Mike Scott would spend several years at Tidewater honing his craft posting an 8-4,
3.18 in 1979 and a 13-7, 2.96 in 1980. He struggled at the Major League level
however and after two years was sent to Houston for PH Danny Heep. There, he learned
from pitching coach Roger Craig how to throw a split-finger fastball and
with that, his career took off. Scott would become one of the best pitchers in
the game and in fair play... would come back to nearly eliminate the Mets from
the Playoffs of 1986... almost missing their conquest of the Red Sox for the World
Championship. Scott also become one of the few players in the game to ever
throw a no-hitter and strike out 300 in the same season. In 1985 after learning
the split fingered fastball, Scott went from a 5-11, 4.68 pitcher in 1984 to
an 18-8, 3.29 pitcher the following season. In 1986, Scott would lead the Majors
in ERA with his 18-10, 2.22 record as well as leading the Majors in strikeouts
with 306 K's earning the Cy Young Award... the first ever by a Met Park alumni.
He nearly won another in 1989 when he posted a 20-10, 3.10 record for the Astros
coming in 2nd in voting coming in behind Mark Davis' 4-3-44 Sv, 1.85 performance
in a rare "closer over starter" overturn. Scott however soon found that
the thing that made him great would also be his undoing as the split finger fastball
caused career ending injuries. Today the pitch is discouraged despite its
potency due to the string of other injured careers that soon followed Mike Scott.
Scott's 3x All-Star career led to his #33 jersey to be retired by the Astros.
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