Anthony DeSclafani

Amateur career

DeSclafani grew up in Howell Township, New Jersey and attended Colts Neck High School in Colts Neck Township, New Jersey.

The Boston Red Sox selected DeSclafani in the 22nd round of the 2008 Major League Baseball draft. Rather than accept a signing bonus of about $600,000, he enrolled at the University of Florida, where he played college baseball for the Florida Gators baseball team.

Draft and Minor Leagues

The Toronto Blue Jays selected DeSclafani in the sixth round of the 2011 MLB Draft. In 2012, he pitched for the Lansing Lugnuts of the Class A Midwest League. After the 2012 season, the Blue Jays traded DeSclafani, Adeiny Hechavarria, Henderson Álvarez, Yunel Escobar, Jeff Mathis, Justin Nicolino, and Jake Marisnick to the Miami Marlins, receiving Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, José Reyes, John Buck, and Emilio Bonifacio in exchange. DeSclafani pitched for the Jupiter Hammerheads of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League and the Jacksonville Suns of the Class AA Southern League in 2013. He pitched to a 9-6 win–loss record and a 2.65 earned run average across both levels. The Marlins named him their minor league pitcher of the year after the season.

Miami Marlins

DeSclafani began the 2014 season with Jacksonville. The Marlins promoted him to the major leagues to make his debut on May 14 with a win against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. deSclafani struck out 7 and also had two hits in the game. DeSclafani was optioned back to the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs on August 16, 2014, with the return of Henderson Alvarez. During a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on September 11, 2014, DeSclafani was ejected for the first time in his MLB career after intentionally hitting Carlos Gómez with a pitch. The next day, DeSclafani was suspended 3 games and fined an undisclosed amount by the MLB.

Cincinnati Reds

On December 11, 2014, the Marlins traded DeSclafani and Chad Wallach to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for Mat Latos. DeSclafani earned his first win as a Reds pitcher and, subsequently, the first win for a starting pitcher for the Reds in 2015 with a 3-2 win over the Cubs on April 14, 2015. He pitched in 31 starts for the Reds, finishing with a record of 9-13. The following season, he pitched just in 20 starts after a few stints on the disabled list, he went 9-5. In 2017, he experienced pain in his right elbow at the beginning of spring training and was immediately shut down and placed on the disabled list to start the season. He began a minor league rehab assignment at the end of July but experience a setback and was placed on the 60 day disabled list at the beginning of August, effectively ending his season without appearing in a MLB game.