Todd Ritchie

{{Short description|American baseball player (born 1971)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

| name = Todd Ritchie

| image =

| position = Pitcher

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1971|11|7}}

| birth_place = Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S.

| death_date =

| bats = Right

| throws = Right

|debutleague = MLB

| debutdate = April 3

| debutyear = 1997

| debutteam = Minnesota Twins

|finalleague = MLB

| finaldate = September 30

| finalyear = 2004

| finalteam = Tampa Bay Devil Rays

|statleague = MLB

| stat1label = Win–loss record

| stat1value = 43–54

| stat2label = Earned run average

| stat2value = 4.71

| stat3label = Strikeouts

| stat3value = 516

| teams =

| highlights =

}}

Todd Everett Ritchie (born November 7, 1971) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played in the major leagues from {{mlby|1997}}-{{mlby|2004}}.

Ritchie was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (12th overall) of the 1990 Major League Baseball draft and made his major league debut on April 3, 1997. He pitched in 57 games for the Twins in 1997 and {{Baseball year|1998}}.

On October 3, {{mlby|1998}}, the Twins released him, and he signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates on December 22. Ritchie was used as a starting pitcher by the Pirates and in {{mlby|1999}}, he won a career-high 15 games. He was their Opening Day starter in {{mlby|2001}}, on in which he went 11-15; on July 13 of that year, in a scoreless game against the Kansas City Royals at PNC Park, he had a no-hitter broken up with one out in the ninth by a Luis Alicea single. The Pirates won the game in the bottom of the ninth as Aramis Ramírez singled in Brian Giles with the winning run.{{cite web | title=Kansas City Royals vs Pittsburgh Pirates Box Score: July 13, 2001 | website=Baseball-Reference.com | date=13 July 2001 | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT200107130.shtml | access-date=7 August 2023}}

After the 2001 season, on December 13, Ritchie was traded to the Chicago White Sox along with Lee Evans for Kip Wells, Sean Lowe, and Josh Fogg. He struggled in {{mlby|2002}} though, losing 15 games with a 6.06 ERA, and becoming a free agent after the season. On January 14, {{mlby|2003}}, he signed with the Milwaukee Brewers, but missed nearly the entire season with an injury. Ritchie signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for 2004, but spent most of the season in the minors. He signed with the Pirates for the {{Baseball year|2005}} season, but retired from baseball during spring training. He came out of retirement in {{Baseball year|2008}}, signing a contract with the Colorado Rockies. Assigned to Single-A Modesto, Ritchie had a 3.18 ERA in 4 appearances before being promoted to Double-A Tulsa on June 25. In his one appearance for Tulsa, he gave up 8 earned runs in 5.2 innings and retired again.

References

{{reflist}}