Win–loss record 8–4 Role Baseball Player Name Tom Carroll | Strikeouts 51 Earned run average 4.16 | |
Thomas Michael Carroll (born November 5, 1952 in Oriskany, New York) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds.
The Reds selected Carroll in the sixth round of the June 1970 Major League Baseball draft out of North Allegheny High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at age 17. At 18, Carroll went 18–5 with a 2.39 earned run average and 148 strikeouts with the Florida State League's Tampa Tarpons. He was also a part-time student studying political science and foreign affairs at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
Carroll tossed a no-hitter to improve his career minor league record to 51–33 with a 3.38 ERA when he received his first call to the majors. He made his major league debut on July 7, 1974 at Riverfront Stadium. Facing Bob Forsch (who was also making his major league debut) in the first game of a doubleheader with the St. Louis Cardinals, he held the Cardinals to just two hits over seven innings while striking out six. Following an August 11 victory over the New York Mets, Carroll's record stood at 4–0. However, he lost his final three decisions of the year, and ended the season 4–3 with a 3.68 ERA.
He began the 1975 season with the AAA Indianapolis Indians, but got a call to the majors when Reds starter Don Gullett fractured his left thumb. He made the most of this opportunity, going 4–1 with a 4.98 ERA in place of Gullett. Though he did not participate in the Big Red Machine's 1975 World Series victory over the Boston Red Sox, he was voted a three-quarter share by his teammates.
He spent all of the 1976 season with Indianapolis, going 9–15 with a 5.38 ERA. Following the season, the Reds traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jim Sadowski. He was then taken from the Pirates in the 1976 Rule V draft by the Montreal Expos. He remained in Montreal's farm system until arm problems ended his career in 1977. He attempted a comeback with the independent Alexandria Dukes of the Carolina League in 1980, but was unsuccessful.
Carroll is currently a chief analyst with the Center for Integrated Intelligence Systems at the MITRE Corporation.
Career stats
A poor hitter, even for a pitcher, Carroll struck out twenty times in forty career at-bats. One of his four career singles came on July 17, 1974 against Bob Gibson as Gibson stood with 2999 career strikeouts. The next batter, César Gerónimo, ended up being Gibson's three thousandth career strikeout.