Matt Harrington
| Matt Harrington | |||
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| Pitcher | |||
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Born: February 1, 1982 West Valley, California |
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Matt Harrington (born February 1, 1982) is a retired professional baseball pitcher and a former first round pick in Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft. Harrington was selected in the MLB draft five times in consecutive years, without coming to an agreement with his selecting team on any of the five occasions - the only such baseball player to have been drafted so many times without signing a contract.
Harrington attended Palmdale High School in Palmdale, California, where he played for the school's baseball team. In Harrington's senior season, he posted a 0.54 earned run average (ERA) and an 11-0 win–loss record, including one no-hitter, with 126 strikeouts in only 65 innings pitched. His starts received significant hype, leading Pete Rose and George Brett to attend his games.
Baseball America named Harrington their High School Player of the Year in 2000. USA Today also named him their high school Player of the Year that season, He was chosen to participate in the 1999 Goodwill Games. He was offered a full baseball scholarship to attend Arizona State University.
Harrington was regarded as one of the top talents available in the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft, and he chose agent Tommy Tanzer as his representative. Several of the teams at the top of the draft were scared off by Tanzer's bonus demands for Harrington, and ultimately the Colorado Rockies selected Harrington with the seventh overall pick in the draft. However, Harrington and Tanzer were never able to come to terms on a contract with the Rockies. 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.
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