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June 2014: Scott was the Orioles 6th round pick, out of Howard Junior College in Texas. He signed for $650,000 instead of his slot of $240,000. He passed up a scholarship to transfer to Texas Tech, signing with O's via scout Thom Dreier.
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Just as a bit of historical supplement: In Orioles draft history, they once picked Mike Boddicker in the sixth round in 1978. They picked the immortal Mark Brown in the sixth round in 1980. More recent sixth rounders include Erik Bedard (1999), two-time World Series champion Eli Whiteside (2001), and, uh, Jason Berken (2006).
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In 2016, the Baseball America Prospect Handbook rated Scott as 11th-best prospect in the Orioles organization. He was at #10 in 2017. and they moved him up again, to #6 in 2018.
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Tanner loves fishing in his spare time.
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In 2017, Scott represented the Orioles in the All-Star Futures game. His electric heater lit up the radar gun, averaging 98.7 mph and maxing out at 100 mph.
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MLB debut (Sept. 20, 2017): Tanner got a quick introduction to the big leagues in his major league debut. Pitching in the eighth inning against Boston, he faced first baseman Sam Travis to start his inning.
Scott threw a 99 mph fastball for ball one. He threw another at 99 mph and Travis tried to check his swing. But bat met ball and it looped into right field for a base hit.
Welcome to the show, kid.
“I mean, right when Sam Travis hit that I was like, ‘Wow, that is how the first hit is going to go?’ I played against him in the fall league and knew who he was. Oh, well,” Scott said about allowing his first hit.
Scott allowed two hits, two walks, and two runs when Dustin Pedroia doubled off another 99 mph fastball with the bases loaded. It was a mixed bag for Scott in his debut. His fastball touched 100 mph, as advertised, and he averaged 98 mph on the pitch. His much-improved slider got four swings and misses in 11 pitches. (Steve Melewski -MASN)
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In 2017, Scott was invited to play in the AFL Fall Stars Game.
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2020 season: Scott happened to set career best marks in several pitching categories this season, including batting average against (.164), walks per nine innings (4.4), left on base percentage (84.7%), groundball percentage (58%) and WHIP (1.06).
In addition to decreasing his walk rate — which was 5.4 BB/9 from 2017-2019 — Scott was much more successful with keeping the ball in the park. He went from 1.1 HR/9 from 2017-2019 to 0.4 HR/9 in 2020. He also maintained his usual high strikeout rates by registering 23 Ks in 20.2 innings pitched, which came out to an average of 10 SO/9.
Scott’s numbers were also aided by a .224 BABIP and while he had a good FIP (3.48), it didn’t match his incredibly low 1.31 ERA. So it’s reasonable to expect some regression next year and a likelihood that his future stats place somewhere between his lesser 2017-2019 form and his superior 2020 figures.
But still, Scott’s development during this trying and shortened baseball season cannot be overlooked. Coming into the year, the hope and expectation was that Scott would continue to grow and mature into a more consistent reliever. He would have to cut down on the walks and show more pitch control. Yet another hope was that he would be able to handle more high-leverage situations.
By the end of the season, he had shown the ability to largely meet those expectations.
As detailed in this excellent piece by the Baltimore Sun’s Nathan Ruiz, the Orioles drastically increased Scott’s strikes thrown by switching the lefty from a knee-lift to a slide step delivery this year and “the spin rates on both [fastball and slider] have increased by about 200 revolutions per minute each, according to Statcast.”
In a Todd Karpovich article from PressBox in August, O’s manager Brandon Hyde expressed his evolving confidence in the young reliever:
When I feel like the game is in balance and could go one way or the other, whether it’s the fifth, sixth or seventh inning, and there’s a middle-of-the-order, usually a left-right-left situation, a dangerous left-handed hitter waiting, I have Tanner there ready to go. I’m going to continue to press the issue with Tanner a little bit and challenge him in spots, just because I really believe in his stuff. I know guys on the other team don’t want to see him come in a game, and so let’s see what we have.
