50Australian Relief Pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith competing for Arizona Diamondbacks in MLB.
His first major professional break was signing with the Seattle Mariners on November 19, 2000, reportedly becoming the first player from Newcastle to sign a professional baseball contract. His MLB breakthrough followed on June 22, 2007, when he debuted for Seattle against Cincinnati and struck out Ken Griffey Jr. as the first batter he faced in the majors.
MLB regular-season career: 121 games, 47 starts, 12 wins, 17 losses, 2 saves, 4.57 ERA, 370.0 innings, 229 strikeouts and 1.42 WHIP. His strongest MLB season by ERA was 2008, when he went 5-3 with a 3.42 ERA for Seattle. Internationally, he went 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA for Australia at the 2004 Olympics, according to Baseball-Reference’s historical account. His major international honour was an Olympic silver medal with Australia in 2004.
His MLB debut for the Seattle Mariners on June 22, 2007, included striking out Ken Griffey Jr. as the first batter he faced. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, he helped Australia reach the baseball gold-medal game and pitched three scoreless innings in relief against Cuba in the final, although Australia lost and received silver medals. He also pitched for Arizona during the 2014 regular-season series in Sydney, a notable home-country MLB event.