Ryan Searle

From BR Bullpen

Ryan Gregory Searle

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 0", Weight 190 lb.

BR Minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Ryan Searle has pitched in the US (high of AAA), Australia, Japan and Taiwan. He has led the Australian Baseball League in strikeouts, ERA and saves.

He signed with the Chicago Cubs in January 2007; the scout was Steve Wilson. In 2008, he pitched for the AZL Cubs (1-0, 1 R, 3 H in 8 IP) and the Boise Hawks (1-2, 1.03 in 6 G). He was 1-1 with two saves and a 2.57 ERA in the 2009 Claxton Shield, pitching for the Queensland Rams; only Brendan Wise had more saves in the event. He was on Australian's provisional roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic but did not make the final cut. With the 2009 Daytona Cubs, he had a 7-11, 4.42 record in his debut in a full-season minor league. He tied for 7th in the Florida State League in losses. Among Cubs farmhands, only Mitch Atkins lost more games.

In 2010, Searle pitched for the Peoria Chiefs (7-8, 4.38) and Daytona (1-1, 4.60). When the Australian Baseball League was re-established in 2010-2011, Ryan was 0-4 with a 5.77 ERA for his hometown Brisbane Bandits. He spent the summer with Daytona (1-2, Sv, 1.59) and the Tennessee Smokies (5-3, 3.51). He then made his national team debut in the 2011 Baseball World Cup and did very well at 2-0, 0.73. After Australia started 0-3, Searle got a win in game 4 over Nicaragua. Facing eventual Bronze Medal winner Canada, he allowed only 3 hits and one walk in 7 1/3 shutout innings (though he hit three), fanning six; Andrew Russell completed the whitewash. Australian manager Jon Deeble said "Searle pitched as good of a game as I’ve seen in the last 11 years managing this team." He was 10th in the World Cup in ERA; of hurlers who allowed an earned run, only Hyoun-taek Oh and Andy Van Hekken had better ERAs.

In the 2011-2012 ABL, he was 3-1 with a 3.66 ERA for Brisbane, fanning 34 in 32 innings and posting a 0.94 WHIP. He split 2012 between Daytona (6-3, Sv, 4.22), Tennessee (1-2, 4.07 in 8 G) and the Iowa Cubs (1-0, 0 R in 6 2/3 IP in his only look at AAA). He was 3-2 with four saves and a 3.30 ERA for the Bandits in 2012-2013. He made Australia's team for the 2013 World Baseball Classic and got a start against South Korea but had a rough three innings (4 H, 2 BB, 2 HB, 4 R) before Steve Kent relieved; the bullpen allowed two runs in the next six. Searle took the loss and wound up with Australia's 3rd-highest ERA of the Classic (Warwick Saupold and Shane Lindsay were at 13.50).

Searle saw little time in the summer of 2013 with Daytona (2-3, 5.67 in 8 G) and the AZL Cubs (4 R in 5 2/3 IP) and was let go by Chicago. With Brisbane, he was 3-4 with a 2.78 ERA in 2013-2014 and walked only 7 in 55 innings. He tied Craig Anderson for 6th in the ABL with 50 strikeouts. He then excelled when the Los Angeles Dodgers visited Australia in early 2014 (5 K, 1 H in 3 IP).

Picked up by the independent Grand Prairie AirHogs, he was 5-9 with a 4.39 ERA in 2014. He tied for 4th in the American Association in losses. He was 3-4 with a save and a 4.28 ERA for Brisbane in the 2014-2015 ABL but led the ABL with 69 whiffs in 61 innings, four more Ks than runner-up Morgan Coombs. He played for the Ishikawa MillionStars in Japan's Shikoku Island League in 2015, going 8-7 with a 1.99 ERA and a league-leading 113 strikeouts.

He was absolutely dominant in the 2015-2016 ABL, going 5-2 with 17 saves and a 0.40 ERA in 31 games pitched, with a 0.78 WHIP and 54 strikeouts in 45 innings after moving to the Adelaide bullpen. He easily led the ABL in ERA (.95 over Alex Balog), tied for 7th in wins, led in saves (6 over Kody Kerski) and was 9th in strikeouts (between Wayne Lundgren and Steven Chambers). He broke Matt Williams' three-year-old ABL save record of 15.

Searle was signed by Taiwan's Lamigo Monkeys. Before the 2016 CPBL season got underway, though, he was with Australia for the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers played in Sydney in February. He fanned five in three innings and allowed one run in saving both wins over South Africa to punch Australia's ticket to the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Peter Moylan was the only other hurler with multiple appearances for the Southern Thunder in the tourney. He fared poorly for Lamigo (4-5, 6.38) and was let go. He then signed with Italy's Unipol Bologna and did very well in limited action (1-0, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 18 K in 14 2/3 IP). He closed out Raul Rivero's win in game 1 of the 2016 Italian Series, started game 3 against Rimini but lasted only 4 1/3 IP, getting out of several jams (5 H, 4 BB, 2 R, 1 ER) before Rivero relieved and got the win. He still got the call for the start in game 6 and tossed 4 2/3 shutout, hitless innings but didn't get the win as he was yanked after a second rain delay, replaced by Rivero, who got the win. He finished the Series with a 0.90 ERA and 13 K in 10 IP. Only Darwin Cubillan had a better ERA for the Series and he tied Rivero for the most whiffs as Bologna won it all.

Related Sites[edit]