Scott Alexander (baseball)

Scott Alain Alexander (born July 10, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, and Colorado Rockies. Alexander played college baseball for Pepperdine University and Sonoma State University. He was selected by the Royals in the sixth round of the 2010 MLB draft, and made his MLB debut in 2015 with them.

Alexander played Little League Baseball and attended Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, California, where he was named the North Bay League player of the year as a senior. He set the school records for strikeouts in a season and a career, and led them to the league championship in 2007.

He was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 37th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball draft but did not sign, and instead attended to play college baseball for the Pepperdine Waves. He was selected to the all-West Coast Conference Freshman team in 2008 when he had a 7–4 win–loss record with a 4.95 earned run average (ERA) and struck out 106 batters. He was 4–5 with a 4.11 ERA as a sophomore, when he was used as both a starter and a reliever. Between his two seasons at Pepperdine he played for the La Crosse Loggers of the Northwoods League. After the 2009 season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Despite describing his time at Pepperdine as a "great experience," he chose to transfer to Sonoma State University for his junior season in order to be closer to home and his ill grandmother. With the Seawolves, he was 3–6 with a 4.50 ERA in 13 starts with 70 strikeouts and was named the fourth-best prospect in NCAA Division II by PGCrosschecker.com.

The Kansas City Royals selected Alexander in the sixth round of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft, and he signed with the team on June 11 for a $130,000 signing bonus. He made his professional debut that season with the Idaho Falls Chukars of the Pioneer Baseball League, where he was 1–6 with a 5.73 ERA in 12 games (11 starts). He subsequently missed the entire 2011 season due to left shoulder surgery, and returned in 2012 to pitch in 10 games (six starts) for the Kane County Cougars of the Midwest League where he had a 2.55 ERA.

Alexander moved between three levels in the Royals farm system in 2013, with five games for the Lexington Legends of the South Atlantic League, 12 for the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Carolina League, and 24 for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals of the Texas League. Overall, he was 5–1 with a 3.00 ERA and appeared exclusively out of the bullpen. He did not allow a home run all season, and had the second-most innings pitched in the minor leagues (75) without a homer.

In 2015 he pitched in 35 games for the Naturals and 11 for the Omaha Storm Chasers of the Pacific Coast League. He finished 2–4 with a 4.52 ERA in 672⁄3 innings. He pitched for the Gigantes del Cibao of the Dominican Winter League after the season and then returned to Omaha for 2015, where he was 2–3 with a 2.56 ERA in 631⁄3 innings over 41 games. The Royals selected him as their Triple-A Pitcher of the Year.

Alexander was called up to the majors for the first time on September 1, 2015, and he made his MLB debut the following day against the Detroit Tigers. He pitched a scoreless ninth inning, retiring two batters on groundouts and then striking out Nicholas Castellanos to end the game. He pitched in six innings over four games for the Royals that season, allowing three runs on five hits with three strikeouts.