13] Finnegan took the loss in Game 4, allowing five runs in one inning of work.[14]

In 2015, Finnegan began the season with the Omaha Storm Chasers of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, working as a starting pitcher.[15] During the season, the Royals promoted him to the major leagues, shifting him between the starting rotation and bullpen.[16]

Cincinnati Reds

On July 26, 2015, Finnegan was traded to the Cincinnati Reds, along with John Lamb and Cody Reed, for Johnny Cueto and cash considerations.[17] Although Finnegan was traded from the 2015 World Series Champion Kansas City Royals, Finnegan was awarded a World Series ring for his contributions before the trade. After the trade, he pitched for the Louisville Bats of the Class AAA International League as a starting pitcher and was promoted to the Reds on September 1 as a relief pitcher.[16]

Finnegan began the 2016 season pitching out of the rotation for Cincinnati, opening as the team's second starter behind Raisel Iglesias due to a plethora of injuries. In 5 starts in April, Finnegan went 1–1 with a 3.86 ERA, striking out 23 and walking 15 in 28 innings. In 6 starts in May, Finnegan went 0–3 with a 4.37 ERA, striking out 21 and walking 16 in 35 innings. However, in one of his losses, Finnegan threw a complete 8 innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers, giving up one run and losing to Clayton Kershaw's two-hit shutout.[18] He finished the 2016 season with a 10-11 record and a 3.98 ERA in 31 starts.

Finnegan began the 2017 season in the Reds rotation, but on April 15, he was placed on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. On June 26, he was activated off the disabled list. However, on June 27, in his first start back off the disabled list against the St. Louis Cardinals, he re-injured his shoulder and had to leave the game. He was put back on the DL the next day.[19] He finished the year with 4 starts and was 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA in 13 innings. He was designated for assignment on March 28, 2019.[20] On April 2, 2019, he cleared waivers and was outrighted off the 40 man roster.[21]

gollark: Anyway, have you not noticed how all the documentation and design of potatOS was written *after* all the code?
gollark: You could just say that. It would probably be clearer.
gollark: Most of these things are in the Apiaristics Division building, not dedicated complexes, but still.
gollark: We have to manufacture messiahs *somewhere* and it's really rather hard without a centralized facility.
gollark: It *may* also have been retroactively self-causing.

References
  1. "Rangers draft 3 area high school products". ESPN. June 8, 2011.
  2. "Major League Baseball Players From the Cape Cod League" (PDF). capecodbaseball.org. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  3. Stevenson, Stefan (July 26, 2013). "TCU's Brandon Finnegan leaves 0-fer behind with Team USA". Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
  4. Kavner, Rowan (April 29, 2013). "TCU pitcher Brandon Finnegan invited to USA Baseball Collegiate National Team". The Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  5. Fitt, Aaron (February 18, 2014). "TCU's Finnegan changes his luck, wins opener". USABaseball.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  6. Mayo, Jonathan (April 29, 2014). "Finnegan on path back from injury". MLB.com.
  7. Callis, Jim. "TCU's Finnegan impresses in return to mound". MLB.com.
  8. "2014 Top 100 Draft Prospects List". Baseball America. May 14, 2014.
  9. Kaegel, Dick (June 6, 2014). "Royals draft TCU lefty Finnegan with first pick". MLB.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  10. Alexander, Jackson (June 28, 2014). "Royals sign their top Draft selection Finnegan". MLB.com. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  11. Grathoff, Pete (September 1, 2014). "Less than three months after being drafted, Brandon Finnegan is in a Royals uniform". The Kansas City Star.
  12. Cassavell, AJ (October 4, 2014). "Royals trust Shields to send them to ALCS". MLB.com. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  13. Calcaterra, Craig (October 20, 2014). "Brandon Finnegan to be the first player to play in two World Series in one year". Hardball Talk. NBC Sports. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  14. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN201410250.shtml
  15. "Royals". Kansas City Star. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  16. "Cincinnati Reds' plans in tune with Louisville Bats pitcher Brandon Finnegan". The Courier-Journal. September 7, 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  17. Sheldon, Mark (July 26, 2015). "Royals finalize deal for ace Cueto with Reds". MLB.com. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  18. Buchanan, Zach (May 24, 2016). "Kershaw outduels Finnegan in Reds' 8th straight loss". Cincinnati Enquirer.
  19. http://redsminorleagues.com/2017/06/26/brandon-finnegan-injured-whos-next/
  20. https://www.redreporter.com/2019/3/28/18285800/cincinnati-reds-claim-jose-lopez-brandon-finnegan-dfa
  21. Cincinnati Reds (April 2, 2019). "Brandon Finnegan has cleared waivers and been outrighted to the minor leagues". Twitter.
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