Randy Messenger

Name: Randall Jerome Messenger

Career Stats:

Brief Biography:

Randall Jerome Messenger was born in Reno, Nevada, and attended Sparks High School. He was drafted in the 11th round of the 1999 MLB Amateur Draft by the Florida (now Miami) Marlins, and signed 4 days later. After several years at various levels of the minors, he made his big league debut on June 22, 2005, throwing a shutout inning in garbage time of a blowout loss. Then in his fourth appearance on July 8, facing the Chicago Cubs, Messenger faced future teammate Matt Murton. Taking the mound in the top of the fifth with runners on the corners, Murton picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly to right. In the bottom of the frame, Messenger collected his first (and only) career major league hit – a bunt single. Two innings later, the Messenger-Murton duel ended with Murton hitting a first-pitch fastball down the first baseline for a double.

Used solely as a reliever through his time in the majors, Messenger was just starting to get good results with the Marlins when they announced his trade to the San Francisco Giants on May 31, 2007. He threw quite well through the middle of August for the Giants until injuring his left hand and missing a month. When he came back in September, he got hit around quite hard. Still, the Giants held onto him that offseason.  His time with the Giants in 2008 was cut short, though, when he was released on July 9. The very next day, though, he was a member of the Seattle Mariners. Roughly six weeks later, he was on the mound at Safeco Field, and finished the season on the top squad. Messenger spent most of the 2009 season in AAA with the Tacoma Rainiers (where he recorded 25 saves and wore #54 for the first time in his professional career), but appeared in 12 Mariners games, giving up three home runs in 10 ⅓ innings. His final contact with Japanese baseball before leaving America was a 3-pitch strikeout of Hideki Matsui on September 19. He became a free agent less than two months later.

Messenger’s interest in Japan was actually sparked in June 2009 by the hitting coach in Tacoma, Alonzo Powell, who had previously played in Japan. Then in August, conversations with then-Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima convinced him that he could succeed in Japan. The two officially became teammates again in Japan when both signed with the Tigers: Johjima on October 27 and Messenger on December 10. Messenger’s deal was said to be worth $600,000.

Though acquired to be a reliever, Messenger struggled early in the season, which prompted the team to acquire Jason Standridge, who had been released by the Philadelphia Phillies that spring. Consequently, Messenger was sent down to the farm on April 23rd, where he worked with pitching coach Kubo, and made adjustments to become a starter. He stayed there until July 11th, when he and struggling starter Casey Fossum traded spots. He threw well in his first few starts, but after hitting a Dragons hitter in the head with a pitch in early September, he struggled the rest of the way. His tenure with the team was in jeopardy after just one season. But the club decided to stick with the pitcher they knew, rather than chasing another unknown commodity.

Messenger joined the starting rotation full-time in 2011, and threw his first career complete game. He was also the first Tigers pitcher to reach double digits in wins, and ended the season tied for tops on the club with 12. It took him until his final game of the 2012 season to reach double digits, due mostly to poor run support from his mates. He did, however, throw his first career complete game shutout on April 17 against the Swallows.

Due in part to Atsushi Nohmi’s participation in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Messenger was named the club’s Opening Day starter – the first foreigner since Matt Keough in 1987, and the first foreigner to win said start since Gene Bacque in 1965. Through five games, Messenger had four wins and nary a loss, and picked up the Central League Pitcher of the Month Award for March/April. He won an even bigger honor upon season’s end, though, taking home the Most Strikeouts title by racking up 183 Ks.

The 2014 season was a banner season for Messenger. He threw three consecutive complete game shutouts (April 29 vs. Carp, May 11 vs. Giants, May 17 vs. BayStars), becoming the first Hanshin pitcher in 48 years to do so. He finished off the first half of the season with a gem as well – 8 shutout innings and 13 strikeouts against the Dragons. Still, he was not chosen to the All-Star team. Early in August, Messenger was part of an interesting one against the Yakult Swallows. He gave up 8 runs, but also knocked in four on two hits in a 20-11 win. He continued to pitch well after that, and by season’s end, had 201 strikeouts and another title. He also tied for the league lead in wins. Naturally, expectations were high that he would help lead the club on a good playoff run, and he did just that. He won Game 1 of the First Stage (vs. Carp), as well as Game 3 of the Final Stage (@ Giants). He was named the starter of Game 1 of the Nippon Series as well (vs. Hawks) and threw well enough to pick up that win as well. Unfortunately, he was also the tough-luck loser in the final game of the season, a Game 5 shutout loss that gave the Hawks the title.

After throwing so many innings in 2014, Randy came to camp in 2015 having spent his offseason resting. The media made a big deal about his physique, and while the correlation is questionable, he started the season rather poorly. As of May 11, his ERA was over 5, and he was sent down to the farm. Replaced by new import Mario Santiago, Messenger spent a couple of weeks on the farm refining his game, and came back on May 29 a different man. Not only did he start three interleague games without giving up a single run, but he extended that scoreless streak into regular league play. He also moved into second all-time on the career strikeout list for Central League foreigners. Before season’s end, he also notched his 1000th career strikeout (including MLB) and threw his 1000th career NPB inning. He was also the winning pitcher in the team’s lone postseason victory.

