C. J. Nitkowski
Nitkowski with the New York Yankees in 2004
Pitcher
Born: (1973-03-09) March 9, 1973
Suffern, New York, U.S.
Batted: Left
Threw: Left
Professional debut
MLB: June 3, 1995, for the Cincinnati Reds
NPB: 2007, for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks
KBO: April 8, 2009, for the SK Wyverns
Last appearance
MLB: June 7, 2005, for the Washington Nationals
NPB: 2008, for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks
KBO: September 25, 2011, for the Nexen Heroes
MLB statistics
Win–loss record18–32
Earned run average5.37
Strikeouts347
NPB statistics
Win–loss record3–5
Earned run average3.99
Strikeouts55
KBO statistics
Win–loss record9–19
Earned run average4.40
Strikeouts127
Teams

Christopher John "C. J." Nitkowski (born March 9, 1973) is a left-handed former professional baseball pitcher and current baseball broadcaster. A first-round draft choice of the Cincinnati Reds in 1994, he played in the major leagues for the Reds, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, and Washington Nationals. He has also played in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, and in the KBO League for the SK Wyverns, Doosan Bears, and Nexen Heroes. Nitkowski currently works as a broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves and SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio.

Amateur career

Nitkowski grew up in Suffern, New York,[1] and attended Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey, New Jersey, graduating in 1991.[2] Not drafted out of high school, he attended Florida Atlantic University for one year before transferring to St. John's University.

Professional career

Major League Baseball

The Cincinnati Reds made Nitkowski the ninth overall pick in the 1994 Major League Baseball draft.[3] He made his major-league debut on June 3, 1995, with the Reds. The Reds traded Nitkowski, a player to be named later (later selected to be Mark Lewis), and minor-leaguer Dave Tuttle to the Detroit Tigers for David Wells on July 31, 1995.[3]

After the 1996 season, the Tigers traded Nitkowski with Brad Ausmus, José Lima, Trever Miller, and Daryle Ward to the Houston Astros for Doug Brocail, Brian Hunter, Todd Jones, Orlando Miller, and cash.[4] After the 1998 season, the Astros traded Nitkowski with Ausmus back to the Tigers for Paul Bako, Dean Crow, Brian Powell, and minor-leaguers Carlos Villalobos and Mark Persails.[4] Late in the 2001 season, the Tigers traded Nitkowski to the New York Mets for a player to be named later, later identified as minor-leaguer Kyle Kessel.[4]

Nitkowski signed with the Texas Rangers and played for the team in 2002 and 2003. He split the 2004 season between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees. He pitched for the Washington Nationals in 2005. In the 2006 season, he played exclusively in Triple-A with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

Later years

After the 2006 season, Nitkowski accepted a one-year contract tender with Nippon Professional Baseball's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.[5] He played two seasons for the Hawks, but did not return to the team in 2009.[6]

Nitkowski began the 2009 season with the SK Wyverns in South Korea,[7] but was granted his release by the team on June 20.[8] On June 28, 2009, the Doosan Bears in South Korea claimed him off waivers. He was released at the end of the season due to concerns over a shoulder injury he suffered in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs. In July 2010, Nitkowski signed with the Nexen Heroes based in Seoul, South Korea.

Nitkowski signed a minor-league deal on July 13, 2012, with the New York Mets.[9] He began using a sidearm delivery.[10]

Media career

After retiring from baseball in April 2013, Nitkowski began a career in media as a writer, studio host, radio host, color analyst and play-by-play man. As a writer, he has had articles published for Sports Illustrated, Associated Press, SB Nation, Baseball Prospectus, ESPN.com and MLB.com.[11] From 2013 to 2016, he wrote exclusively for Fox Sports, including for the now defunct Just a Bit Outside, Fox's baseball microsite that attempted to follow the Monday Morning Quarterback model.

Radio

From 2013 to 2016, Nitkowski co-hosted Eye on Baseball, a national radio baseball show for CBS Sports Radio. His co-hosts on the show were Damon Bruce (2013), Brandon Tierney (2013) and Adam "The Bull" Gerstenhaber (2014–2016). Nitkowski is also a host and analyst for MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM[11] He currently appears on Loud Outs weekdays 3-6PM ET with Ryan Spilborghs and Brad Lidge.

In 2013, Nitkowski filled in for Suzyn Waldman and worked alongside John Sterling on New York Yankees radio broadcasts for 880 CBS Radio. In 2013, he was also a studio analyst for MLB.com.[11] In 2014, Nitkowski called a handful of New York Mets games on radio alongside Josh Lewin and Howie Rose for WOR 710. From 2017 to 2019, he had a weekly show with sports radio 1310 AM and 96.7 FM The Ticket's BaD Radio Show hosted by Bob Sturm and Dan McDowell in Dallas, Texas.