At the time of the Richard Bleier trade back on August 1, there was even conjecture that the O’s were willing to trade away the established left-handed reliever in part because of Scott’s emergence this season. (Harrison Jozwiak - Oct 5, 2020)
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A sixth-round pick of the Orioles in 2014, Scott was traded to the Marlins in April 2022 with Cole Sulser for three minor leaguers. It was one of those stealth trades that is largely forgotten unless someone emerges like Scott has this year. Scott has made 56 appearances, posting a 2.64 ERA and 1.103 WHIP with 82 strikeouts in 58 innings. He’s been worth 2.1 WAR. His fastball is 96 to 98 mph and he has a wipeout power slider that arrives at 89-91 mph and has produced a .179 batting average against.
Skip Schumaker, manager: “Tanner Scott has been our Josh Hader. Only throw him in high-leverage, meat-of-the-order spots. Righty, lefty, doesn’t matter.” (Bowden - Aug 24, 2023 - The Athletic)
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Tattoos: Scott’s journey covering his right arm began in 2014, when the cross took 17 hours (using the passage, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me"). He has found inspiration everywhere -- from the dove honoring the grandmother he never met to the phrase “Fierce burning desire” that a neighbor always said.
All of Scott’s tattoos have been drawn by the same artist in Ohio, but he has gone seven years since expanding his collection.That will change.
“I've got to add my anniversary of getting married and my son,” Scott said. (Christina De Nicola - Feb. 29, 2024)
TRANSACTIONS
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June 2014: Scott was the Orioles 6th round pick, out of Howard Junior College in Texas. He signed for $650,000 instead of his slot of $240,000. He passed up a scholarship to transfer to Texas Tech, signing with O's via scout Thom Dreier.
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April 3, 2022: The Marlins acquired left-hander Tanner Scott and right-hander Cole Sulser from the Orioles. The Orioles received prospects Antonio Velez and Kevin Guerrero, a player to be named later, and the Marlins’ pick in Competitive Balance Round B in the 2022 draft.
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Jan 13, 2023: Tanner avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year, $2.8 million deal with the Marlins.
- July 30, 2024: The San Diego Padres acquired LHP Tanner Scott and RHP Bryan Hoeing from the Miami Marlins for LHP Robby Snelling, RHP Adam Mazur, IF/OF Graham Pauley and 2B Jay Beshears.
- Oct 31, 2024: Scott chose free agency.
Nickname: | N/A | Position: | LHP |
Home: | N/A | Team: | Free agent |
Height: | 6' 2" | Bats: | R |
Weight: | 220 | Throws: | L |
DOB: | 7/22/1994 | Agent: | N/A |
Uniform #: | 66 | ||
Birth City: | Mogadore, OH | ||
Draft: | Orioles #6 - 2014 - Out of Howard J.C. (TX) |
YR | LEA | TEAM | SAL(K) | G | IP | H | SO | BB | GS | CG | SHO | SV | W | L | OBA | ERA |
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2014 | GCL | GCL-Orioles | 10 | 23 | 21 | 23 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6.26 | ||
2015 | SAL | DELMARVA | 9 | 21 | 19 | 29 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4.29 | ||
2015 | NYP | ABERDEEN | 9 | 21.1 | 16 | 31 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3.38 | ||
2016 | EL | BOWIE | 14 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5.63 | ||
2016 | CAR | FREDERICK | 29 | 48.1 | 22 | 63 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4.47 | ||
2017 | EL | BOWIE | 24 | 69 | 45 | 87 | 46 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2.22 | ||
2017 | AL | ORIOLES | 2 | 1.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.286 | 10.80 | |
2018 | IL | NORFOLK | 10 | 12 | 10 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.75 | ||
2018 | AL | ORIOLES | 53 | 53.1 | 55 | 76 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0.263 | 5.40 | |
2019 | IL | NORFOLK | 30 | 45.1 | 35 | 57 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 2.98 | ||
