Dave Eiland

Dave Eiland
Kansas City Royals
Pitcher / Coach
Born: July 5, 1966 (1966-07-05) (age 45) Dade City, Florida
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
August 3, 1988 for the New York Yankees
Last MLB appearance
September 10, 2000 for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Career statistics
Win–loss record	12–27
Earned run average	5.74
Strikeouts	153
Teams
New York Yankees (1988–1991) San Diego Padres (1992–1993) New York Yankees (1995) Tampa Bay Devil Rays (1998–2000)
Career highlights and awards
World Series champion (2009)

David William Eiland (born July 5, 1966) is a former American professional baseball player who was a pitcher for ten Major League Baseball seasons. Eiland played college baseball for the University of Florida and the University of South Florida, and thereafter, played professionally for the New York Yankees, San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He is currently the pitching coach of the Kansas City Royals.

Early years

Eiland was born in Dade City, Florida.

College career

Eiland accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for the Florida Gators baseball team. He later transferred to the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, and finished his collegiate career playing for the South Florida Bulls baseball team.

Professional career

The New York Yankees selected him in the 7th round of the 1987 amateur draft and made his major league pitching debut with the Yankees in August, 1988. Used mainly in spot chances, Dave played in New York for 4 seasons, winning only 5 games. He was traded to the Padres in 1992 and did not win a game in 2 seasons despite starting in 9 games. Dave was sent back to the Yankees in 1995 and played for the expansion Devil Rays for 3 seasons before retiring in 2000. Dave played for 10 seasons, won 12, lost 27 with an ERA of 5.74.

During his time with the Devil Rays, Dave Eiland acted as a body double for Kevin Costner, who played a starting pitcher, in the 1999 film For Love of the Game.^[1]

Eiland was named International League Pitcher of the Year in 1990 while playing for the Columbus Clippers with a 16-5 record and a 2.87 ERA. Eiland is the only player in Major League Baseball history to give up a home run to the first batter he ever faced, (Paul Molitor), and hit a home run in his very first at-bat.

Coaching career

After retiring in 2000, Eiland joined the Yankees organization and worked as a pitching coach in the minor leagues. He coached the Gulf Coast Yankees in 2003, the Staten Island Yankees in 2004, the Trenton Thunder in 2005 and 2006, and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in 2007. During his tenure in the Yankees farm system, Eiland oversaw the development of prospects including Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy.

Eiland replaced Ron Guidry as the Yankees pitching coach in 2008.^[2] It was speculated that his relationships with many of the young pitchers contributed to him being chosen as the new pitching coach for the Yankees.^{[citation needed]} He took a personal leave of absence from the Yankees beginning on June 4, 2010, and returned to the team on June 29. "Besides being in my home, this is the most comfortable place in the world for me," he said upon returning. "This is what I do; this is what I have a passion for."^[3] During this time, Yankees pitcher A. J. Burnett lost six games. Burnett and baseball analysts attributed it to Eiland's absence.^{[citation needed]} Eiland was fired on October 25,2010.^[4]

After the 2010 season, Eiland joined the Tampa Bay Rays in an advisory role.^[5]

On October 25, 2011, Eiland was named as the pitching coach for the Kansas City Royals.^[6]

References

1. ^ August 30, 1999 - The Hot Corner - SI.com
2. ^ Baumbach, Jim; Davidoff, Ken (2007-10-31). "Girardi's putting coach staff in place". Newsday. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-33325626_ITM. Retrieved 2009-08-23. 
3. ^ http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100629&content_id=11723392&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy
4. ^ http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101025&content_id=15826828&vkey=news_nyy&c_id=nyy
5. ^ http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101222&content_id=16358090&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
6. ^ http://royals.mlblogs.com/2011/10/25/royals-name-dave-eiland-as-the-major-league-pitching-coach/

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube

Persondata
Name	Eiland, Dave
Alternative names	Eiland, David William; Eiland, David W.
Short description	American college baseball player, Major League Baseball player, pitcher, coach
Date of birth	July 5, 1966
Place of birth	Dade City, Florida, United States
Date of death
Place of death