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In high school, Roark led Wilmington High in Illinois to two state championships, in 2003 and 2005. And he was named MVP of both of those tournaments.
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On his 2003 high school football team, Tanner led the team to a class 3A state runner-up finish as quarterback and free safety.
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Tanner went to the University of Illinois and majored in sports management. Roark was a second-team all-Big Ten Conference performer as an Illinois sophomore before leaving the team for academic reasons.
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During the offseason before 2013 Spring Training, Tanner went 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA in six starts for Margarita in the Venezuelan Winter League.
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Muhammad Ali is his favorite athlete, because he always stood up for what he believed in.
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Although Roark is one of the talented pitchers on the Nationals, a few years ago it seemed doubtful he would ever have a big league career. He was with Triple-A Syracuse and having his worst season of his professional career. Roark was blaming everybody but himself. He would get upset over the littlest things. If there were a couple of bloop hits, for example, Roark would get upset.
It seems hard to believe Roark had that attitude with Syracuse because as a member of the Nationals he is shy and humble around the local media. He always talks about his family in Illinois. But then Roark had a heart-to-heart talk with assistant general manager Doug Harris, then-manager Tony Beasley and then-pitching coach Greg Booker. The trio told Roark to start thinking about making each pitch and not worry about anything else. Roark can't control what happens behind him. You might as well not worry about it.
"I was being selfish, I guess," Roark admitted. "Little things would happen—bloop hits. I would be getting it in my own head and saying, 'Why is he getting on?' I was trying really hard. We all sat down, it was an emotional meeting. We talked it through. I never went through anything like that before. It was good for me. That's what turned my career around—the mental aspect of the game."
Said Harris, "It was about his understanding who he was, what he needed to do to be successful. Tanner did a terrific job, taking and applying [what we said]. He was in a funk. He really did a nice job battling his way out of it. He really found himself."
The talk even helped Roark change his life off the field. "I'm not letting little petty things get to me," Roark said.
Roark worked hard during the off-season of 2012 and had his best season in 2013. That made him a candidate for the Nationals' rotation this year, and he was on the Opening Day roster after teammate Doug Fister suffered a strained lat before the start of the regular season. Now, Roark is an integral part of the rotation.
"He has a terrific understanding of who he is and what he needs to do to be successful," Harris said. "That was probably the biggest thing that got him over the hump. He finally began to trust who he was and that he was capable of getting people out with his stuff." (Ladson - mlb.com - 5/1/2014)
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Tanner is not like most other pitchers. After winning his first start of the 2015 season at Wrigley Field, he was a bit taken aback when it was suggested he might have reacted negatively to the move to put him in the bullpen. Roark wouldn't even concede that he took the mound with something to prove.
"No," he said. "I go out there and I try to do my job—when it's in the bullpen or when it's starting. I'm not worried about strikeouts. I'm worried about getting outs, getting quick outs so we can get back in the dugout and swing the bats and get runs. That's all I worry about. That's my mentality."
Roark's teammates certainly appreciate how he has handled the situation, which was brought on by the free-agent signing of Max Scherzer in the offseason to top a quality starting staff. "You have to tip your cap to him," center fielder Denard Span said. "When we signed Max, Tanner was the odd man out. On 29 other teams, he would be in their starting rotation. He's done whatever the team has asked of him. He's closed a game, he's set up a game, he's been in long relief, and today he came up huge for us with a big start."
Whatever the team needs. "I started all last year, so just get back to that same mentality," he said. "Prepare the way I usually prepare and work hard before my next start and be ready to go by game time."