2019 | AL | ORIOLES | 28 | 26.1 | 28 | 37 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.277 | 4.78 | |
2020 | AL | ORIOLES | $211.00 | 25 | 20.2 | 12 | 23 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.164 | 1.31 |
2021 | AL | ORIOLES | $580.00 | 62 | 54 | 48 | 70 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 0.234 | 5.17 |
2022 | NL | MARLINS | $1,050.00 | 67 | 62.2 | 55 | 90 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 4 | 5 | 0.236 | 4.31 |
2023 | NL | MARLINS | $2,825.00 | 74 | 78 | 53 | 104 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 0.191 | 2.31 |
2024 | NL | PADRES | 28 | 26.1 | 26 | 31 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0.257 | 2.73 | |
2024 | NL | MARLINS | 44 | 45.2 | 19 | 53 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 0.127 | 1.18 |
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Scott has some serious lefthanded heat, peaking out at 101 mph with his normally 93-100 mph FASTBALL with some arm-side run and deception out of his hand. He also has a 60 grade, 88-90 mph SLIDER.
Scouts talk about Tanner being a "one-trick pony." But what a trick! How often do you see 100 mph from a lefthander? And is slider improved in 2017, along with his mechanics. His delivery is still violent, so he will never have good command. But he is hard for hitters to square up. (Spring, 2018)
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2018 Season Pitch Usage: Four-seam 55.3% of the time and Slider 44.7% of the time. Average velocity: Four-seam fastball 97.5 mph and Slider 89.1 mph.
2019 Season Pitch Usage: Four-seam 55.7% of the time; Sinker 3%; and Slider 41.3% of the time. Average velocity: Four-seam fastball 96.3 mph, Sinker 95.6, and Slider 89.1 mph.
2020 Season Pitch Usage: Four-seam 59.9% of the time; Sinker 1.7%; and Slider 38.5% of the time. Average velocity: Four-seam fastball 97 mph, Sinker 97, and Slider 88.7 mph.
2022 Season Pitch Usage/Avg. Velo: Slider 62% - 89 mph; Fastball 38% - 97 mph.
2024 Pitch Usage/Avg. Velo: Fastball 59.4% - 97 mph; Slider 40.3% - 88.6 mph. -
Tanner worked hard with the Orioles on improving his delivery. He pitches exclusively from the stretch, simplifying his delivery.
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“His breaking ball is in the process of getting a lot better. He’s kind of feeling his way through," Bowie pitching coach Alan Mills said.
“I’ve been there. I didn’t throw that hard, but I’ve been in that situation where I couldn’t throw the ball where I wanted to. But it’s just a matter of once he gets more comfortable with his delivery, he’ll find the strike zone," Mills said, “It’s just a matter of him getting more comfortable with his delivery and getting a more consistent release point.” (Spring, 2017)
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Scott has excellent command.
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His game needs more polish, but he is very coachable. You could see him becoming more of a pitcher in 2016. He is more consistent within his delivery, throwing strikes.
“Guys who throw that hard, and who get near the strike zone, the hitters have to swing,” Orioles farm director Brian Graham said in 2016. “But they don’t know exactly where it’s coming when it’s 95-100 (mph). Tanner’s now throwing in the strike zone, using both sides of the plate and throwing his slider for strikes.”
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Scott's ceiling is as a late-inning, lefthanded reliever.
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2017 season: The 2017 Futures Game selection was back in the Fall League for the third straight year, this time with a taste of the big leagues under his belt. The 23-year-old southpaw was rewarded with a mid-September callup after an impressive Double-A campaign in which he posted a 2.22 ERA with a .188 batting average against and 87 strikeouts over 69 innings (24 starts). He appeared in two games out of the Orioles' bullpen down the stretch, allowing two runs in one inning in his big league debut against Boston.
