Matt Harrington

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Matt Harrington (born February 1, 1982) is a baseball player who holds the record for the most times being chosen in the Major League Baseball amateur draft. Between 2000 and 2004, Harrington, a top prospect coming out of high school, was chosen in all five drafts, but never signed a contract despite receiving offers of up to $4 million. He slipped further down the draft board each year, and today is considered a long-shot to ever reach the major leagues.

[edit] Major League Baseball Draft History

2000 Major League Baseball Draft, first round with the 7th overall pick by the Rockies

A right-hander with a 95+ mph fastball, Harrington was considered one of the top pitching prospects in the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft. He was selected by the Colorado Rockies with the 7th overall pick. However, Harrington and his agent Tommy Tanzer were never able to come to terms on a contract. Tanzer asked for a $4.95 million signing bonus, which was 25 percent more than what the previous year's No. 1 pick Josh Hamilton had received. The negotiations proved acrimonious, with Tanzer accusing the Rockies of backing out of an alleged pre-draft agreement to sign for his stated asking price, and the Rockies denying that such an agreement ever took place.

The Rockies' final offer was $4 million and a guaranteed major league callup by the end of 2002. Harrington turned down the deal, sat out the season and re-entered the draft in 2001. While Harrington and his parents publicly supported their agent at the time, they ultimately fired Tanzer and filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against him for giving bad advice. Tanzer was replaced with super-agent Scott Boras, who vowed to get Harrington to the point where his market value to his high school form. However he too proved unsuccessful getting Harrington signed.

2001 Major League Baseball Draft, second round with the 58th overall pick by the Padres.

In the 2001 Draft, Harrington slipped into the second round, being drafted by the San Diego Padres with the 58th overall pick. The Padres offered him a $1.2 million signing bonus. Boras, who wanted twice that amount, rejected the offer and Harrington again declined to sign. He played in the independent leagues during the following season, putting up unimpressive numbers for St. Paul of the Northern League and Long Beach of the now-defunct Western Baseball League, going a combined 2-6 with a 6.75 ERA. He was released by Long Beach's manager Steve Yeager. Although the Padres were still free to make additional contract offers until the day of the 2002 draft, they chose not to after scouting Harrington in independent ball that May. They felt Harrington's skills had diminished, and notified him that they were not interested in signing him to a contract, and would not be drafting him again.

2002 Major League Baseball Draft, 13th round with the 374th overall pick by the Devil Rays.

Despite his struggles in the independent leagues, Harrington was drafted again in 2002. This time, he was taken by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 13th round. Again, he failed to agree to a contract. Tampa Bay's offers ranged in the $5,000-$200,000 range, standard 13th round money.

2003 Major League Baseball Draft, 24th round with the 711th overall pick by the Reds.

In 2003, he fell to the 24th round of the draft (711th overall), before he was selected by the Cincinnati Reds, who were just offering little more than a chance to play.

2004 Major League Baseball Draft, 36th round with the 1,089th overall pick by the Yankees.

In 2004, he would be drafted by the New York Yankees in the 36th Round (1,089 overall), who didn't even bother to offer him a contract.

[edit] Professional career

For the past four years, Harrington has pitched for the Fort Worth Cats of the independent American Association. He has pitched well with the Cats, mostly as a middle reliever. He posted a 5-0 record during the 2005 season, and followed that up with a 6-1 mark and a 2.90 ERA in 2006. During the latter season, he increased his strikeout rate dramatically, and allowed just 6.7 hits per nine innings pitched. The improvement was credited to Harrington being in better shape and regaining considerable velocity on his fastball.

Because none of the 30 major league teams selected him after 50 rounds in the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft, Harrington became a free agent. This allowed him to sign a professional contract with any club in organized baseball, on whatever terms he can obtain. Harrington's improvement caused some major league clubs to again have interest in signing him. On October 10, 2006, he signed a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs. He received no signing bonus, but attended the Cubs' 2007 spring training camp with the hope of landing a position on a Cubs minor league team; however, the Cubs released him on March 27, 2007.[1]

Independent Minor League Totals - 5 Season(s):
Pitching