Richard Bleier

Richard Bleier

Richard Sidney Bleier (born April 16, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). In high school, he was a State of Florida All Star in 2005. In his junior year of college at Florida Gulf Coast University, he was selected unanimously as the Atlantic Sun Conference Pitcher of the Year and First Team All Sun Conference. The Texas Rangers selected Bleier in the sixth round of the 2008 Major League Baseball draft. In 2009, his 125 strikeouts were the second-most in the Rangers' minor league system, and he gave up the fewest walks-per-9 innings in the California League. Bleier signed with the Washington Nationals organization before the 2015 season, pitched for the Harrisburg Senators that year, and had the most wins (14) and the lowest ERA (2.57) of all minor league pitchers in the Nationals minor league system. He was a 2015 post-season Class AA Eastern League All Star, and was voted a Washington organization All Star by MiLB.com. Bleier debuted in the majors in 2016 for the New York Yankees, following nine minor league seasons in which he pitched 956 innings, and he was one of 12 Yankees pitchers since 1919 to make his debut after turning 29 years old. In 23 relief appearances in 2016 he had a 1.96 ERA. In February 2017 the Yankees traded Bleier to the Baltimore Orioles. In 57 relief appearances in 2017, he had a 1.99 ERA. In 31 relief appearances in 2018, he had a 1.93 ERA. His 1.97 ERA for the seasons 2016–18 was the second-lowest in major league baseball, of all pitchers with 100 or more innings pitched. Used as both a starting pitcher and a relief pitcher in his career, the left-hander throws a fastball that hits the low 90s, a changeup, a curveball, and a slider. His approach is to "pitch to contact," and use excellent control.

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