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How Scott developed his slider:
“I started working on a slider when I first got into pro ball. Before that I was curveball. But it wasn’t really a curveball; it just spun," he said. When I was starting in Double-A, and doing three innings at a time, is when I really developed my slider. That’s when I really got the feel for it.
"The grip I use is one that Alan Mills taught me. It’s very basic. My middle finger is a little off the seam. It’s on it so that I can feel it, but not on top of it. I’ve also learned to manipulate my slider. It’s about my release point with my fingers, how I finish the pitch. I can make it breaks two ways. One has more depth and the other is more side to side.
“I guess I do (have a high spin rate on my slider), but I don’t like to look at numbers. I try not to get all analytical. This is a numbers game, yeah. And the numbers do show, but I don’t even like looking back at the radar gun to see how hard the pitch was. When I was younger, I’d throw a pitch and look, but over time you learn that whatever number, you can’t get mad about it. If you see a number you don’t like and try to throw harder … there’s no point to that. Same with my slider. I just need to throw it like I know I can throw it.” (David Laurila-FANGRAPHS-Feb. 2019)
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2020 Season: It was his best season with the Orioles. He had a 1.31 ERA in 25 games, allowing only one home run in 20 2/3 innings. Control has always been the biggest issue for the 27-year-old left-hander. In 2020, he averaged a career-low 4.4 walks per nine innings.
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2021 Season: Scott pitched well in the first half of 2021 with a 3-3 record and 2.78 ERA. In the second half, he had a 9.82 ERA in 22 games and was on the injured list twice because of a sprained left knee. He didn’t pitch after allowing six runs and retiring one batter on September 11 against Toronto. For the year, Scott was 5-4 with a 5.17 ERA in 62 games. (Rich Dubroff - JAN 18, 2022)
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2022 Season: Timeline
April 3: acquired from Orioles in four-player trade
April 23: records first Marlins save
June: settles in as Marlins’ regular closer
Early September: removed from closer’s role
Scott was heavily used this season. He led the Marlins in relief appearances (67), games finished (35) and saves (20). With the club’s playoff chances hanging by a thread in early July, he pitched nine times in a span of 14 days. He was miscast as a top bullpen arm because the Marlins were reluctant to invest what was required to get reliable veterans to deploy in the later innings.
At first glance, Scott’s appeal seemed pretty simple: upper-90s fastball velocity with a 2,500 rpm spin rate from the left side is difficult to find. But in April, he leaned on his slider 79.5% of the time, by far the highest single-month breaking ball usage rate of his MLB career. From Opening Day through May 2, the slider was his primary weapon in every outing. He gradually backed away from that extreme, and by September, he was doing a 50/50 mix of fastballs and sliders.
No qualified reliever in the majors walked opponents more frequently than Scott (15.9 BB%). You could understand the multiple free passes he issued to star righties Ronald Acuña Jr., Pete Alonso and Mike Trout, but there were plenty of head-scratching ones to non-threatening batters like Riley Adams, Matt Duffy, and Michael Pérez.
Walks were prevalent regardless of whether Scott pitched at home or on the road, at day or night, against lefties or righties, with no rest or ample rest, to Jacob Stallings or Nick Fortes. The majority of his walks came on low, glove-side misses that did not look like strikes for long enough to entice chases out of the zone. (Ely Sussman@RealEly - Nov 25, 2022)
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2023 Season: Timeline January 13: Agreed to one-year, $2.825 million contract to avoid salary arbitration
March 10: Spring training debut
September 4: Unofficially named Marlins new closer
September 26-28: Paternity leave; son Bo Alexander Scott born on 9/26 (7 lbs, 13.9 oz)September 30: 12th and final save to clinches Marlins postseason berth
October 4: threw scoreless inning in postseason debut
The name “Tanner Scott” has certainly left an indelible mark in the minds of Marlins fans and others across the baseball world after his success in 2023. The penultimate moment was the final out against the Pirates on September 30 to send the Marlins to their first full-season postseason appearance in 20 years.
