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Brian Schlitter
Tenures: 2017 with the Seibu Lions, 2019 with the Oakland Athletics
Statistics with Lions: 64 games, (1-5), 63.2 IP, 2.83 ERA, 1.366 WHIP, 3.3 K/9
Statistics with Oakland: Six games, (0-0), 9.2 IP, 3.72 FIP, 1.655 WHIP, 5.6 K/9
Born an raised in the Chicago area, Schlitter was originally drafted in the 34th round out of high school by the Los Angeles Angels in 2005, but didn't. After college, he was taken by the Philadelphia Phillies in 16th round.
Schlitter made it to High-A ball until he was traded to the Chicago Cubs organization in a waiver deal for Scott Eyre in 2008. He made his MLB debut in 2010 with seven games at the top level.
With the Cubs undergoing a rebuild through Theo Epstein, Schlitter was part of the inherited players in the organization and he eventually saw significant MLB time in 2014 due to several trades and dumping of players. He saw 61 games with a 4.15 ERA and 2-3 record that year. He regressed in 2015 and fell out of favor leaving the organization after the year ended.
He spent 2016 in the Colorado Rockies organization, only appearing with the Albuquerque Isotopes in AAA. The Seibu Lions signed him in the fall of 2016 as their first import signing and he even attended fall camp in Miyazaki before 2017 even started.
The Lions used Schlitter as the sandwich 8th inning setup man as part of a 7-8-9 relief combination of Kazuhisa Makita in the 7th and Tatsushi Masuda in the 9th. He did well with a low ERA under 3.00, but his strikeout ratio was once below 3.0 K/9 at one point.
By August, the league started to figure him out with his dependence on a fastball and began fouling off many pitches, being a recipe for disaster as a pitch to contact reliever. In one game against the Rakuten Eagles in Sendai, he gave up a four run lead which included a bird/rain delay and it resulted in a tie.
This foreshadowing of collapse in the last two months continued and the Lions called his name one last time in the Climax Series against that same Eagles team. In a one run situation and a winner-take-all Game 3, Schlitter gave up two home runs, including one to a reserve player hitting well-under .250 to put the game out of reach. He only allowed one home run in the regular season and doubled it in less than one postseason inning.
After spending 2018 with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in AAA with Oklahoma City, he signed a minor league contract with the A's for 2019. Due to injuries, he was called up and appeared in six MLB games, with five of them in low leverage situations. In his only meaningful outing, he was a 12th inning pitcher in an extra inning game where previous pitcher Blake Treinen already allowed the go-ahead run.
After not appearing in 2020 due to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Schlitter saw a handful of minor league games at the AAA level with the A's in Las Vegas for 2021 before they let him go in May. Schlitter will be remembered by A's fans as the pitcher kept for 2020 instead of Kyle Finnegan, who ended up with the Washington Nationals.
In 2021, Schlitter most played within the Seattle Mariners organization in AAA Tacoma, but never appeared in MLB since 2019.
For 2022, Schlitter signed with the Guerreros de Oaxaca of the LMB Mexican League. In 13 games, he had a 3–2 record with an 8.49 ERA and 6 strikeouts in 11.2 innings. Schlitter was released in June of that season.
In July of 2022, he signed with the Chicago Dogs from the American Association of Professional Baseball, an independent league and remained with them in a bullpen role through 2023.
In October 2023, Schlitter was drafted 38th overall to the new Baseball United League in the Middle East and South Asia. He will play for the Mumbai Wolves in 2024.
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