| Scott Radinsky | |
|---|---|
 Radinsky as Cleveland Indians pitching coach, 2009 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: (1968-03-03)March 3, 1968 (age 57) Glendale, California, U.S. | |
Batted: Left Threw: Left | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 9, 1990, for the Chicago White Sox | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 5, 2001, for the Cleveland Indians | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 42–25 |
| Earned run average | 3.44 |
| Strikeouts | 358 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
As player
As coach | |
Scott David Radinsky (born March 3, 1968) is an Americanleft-handed formerrelief pitcher inMajor League Baseball, who had an 11-year career from1990–1993 and1995–2001. Radinsky is also the lead singer of thepunk rock bandPulley, former lead singer of the bandsScared Straight andTen Foot Pole and co-owner of the skate park which houses the Skateboarding Hall of Fame.
Radinsky finished his playing career with a 42–25 record, a 3.44ERA, and 358strikeouts in481+2⁄3 innings pitched. Radinsky also only gave up 33home runs throughout his career, an average of 1 every 14.5 innings. He won the 1995Tony Conigliaro Award.
Radinsky was born inGlendale, California, later lived inSimi Valley, California. His parents were Marshall L. Radinsky (fromWest Virginia) and Barbara (Kornetsky) Radinsky (fromBoston).[1] His mother is Jewish but Radinsky himself does not identify as Jewish .[2][3] Radinsky married wife Darlenys (Cardenas) Radinsky (fromCaracas, Venezuela) on June 7, 1992. Radinsky's wife is the sister-in-law of former teammate and major league shortstopOzzie Guillen. They have three children: daughter Shylene Margarita (born February 27, 1997), daughter Raychel Marie (born May 16, 2000), and son Scott Sebastian (born October 22, 2002). Radinsky currently resides inThousand Oaks, California.
He graduated fromSimi Valley High School, for whom he playedbaseball, in Simi Valley, in 1986.[2][1] In his senior year in high school, he was 14-1 with an ERA of 0.72, and had 180 strikeouts in 100.1 innings.[1]
Radinsky was drafted by theChicago White Sox at the age of 18 in the third round in1986 out of Simi Valley High School.[4][1]
Radinsky pitched in the minor leagues from 1986–1989, and parts of later years. In 1989, he had 31saves, a 1.75 ERA, and averaged 5.7hits allowed and 12.1 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched as he was voted aMidwest League All Star.[1]
He made his major league debut for the White Sox on April 9, 1990, retiring the one batter he faced (Greg Brock of theMilwaukee Brewers) on a pop up to short. He was the first pitcher in six years—sinceDwight Gooden—to go straight from Single A to the Major Leagues.[2] He picked up the win with1+1⁄3 innings of relief the following day. He was unconventional; he blasted punk music in the clubhouse, rode his bicycle to and fromComiskey Park, was a fan favorite, and was known as his teammates as "Rad."[1] He told a sportswriter: " I love the five minutes I'm actually in the game. Those five minutes are why I come to the ballpark and put up with the writers, the dress code, the team meetings, the authority of the dugout, the major corporation that is baseball."[1]In 1990, he posted a record of 6–1 with four saves in his rookie season.[5]
From that point through 1993, he was a fixture in aWhite Soxbullpen that also included hardthrowingBobby Thigpen andRoberto Hernández.
In 1991, Radinsky enjoyed his finest year with the White Sox, going 5–5 with 8 saves and a 2.02 ERA. He was 10th in the league with 67 appearances.[6] He held batters to a .116batting average with runners in scoring position.