Television

Nitkowski in the Rangers' home TV booth at Globe Life Park, 2017

From 2014 to 2016, Nitkowski was a studio analyst for Fox Sports 1, where he was a regular on their baseball highlight show MLB Whip Around, which debuted on March 31, 2013. He also made appearances on FS1's other studio shows as well as Fox's Saturday MLB pre- and post-game coverage. Other analysts he has worked with at FS1 include former MLB players Frank Thomas, Gabe Kapler, Mark Sweeney, Raúl Ibañez, Pete Rose, Alex Rodriguez and Eric Karros.[12] Nitkowski has called nationally televised MLB games for FS1 and Fox from 2014 to 2019 and has worked with play-by-play men Thom Brennaman, Kenny Albert, Brian Anderson, Len Kasper, Rich Waltz, Justin Kutcher and Tom McCarthy. He started in television on CBS Sports Network, where he served as a color analyst on NCAA baseball games. He has also made appearances on MLB Network and ESPN.

In 2017, Nitkowski was named a member of the Texas Rangers' television broadcast booth,[13] where served in both the color analyst and play-by-play roles through 2022. Nitkowski was nominated seven times and won five regional Sports Emmy Awards for his work on Rangers broadcasts.[14] He was also part of the 2016 broadcast group on Fox which won a national Sports Emmy for their postseason coverage.

In December 2023, Nitkowski joined the Atlanta Braves' television crew as the primary analyst on Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast beginning in the 2024 season.[15][16]

Personal life

On January 30, 2009, it was revealed that Nitkowski was interviewed by the FBI as part of its investigation into the perjury case against Roger Clemens. Nitkowski worked out sporadically in the off-seasons from 2001 to 2006, while also being trained by Brian McNamee, Clemens' principal accuser. Nitkowski, in a statement to the Associated Press (an organization he also occasionally contributes to as a writer) said, "I have never seen Roger or Andy take any illegal performance-enhancing drugs. I have never talked to either of them about PEDs, nor do I have any firsthand knowledge of them taking any PEDs."

Nitkowski was the first major-leaguer to maintain his own website, www.CJBaseball.com, where he posted ongoing personal diaries about life in the big leagues, as early as 1997.[1] The site still exists but is sporadically updated.

Raised a Catholic, Nitkowski converted to Evangelical Christianity after an incident in which his son nearly drowned in a swimming pool during spring training in 2002.[17]

Film and television

In May 2012, Nitkowski was filmed playing the role of former MLB player Dutch Leonard for a scene in the motion picture 42, which chronicles Jackie Robinson's life story. Coincidentally, the footage was shot in Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the ballpark where Nitkowski broke into professional baseball as a first-round pick of the Reds in 1994.[1][18]

In 2016, Nitkowski served as a script and technical consultant for Dan Fogelman's Pitch, a television drama about the first woman to reach the Major Leagues.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kepner, Tyler. "EXTRA BASES Bound for Big Screen, and Maybe Majors". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  2. ↑ Lewis, Brian. "Amazin's Add Lefty Nitkowski to Pen", Daily News (New York), September 3, 2001. Accessed February 22, 2011.
  3. 1 2 "C.J. Nitkowski Stats". Baseball Reference.
  4. 1 2 3 "C.J. Nitkowski Trades and Transactions". Baseball Almanac.
  5. ↑ Interview on Therion's Player Profile Blog Archived June 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ "CJ BASEBALL – Since 1997". cjbaseball.com. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  7. ↑ "Nitkowski back to Asia". Mlb.mlb.com. Associated Press. 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  8. ↑ "Be Perfect Or Be Gone". CJBaseball.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-19. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  9. ↑ "Mets sign CJ Nitkowski, will report to AA". Metsblog.com. 2012-07-13. Archived from the original on 2013-01-28. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  10. ↑ "C. J. Nitkowski remaking himself as sidearming lefty | MLB.com: News". Mlb.mlb.com. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  11. 1 2 3 Steve Popper. "Baseball: C. J. Nitkowski's time to head outside the lines – Sports". NorthJersey.com. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  12. ↑ Fox Sports (2014-03-03). "Reynolds & Verducci join Buck for MLB on FOX | FOX Sports on MSN". Msn.foxsports.com. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  13. ↑ "Rangers Announce Broadcast Teams For 2017 Season". Dfw.cbslocal.com. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  14. ↑ "FOX Sports Southwest wins 11 Lone Star Regional Emmy Awards". 21 August 2019.
  15. ↑ Toscano, Justin (December 18, 2023). "Bally Sports South adds Alpharetta resident C.J. Nitkowski to replace Jeff Francoeur on Braves broadcasts". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  16. ↑ Bowman, Mark (December 18, 2023). "Braves' TV booth adds C.J. Nitkowski as primary analyst". Retrieved December 19, 2023.
  17. ↑ "Post on C. J. Nitkowski's blog, "Jesus Christ Was In the Minor Leagues"". Cjbaseball.com. 2002-05-28. Archived from the original on 2012-04-15. Retrieved 2014-06-22.
  18. ↑ Nitkowski, C.J. "Getting the Part in "42," a Jackie Robinson Film Starring Harrison Ford". C. J. Nitkowski. Archived from the original on 2012-04-17. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  19. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (January 14, 2016). "Dan Fogelman Baseball Drama 'Pitch' Gets Fox Pilot Order, Kylie Bunbury To Star". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
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