Under new manager Tomoaki Kanemoto (and former teammate for three seasons), Messenger was named Opening Day starter again in 2016, in what would be part of a 4-year stretch of earning the honor. Though the Tigers lost the game, Messenger contributed with the first stolen base by a Hanshin pitcher in 35 years (and first foreign pitcher ever). It took until his third start of the year to earn a W, and his numbers did not look great until interleague play began. But once again, he dominated the Pacific League in three starts, giving up just two runs in 21 innings. For the most part, Messenger pitched well the rest of the way, including racking up his 10th win of the season on August 12th, the eve of his 35th birthday. He ended the year with 12 wins.

The 2017 season marked Messenger’s eighth with the Tigers, which set a record for longest ever tenure by an import pitcher. And once again, Messenger was the man on Opening Day. Despite not having his best stuff, he helped the Tigers trounce the Carp. The entire month of April was also an extremely good one, as Messenger picked up three more wins in four starts, and took home the CL Pitcher of the Month. In fact it took until May 18 for Messenger to lose his first game of the season, and that was due to poor run support. Perhaps one of the interesting highlights of the season came on July 23 (@ Swallows) when Messenger hit his first career home run. He also threw eight shutout innings that day and earned his 10th win of the year. Unfortunately, three starts later (August 10 @ Giants), Messenger took a line drive off the shin, breaking his fibula bone. Instead of letting it heal naturally, which would have ended his season, he opted to go to America for surgery. Upon returning to Japan, he immediately got to work on coming back, and he was ready to start the team’s final regular season game against the Dragons. He threw four shutout innings to reach 143 IP on the season and become a qualifying pitcher, posted the best ERA of his career, and was declared fit to pitch in the postseason as well. He started Game 1 of the First Stage (vs. BayStars) and went six shutout innings, becoming the winning pitcher once again.

By season’s end, manager Kanemoto already declared that Messenger would be the club’s Opening Day starter in 2018 – his fourth straight and fifth overall. The 2018 season started extremely well for Messenger, who won Pitcher of the Month in March/April for the second straight season. He cruised through May as well, but after that, did not have dominant stuff most of the rest of the season. Though not a detriment to the team, he struggled to compile many wins after the all-star break, and even took himself off the active roster for a spell in September. On October 3, he picked up his 1416th career strikeout in Japan, moving into first place overall on the import pitcher list.

In his tenth NPB season, Messenger no longer counted against the import limitation, and the team celebrated by creating an “I’m finally 日本人 (nihonjin = Japanese)” t-shirt with his picture and number on it. He was the team’s Opening Day starter for the 2019 season, a game in which he threw six innings of one-run ball. After picking up his 100th win in NPB (96) + MLB (4) combined on April 5, it seemed like just a matter of time before he would break Bacque’s club record for most career wins by an import (100). However, Messenger struggled through the season’s first half, and demoted himself to the farm after his July 10 outing against the Giants (2 IP, 4 R). He had some work done on his shoulder in the States before returning to do a rehab stint on the farm. His outings did not produce the results he was hoping for, and after a particularly rough one against a semi-pro club, Messenger announced his retirement from professional baseball on September 13. The team held an emotional retirement ceremony for him after the next-to-last game of the season, on September 29.

Messenger ended his career in fifth on the club all-time in strikeouts.

Related Articles:

Messenger’s Retirement Presser (September 18, 2019)

Messenger to Retire at Season’s End (September 14, 2019)

Messenger Talks With Daily Sports (February 9, 2019)

Players Make History, Team Misses Playoffs (October 4, 2018)

Randy Messenger: Giving My All for the Tigers (September 4, 2018)

Messenger: I Want the Gaijin Records (April 16, 2018)

Messenger Talks About Bacque, Legacy, Future (January 23, 2018)

Hanshin Will be Quick to Negotiate with Messenger (December 21, 2017)

Messenger Back in Japan, Hopes for 2 Regular Season Starts (August 29, 2017)

Messenger Injures Ankle, Rotation in Danger (August 11, 2017)

Messe’s Road – Player’s Column Vol. 5 (July 6, 2017)

Interview – Messenger Talks 2017 Tigers (June 30, 2017)

April 2017 – Messenger is Pitcher of the Month (May 10, 2017)

Skinny Messenger Returns for Record 8th Season (January 29, 2017)

Imports Messenger, Mateo Sign 2017 Contracts (November 29, 2016)

Happy Birthday to… (Part 3) (August 13, 2016)

Messenger Wins With Love (April 8, 2016)

Messenger Signs Up for 2016, Too (December 8, 2015)

The Evolution of Messenger: East-West Fusion Pitching (July 28, 2015)

News, Rumors and More… (June 16, 2015)

Happy Mothers Day from 3 Tigers Players (May 12, 2015)

Andoh & Fujinami Talk About Messenger (April 20, 2015)

Sponichi Interview Translation: Yano on Messenger (February 19, 2015)

Foreigners Report to Japan for 2015 (January 29, 2015)

Messenger Signs Up for 2 More Years (December 15, 2014)

Messenger vs. Murton – Who Wins? (November 14, 2014)

Messenger wants the ball in Game 1 of Japan Series (October 20, 2014)

Messenger gets 12th win, wants title (September 15, 2014)

Messenger: Mr. September (September 2, 2014)

Messenger is the hero as the Tigers down the Giants (August 12, 2014)

Wada criticizes Randy Messenger’s play after 6-1 loss (July 27, 2014)

Messenger rocks the hero interview after 2-0 win (July 16, 2014)