In 1992, he was seventh in theAL, pitching in 68 games, and had a 2.73 ERA and a career-high 15 saves.[5] In 1993, he was second in the league, pitching in 73 games, and won a career-high eight games while saving four.[5]
During the 1993–94 off-season, he was diagnosed withHodgkin's Disease, a type oflymphoma. The treatment for the disease forced Radinsky to miss the entire 1994 baseball season.[5] He remembered:
Oh, it sucks to have a doctor tell you that you have cancer, but in the same breath, he told me that with aggressive treatment they can treat this particular disease. Thank God I didn't have Internet back then, so I couldn't get all wrapped up in it. I didn't have access to see how bad it could be. They told me I had to go through six months of this and five weeks of that, and that's all I really looked at: the end.[7]
He underwent surgery atSarasota Memorial Hospital, and months ofradiation therapy andchemotherapy.[1] During spring training in 1994 his White Sox teammates wore a patch of Radinsky's # 31 on their jersey.[1]
In his 1995 return to the White Sox, his ERA ballooned to 5.45, prompting the White Sox to release him after the season.[1] In December 1995 Radinsky was honored with theTony Conigliaro Award.[1]
His release from the Sox paved the way for his return home toSouthern California to play for theLos Angeles Dodgers, with whom he signed as afree agent in January 1996.[1] He enjoyed three excellent years (1996–98) in Los Angeles, with his ERA never exceeding 2.89. Out of the bullpen, he worked as aset-up pitcher forTodd Worrell andJeff Shaw, the Dodgers'closers. Radinsky's home-town status, excellent on-the-field performance,blue collar attitude, and at times fiery personality made him an instant fan favorite in Los Angeles. For the 1996 season, he was 5-1 with a 2.41 ERA.[6]
In 1997, he pitched in a career-high 75 games,[5] 7th in the NL, and was 5-1 with a 2.89 ERA.[6] However, after the 1998 season, in which he was 6-6 with 13 saves and a 2.63 ERA,[6] the Dodgers and Radinsky decided to cut ties.
He went on to play for theSt. Louis Cardinals, with whom he signed as a free agent in November 1998. He was in 43 games in 1999, with a 4.88 ERA.
He then pitched for theCleveland Indians, with whom he signed as afree agent in January 2001. He injured his pitching elbow in his first game with the Indians, requiringTommy John surgery.[5] After rehabilitating the elbow, he then returned to make two major league appearances in 2001 before retiring.[1] He played his final major league game for the Indians on October 5, 2001, and retired in early 2002, at 34 years of age.[1]
Radinsky rejoined the Cleveland Indians organization in 2005 as a pitching coach for theSouth Atlantic League'sLake County Captains.[1] He held the same post in 2006 with the Double-AAkron Aeros. In 2007, he was promoted by the Indians to serve as the pitching coach for theBuffalo Bisons.[8] in 2009 he was the coach of theColumbus Clippers for the third straight season.[5][9]
On November 16, 2009, Radinsky was named as bullpen coach for the Indians major league club for the 2010 season.[10]
On October 14, 2011, it was announced that Radinsky would be promoted to pitching coach for the Indians for the 2012 season, to replaceTim Belcher who stepped down at season's end to spend more time with his family.[11] On August 9, 2012, the Indians fired Radinsky and replaced him withRuben Niebla, from theirTriple-A affiliate, theColumbus Clippers, on an interim basis.[12]
On January 23, 2013, Radinsky was hired as the Pitching Coach for theOgden Raptors, a Rookie Level affiliate of theLos Angeles Dodgers, playing in thePioneer League.[13] He was promoted to pitching coach for the AAChattanooga Lookouts in 2014, and again in 2015 to pitching coach for the AAAOklahoma City Dodgers.[14]
He became the bullpen coach for the Los Angeles Angels in 2016.[1] A position he held through the 2018 season.
In October 2023 he became the head coach for the Dutch club UVV, based in Utrecht.[15]
Besides baseball, Radinsky's other passion ispunk rock.[16] A fixture in the 1980s "Nardcore" (Oxnard, California hardcore) scene, he sang forScared Straight, which recorded an LP ("You Drink, You Drive, You Die") and several compilation cuts forMystic Records. The band later changed their name toTen Foot Pole and after recording two albums, in 1995 parted ways with Radinsky, due to his time-consuming baseball career.[17]
Since 1994, Radinsky has been the lead vocalist for the punk rock bandPulley, which has toured three continents and opened for bands such asGreen Day. In 2017, he was featured inBaseball Punx, a documentary exploring the intersection between baseball and punk rock. Describing his life mixing both baseball and punk, he noted: "I don't think some of the guys [in Pulley] realized that I was on an eight-month tour [playing and coaching baseball] every day from February until October, and then I'd come home and a couple of weeks later we'd go out on a three-week European tour playing a gig every single day."[18]
 | This list of songs or music-related items isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(October 2021) |
Radinsky was the owner ofSkatelab in Simi Valley, California from its opening in 1997 until its closure in January 2019.[19] The skatepark also housed a very comprehensive skateboarding museum displaying pieces from all eras of skateboarding, including many rare and collectible skateboards, and theSkateboarding Hall of Fame.[20]
