Patrick John Neshek (pronounced NEE-shehk; born September 4, 1980), is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros, Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies. The Twins selected him in the sixth round of the 2002 MLB draft, out of Butler University. Neshek made his MLB debut for the Twins in , and played for them until (except for , which he missed due to Tommy John surgery). He was selected to his first All-Star Game in 2014, and his second in .
Probably best known for an unorthodox pitching delivery, Neshek's arm motion slots about sidearm, with an explosive release point, which developed after a baseball struck his forearm in high school. Right-handed batters have difficulty tracking the path of his pitches, resulting in a .193 batting average, .243 on-base percentage, and a .311 slugging percentage against Neshek, in 1,143 career plate appearances, through .
Early career
Neshek was born in Madison, Wisconsin. At Park Center Senior High School in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, he was named to the All-State team.
At Butler University, located in Indianapolis, he was a finance major and a three-year letter winner. In 2001, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League. In his junior year, his win–loss record was 4–6 but he posted a 3.08 earned run average (ERA) and 94 strikeouts (SO) in innings pitched (IP). He holds school strikeout records for a single game (18 vs. Detroit, April 15, 2001), single season (118, 2001), and career (280). He ultimately became the third Butler pitcher to make the major leagues, after Oral Hildebrand and Doug Jones. In 2018, Neshek was inducted into the Butler Athletics Hall of Fame.
The Minnesota Twins originally selected Neshek in the 45th round (1,337th overall) of the 1999 MLB draft, but he did not sign and went on to Butler. The Twins again later drafted him in the sixth round (182nd overall) of the 2002 MLB draft. He signed with the Twins that year for a $132,500 signing bonus, and was assigned to the Twins' rookie farm team. He then spent four years in the minor leagues. During the 2005 season, he led all minor league Twins players in saves. In 2006, Neshek was 6–2 with 14 saves and a 1.95 ERA in 33 relief appearances for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. He was International League Pitcher of the Week on July 2, mid-season All Star, post-season All Star, Baseball America Triple-A All Star, and MiLB.com Triple-A Relief Pitcher of the Year. He has pitched innings in 302 career minor league games with 464 strikeouts, a 31–19 record and a 2.58 ERA.
Major League career
Minnesota Twins
Neshek made his MLB debut on July 7, 2006, pitched two innings and allowed just one hit. On July 30, he earned his first major league career win against the Detroit Tigers after pitching one-third of an inning. Neshek appeared in 32 games in his rookie year, accumulating 37 innings pitched, a 4–2 record, six home runs allowed, but just 23 hits and 53 strikeouts with a 2.19 ERA. Those rates were 5.6 hits per nine innings allowed (H/9) and 12.5 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (K/9).
Neshek began the 2007 season 2–0 with a 2.25 ERA in 12 relief appearances. In May, he gave up only six hits in innings pitched, had 18 strikeouts and posted a very impressive 0.66 ERA. He was chosen as one of five candidates for the final online fan vote for the All-Star game along with Jeremy Bonderman, Kelvim Escobar, Roy Halladay, and Hideki Okajima. The spot went to Okajima despite a campaign by Twin fans and national sports blogs to "Pitch in for Pat". Neshek finished third in the voting.
Neshek suffered his first loss of the season against the New York Yankees on July 5, but then won three games in 14 days improving his record to 6–1. He posted a 3.97 ERA during the month of July, and regressed to a 5.06 ERA in August. On September 20, the Twins shut him down for the season because of shoulder/elbow fatigue. Neshek ended the season at 7–2, appearing in 74 games (fifth in the American League) with 74 strikeouts and pitching a total of innings with a 2.94 ERA. He was honored at the annual Twins' diamond ceremony with the 2007 Dick Siebert Award.