That's one thing manager Matt Williams says he never has to worry about: Roark will be ready when called upon. "It just doesn't matter to him what the role is," the manager said. "He's anxious to get the ball whenever we can give it to him. It doesn't matter if it's one inning or five innings." (Jackson - mlb.com - 5/25/2015)
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Tanner and his wife had their second child, baby girl Kennedy Grey. (Emert - mlb.com - 6/21/2015)
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January 2017: Roark committed to play for Team USA in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
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March 24, 2017: Tanner has played in the postseason, and he said the atmosphere in the World Baseball Classic matched that intensity. Roark returned to Nationals camp fresh off Team USA's championship run in the Classic and raved about his experiences. He pointed specifically to their matchup against the Dominican Republic in Miami, which will go down as one of the best games in the history of the Classic, as one of the experiences he enjoyed the most.
"I think the game in Miami was by far the loudest game I've ever been a part of," Roark said. "And coming in with a runner on first, it was absolutely insane. It was the loudest. And the dome was open. I can imagine if it was closed, how much louder it was with drums and horns. Every pitch . . . it was crazy."
Roark did get considerable in-game action considering he got the start for Team USA in the championship round game against Japan. But the Nats capped him at 50 pitches, which he turned into four efficient, scoreless innings, after he had not faced live hitters in the nine days leading up to that start. And even though he struggled in his 1 1/3 innings against the Dominican Republic, Roark credits that experience for teaching him how to stay calm during big moments.
"I think the Dominican game helped me relax a lot more, too," Roark said. "Just to breathe. If you don't breathe, you die. It's crazy, but it's true if you think about it. If you get up there and you don't breathe normally, you can't focus. You can't do all the right stuff. That's what helped out." (J Collier - MLB.com - March 25, 2017)
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June 1, 2018: When the weather warms up, it means it's time to go outside and play—as Tanner Roark and his 8-year-old daughter, Madison did. Tanner's backyard baseball game with his daughter was slapstick comedy gold. Their game of choice, unsurprisingly, was a two-person game of baseball ... and it's clear Madison's a ringer. MLB.com's Jamal Collier pointed out that Roark was showing this video around the Washington clubhouse, as he's clearly pretty proud of the highlight clip. Just a textbook swing by young Madison, who, you may recall, visited her dad at his job and wrote up the Nats' lineup card a couple years back:
Roark not fielding his position cleanly is an outlier as far as his skills on the mound are concerned. After all, he's known much more for this sort of thing than what transpired in his backyard with Madison. But then again, she just made some really good contact. The summer months are for making memories, and the Roarks certainly did with this backyard baseball game. (A Garro - MLB.com - June 1, 2018)
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September 16, 2018: Roark's wife Amanda gave birth to their third child and first son, Eli.
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December 12, 2018: The Reds and Nationals pulled off a deal of righthanders, with starter Tanner Roark heading to Cincinnati in exchange for reliever Tanner Rainey. If you're like most people, you probably heard about this deal and wondered (either to yourself or aloud, whichever is your style) if this was the first Tanner-for-Tanner trade in MLB history. Turns out, that's exactly the case.
Five players with the first name of Tanner have played in the majors in MLB history, and two of them were just traded for each other. Roark and Rainey comprise 40 percent of the five Tanners to appear at the MLB level in league history. The others—Tanner Scheppers, Tanner Scott and Tanner Anderson are the other three—have not been traded for each other, so this is a big deal. (A Garro - MLB.com - December 12, 2018)
TRANSACTIONS
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March 2008: Roark signed with independent Southern Illinois of the Frontier League.
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June 2008: He signed with the Rangers after they chose him in the 25th round of the draft, out of the University of Illinois.
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July 30, 2010: The Nationals sent 2B Cristian Guzman and cash to the Rangers, acquiring Roark.
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January 13, 2017: Tanner and the Nats avoided arbitration, agreeing on a one-year, $4.3 million contract.
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January 12, 2018: Tanner and the Nationals avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $6.5 million.
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December 12, 2018: The Nats traded Roark to the Reds for RHP Tanner Rainey.
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January 11, 2019: Roark and the Reds avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year deal for $10 million.
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July 31, 2019: The Reds traded Roark to the A's.
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October 31, 2019: Tanner chose free agency.
- December 11, 2019: The Blue Jays and Tanner agreed to a two-year deal for $24 million.