Ryan Rowlandsmith

Vocation

Notable

Australian professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball for the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks. He also played in the Australian Baseball League for the Sydney Blue Sox. Rowland-Smith pitched for Australia in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and in the 2004 Summer Olympics. He was rated the number eight prospect in the Mariners organization in 2008 by Baseball America. He graduated from Newcastle High School in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, in December 2000. Rowland-Smith was the first player from Newcastle to be signed to a professional contract, signing as a non-drafted free agent on 19 November 2000 by Mariners scout Barry Holland. He was the Newcastle Baseball Player of the Year as a 16 and 18-year-old. Rowland-Smith has played most of his career in the Mariners' organisation but he was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the Major League portion of the 2004 Rule 5 draft. He spent most of the 2004 spring training with the Twins before they returned him to Seattle. He is the first player with a hyphenated last name ever to appear in a major league game. He maintains his own blog and Twitter account to keep up with fans. Link to Wikipedia biography