Scott Christopher Proctor (born January 2, 1977) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 2004 and 2011 for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Atlanta Braves. In 2012, he played for the Doosan Bears of the KBO League.
Baseball career
Amateur career
Proctor was drafted in the 17th round of the 1995 Major League Baseball draft by the New York Mets out of Martin County High School, but decided to attend Florida State University, where he played for the Florida State Seminoles baseball team under head coach Mike Martin. He was 10–2 in 60 career games for Florida State. In 1996, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod Baseball League, returned to the league in 1997 and 1998 to play with the Hyannis Mets, and was named a league all-star in 1997.
Minor leagues
In 1998, Proctor was drafted in the fifth round by the Los Angeles Dodgers and assigned to the Yakima Bears to start his professional career. He played for the Vero Beach Dodgers (2000–2001), Jacksonville Suns (2001–2003) and Las Vegas 51s (2003).
New York Yankees
On July 31, 2003, Proctor was traded to the New York Yankees with Bubba Crosby for Robin Ventura. The Yankees assigned him to the Triple-A Columbus Clippers. Proctor made his Major League Baseball debut for the Yankees on April 20, 2004 against the Chicago White Sox, working innings in relief and allowing 2 earned runs.
Throughout the course of his first season, he appeared in 26 games, pitched 25 innings, finished 12 games, and posted a 2–1 record and a 5.40 ERA with 21 strikeouts. He finished the 2005 season with a 6.04 ERA and a 1–0 record.
In 2006, Proctor emerged as a durable, reliable late-inning option for manager Joe Torre. Finally harnessing his breaking pitches, Proctor led the American League with 83 appearances, often pitching more than one inning or in consecutive games. Proctor notched his first career save in 2006. Along with Kyle Farnsworth and Brian Bruney, Proctor was a part of the Yankees' bridge between the starters and closer Mariano Rivera, and reprised that role for the first part of the 2007 season.
Proctor's heavy use as a Yankee reliever led to concerns that Torre was overusing him. General manager Brian Cashman revealed in 2011 that he confronted Torre about Proctor's workload and asked the pitcher to be more honest about whether he could pitch on a given day: "I met with Proctor and said, 'You better stop telling the manager [that you can pitch] because the way he manages' — I'm not criticizing Joe, that's just the way he is — 'He wants an honest answer. Just tell him no.
Proctor pitched in 5 postseason games for the Yankees: two against Los Angeles and three against Detroit. In six innings, he struck out two and gave up just one run.
Los Angeles Dodgers
On July 31, 2007, Proctor was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for infielder Wilson Betemit. He was mostly used as a late inning setup man. He finished the 2007 season with an impressive 3–0 record and a 3.38 ERA in 31 relief appearances for the Dodgers.
He had a rough 2008 season and spent most of it on the Disabled List. However, he pitched much better in the month of September, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers win the National League West Division title. He finished the season with a 2–0 record, but a high ERA of 6.05 in just 41 games. He became a free agent at the end of the season.
Florida Marlins
In January 2009, he signed a one-year contract with the Florida Marlins worth $750,000, with an additional $250,000 in incentives. During Spring training, he was placed on the disabled list with elbow pain. When the pain remained, and ligament fraying was found, he underwent Tommy John surgery on May 12, 2009, and missed the entire 2009 season. On October 9, 2009, Proctor was released by the Marlins.
Atlanta Braves
On November 4, 2009 Proctor's agent, Mark Rodgers, released that Proctor had signed a split contract with the Braves and received an invitation to Spring training. He spent 2010 pitching for the Double-A Mississippi Braves and Triple-A Gwinnett Braves. As of August 14, he had compiled a 7.82 ERA in 31 appearances between the 2 teams.
On March 27, 2011 after pitching with a 5.06 ERA in ten appearances in the 2011 Atlanta Braves Spring training camp, Proctor was released from the Braves' organization. Had he remained on the Braves' roster the following day, his $750,000 salary would have been paid in full. Instead, the Braves merely had to pay him a fraction of his salary.