Win-loss record 8-9 Role Baseball player Name John Rheinecker | Strikeouts 68 Earned run average 5.65 | |
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John Philip Rheinecker (May 29, 1979 – July 18, 2017) was a Major League Baseball pitcher.
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High school years
Rheinecker attended Gibault Catholic High School in Waterloo, Illinois, and was a letterman in baseball. He grew up in Hecker, Illinois and first starred at the Hecker Dome. In baseball, as a senior, he batted .438 and as a pitcher, posted a 7-11 record and a 2.49 ERA.
College and professional career
Prior to playing professional baseball, Rheinecker attended Belleville Area Community College and Southwest Missouri State. He was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in 2001.
After signing with the A's, Rheinecker spent the next four seasons in the organization's farm system. On March 31, 2006, Oakland traded him (along with infielder Freddie Bynum) to the Texas Rangers for pitcher Juan Dominguez.
A southpaw starting pitcher, Rheinecker made his major league debut April 22, 2006, in a game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. On his 27th birthday (May 29, 2006, which was also Memorial Day), Rheinecker made his second start for the Rangers, pitching 8 1⁄3 shutout innings and earning his first major league win. For most of the 2006 season, he was shuttled back and forth between the Rangers and their Triple-A affiliate, the Oklahoma RedHawks.
During the April 27–30, 2007, four game series at Toronto, Rheinecker forgot his passport, and thus could not play in the games.
Rheinecker was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) and underwent surgery to remove a rib to alleviate the symptoms. Arthroscopic shoulder surgery was performed on May 24, 2008, to clean up the shoulder joint. This caused him to miss the entire 2008 season other than two minor league rehab starts. He became a free agent at the end of the season.
Death
On July 18, 2017, Rheinecker committed suicide. His family said he had been suffering from depression.