But the jubilance of that moment wasn’t a happy accident. Scott put in the work. He continually evolved into the kind of pitching talent the Marlins sorely needed amidst an unexpectedly topsy-turvy season.
The end of the previous season left Scott with a career-best 20 saves and an apparent hunger for more of the same in 2023. In March, he had this to say to MLB’s Christina De Nicola:
“As a reliever, you live for the leverage situations, and I had the opportunity to do it last year, and it’d be great to do it again this year and just keep building off it,” Scott said. “Definitely my first time doing that. There was a lot of ups and downs. You rather have more ups, but if you don’t have any downs, you don’t learn. So that’s the biggest thing I could take away from that.”
The comparison of Scott’s pitching line in the first 81 Marlins games of the season versus the second 81 games can be summed up pretty simply. With an almost identical BF (batters faced) and IP (innings pitched) in each half, every stat improved with the exception of HBP marginally increasing in the second half.
For those of us who still get a kick out of more traditional stats, of note is his ERA moving down from 3.32 to 1.35, his walks going down 50% from the first half to the second half, and the opposing batting average dropping a full 20 points. His K’s stayed consistent across each half and he only gave up 3 HR’s total during the course of the season.
The numbers highlight substantial improvement. The resulting confidence clearly allowed Scott’s performance to blossom even when the pressure and expectations ramped up.
The Marlins still sought bullpen reinforcements as the trade deadline approached. Although they had superb lefties in Scott and Andrew Nardi, manager Skip Schumaker didn’t have trustworthy right-handers to turn to. The acquisition of Mets pitcher David Robertson, veteran major leaguer and one of the few glimmers of hope in Queens through the first half, was supposed to remedy that.
However, Robertson’s presence proved to be a frustration rather than a boon. The logical second-string closer at the time was Tanner Scott. He had a 2.55 ERA when NBC Sports assumed he was the de facto closer for the Marlins in the wake of Robertson’s rocky start with the Fish.
Scott didn’t simply meet the challenge head on: he outpaced most reasonable expectations of success. In a September full of contending teams to face, the Marlins’ flashy confidence, and the drama of back-and-forth NL Wild Card standings, Scott helped blaze a path to the postseason. His personal success was highlighted when MLB recognized Scott’s sensational performance when he was named NL Reliever of the Month for September. (LAURA GEORGIA - NOVEMBER 5, 2023)
Scott emerged as Miami's closer during the second half of last season. The lefty had a 2.31 ERA in 74 appearances and averaged 96.8 mph with his fastball.
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2024 Season: The first-time All-Star had one of the best regular seasons of his MLB career so far in 2024, owning a combined 9-6 record with a 1.75 ERA, an 84:36 K/BB ratio, and 22 saves between the Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres.
Over the last two seasons, Scott has been MLB's most valuable reliever
. He leads all of his peers in fWAR (4.5), bWAR (7.6) and win probability added (8.17) since the start of 2023. He has even tacked on 5 ⅓ innings of scoreless postseason performance. The bearded lefty offers an awesome combination of swing-and-miss stuff, suppression of hard contact and durability.
- Tanner needs to improve at holding runners on base. And he doesn't field his position very well. (Spring, 2017)
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July 29-Aug 18, 2017: Scott was on the DL.
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Aug 1-11, 2021: Scott was on the IL with a left knee sprain.
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Sept 14-Oct 5, 2021: Scott was on the IL with a left knee sprain.
- July 28, 2023: Scott, who was late to cover first base when Yuli Gurriel made a diving stop in the eighth inning of Miami's 6-5 win over Detroit, tried leaping towards first base and jammed his leg. He didn't throw a warmup pitch before walking off on his own power. Scott exited the game with a mild right calf strain.