Chris Devenski

Christopher Michael Devenski (born November 13, 1990) also known as Devo, is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros from 2016 to 2020. Prior to playing professionally, Devenski played college baseball for Golden West College and California State University, Fullerton. The Chicago White Sox selected Devenski in the 25th round, with the 771st overall selection, of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft. He was named an MLB All-Star in 2017.

Chris Devenski
Devenski with the Astros in 2017
Arizona Diamondbacks
Pitcher
Born: (1990-11-13) November 13, 1990
Cerritos, California
Bats: Right Throws: Right
MLB debut
April 8, 2016, for the Houston Astros
MLB statistics
(through 2020 season)
Win–loss record16–16
Earned run average3.35
Strikeouts332
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Amateur career

Devenski attended Gahr High School in Cerritos, California. He played for the school's baseball team as both a pitcher and a shortstop.[1][2] He graduated in 2008, and enrolled at Golden West College, where he played college baseball in his freshman year as a pitcher and shortstop.[3] Devenski transferred to California State University, Fullerton, where he continued his college baseball career with the Cal State Fullerton Titans. The Titans' coaches convinced him to focus on pitching, and he accrued ​182 2⁄3 innings pitched over 104 games in two seasons with the school.[1] He also played collegiate summer baseball for the Woodstock River Bandits of the Valley Baseball League in 2011.[4]

Professional career

Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox selected Devenski in the 25th round, with the 771st overall selection, of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft.[5][6] He made his professional debut with the Great Falls Voyagers of the Rookie-level Pioneer League. He started the 2012 season with the Kannapolis Intimidators of the Class A South Atlantic League.

Houston Astros

In August 2012, Devenski was traded to the Houston Astros in August as the player to be named later in an earlier trade where the White Sox acquired Brett Myers. The Astros had already acquired Blair Walters and Matt Heidenreich in the trade.[7][8] He had a 6–5 win–loss record and a 4.23 earned run average (ERA) in 19 games started for Kannapolis before the trade. The Astros assigned him to the Lexington Legends of the Class A Midwest League. On August 31, in his fifth start for Lexington, he threw a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts.[9]

Devenski and Lexington Legends teammates celebrate after the final out of his no-hitter in 2012.

Devenski began the 2013 season with the Lancaster JetHawks of the Class A-Advanced California League. He struggled with Lancaster, working to a 7.88 ERA in ​75 1⁄3 innings pitched, and was demoted to the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Class A Midwest League.[10] Devenski started the 2014 season with Lancaster and received another midseason promotion, this time to the Corpus Christi Hooks of the Class AA Texas League.[11] He pitched for Corpus Christi in 2015, finishing the season with a 3.01 ERA in ​119 2⁄3 innings pitched. He was named their pitcher of the year.[12][13] He was promoted to the Fresno Grizzlies of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League for the playoffs and pitched seven one-hit innings to help Fresno win the Triple-A National Championship Game.[14] He was named the most valuable player of the championship game.[5] Eligible in the Rule 5 draft after the 2015 season, the Astros did not protect Devenski on their 40-man roster, but Devenski was not selected.[11]

The Astros assigned Devenski to Fresno for Opening Day of the 2016 season, but promoted him to the major leagues on April 6. He made his MLB debut on April 8.[15] He finished the 2016 season with a 2.16 ERA and 0.914 walks plus hits per inning pitched ratio in 48 appearances.[16]

Devenski continued to pitch for the Astros as a multi-inning relief pitcher in 2017.[11] He was named to the American League's roster for the 2017 MLB All-Star Game on July 7. As of that day, he had a 2.09 ERA in ​51 2⁄3 innings pitched, and led all major league relief pitchers in innings pitched, in strikeouts with 72, and tied for the most wins, with 6.[17] He finished the regular season with an 8–5 win–loss record, a 2.68 ERA, and 100 strikeouts with 26 walks in ​80 2⁄3 innings pitched.[18] Devenski appeared in five games of the 2017 World Series, pitching a total of five innings while allowing four hits and four runs, although he was the winning pitcher of Game 2.[19]

Devenski and the Astros agreed to a $1.525 million salary for the 2019 season.[20]

On August 3, 2019, Devenski worked in relief in a combined no-hit shutout of the Seattle Mariners. The final score was 9-0.[21] He struggled throughout the season, setting a career high 4.83 ERA in 61 games.

Arizona Diamondbacks

On January 20, 2021, Devenski signed a minor league contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.[22]

Personal life

Devenski was raised in Santa Ana, California. His father, Mike, owns a moving company. Amanda, his twin sister, is a teacher. While he was attending college, his family moved to Artesia, California.[3]

Devenski is often known to Astros fans by the knickname "Devo" after the progressive rock band of the 1980s.[23]

References
  1. https://www.ocregister.com/2017/09/13/whicker-chris-devenski-keeps-on-truckin-in-astros-bullpen/
  2. Robert Morales. "Devenski dominates for Gahr – Daily News". Dailynews.com. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  3. Pedro Moura. "From the rough streets of Santa Ana to the World Series, Chris Devenski has come a long way to find success". Latimes.com. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  4. "VBL Teammates Contribute to World Series Title". Valley League Baseball. December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  5. Beach, Long. "Gahr grad Devenski called up to the Astros – Press Telegram". Presstelegram.com. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  6. "Gahr High Graduates Selected In Major League Baseball Draft". Cerritos-Artesia, California Patch. June 9, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  7. Rajan, Greg (October 29, 2017). "Astros' Chris Devenski has had unusual road to World Series – Houston Chronicle". Chron.com. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  8. Steve Batterson. "River Bandits experience career-changing trades". The Quad-City Times. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  9. "Legends' Devenski fans 16 in no-hitter – MiLB.com News – The Official Site of Minor League Baseball". MiLB.com. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  10. "Family, baseball help Astros' Devenski thrive | Texas League". Milb.com. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  11. Ken Rosenthal (May 12, 2017). "Astros' Chris Devenski is simply 'the hottest pitcher on the planet'". FOX Sports. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  12. "Driven Devenski: Hooks righty putting together impressive season". caller.com. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  13. "Devenski named Hooks Pitcher of Year". caller.com. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  14. "Chris Devenski helps Fresno win AAA natl title". Houston Astros. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  15. Jake Kaplan (April 8, 2016). "Chris Devenski has hectic few days after called up by Astros". Chron.com. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  16. McTaggart, Brian (January 20, 2016). "Chris Devenski gives shutout relief for Astros". MLB.com. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  17. Atkins, Hunter (July 7, 2017). "Astros' Chris Devenski added to All-Star roster – Houston Chronicle". Chron.com. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  18. Atkins, Hunter (March 5, 2018). "Astros' Chris Devenski working to halt runners – Houston Chronicle". Chron.com. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  19. McTaggart, Brian; Gurnick, Ken. "Houston Astros win 2017 World Series". MLB. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  20. Rome, Chandler (February 3, 2019). "Astros, Chris Devenski settle arbitration case - Houston Chronicle". Chron.com. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  21. "Astros pitchers toss combined no-hitter against Mariners". chron.com. August 3, 2019.
  22. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/01/diamondbacks-sign-chris-devenski.html
  23. Landers, Chris (June 13, 2017). "Astros fans wear Devo hats for Chris Devenski against Rangers". MLB.com. Retrieved November 1, 2019.

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Taylor Cole, Félix Peña		 No-hit game
August 3, 2019
(with Sanchez, Harris & Biagini)		 Succeeded by
Justin Verlander
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