Scott Elarton

Vincent Scott Elarton

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 7", Weight 240 lb.
• High School Lamar (CO) High School
• Debut June 20, 1998
• Final Game June 28, 2008
• Born February 23, 1976 in Lamar, CO USA

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Biographical Information

Scott Elarton had a commitment to Stanford University to play baseball and basketball, but the Houston Astros made him the 25th overall pick in the 1994 amateur draft and gave him a $750,000 bonus to forego college. In the 1993 World Junior Championships, Elarton was 0 for 10 for the US; on the mound, he was 1-0 with 2 saves and a 1.74 ERA for the Silver Medalists.

Elarton had a 10-year major league career spanning 1998-2008. He then spent 2010 & 2012 in the minor leagues before finishing his playing career in 2013 with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League. In the major league portion of his career, he pitched in 232 games, mostly as a starter. He had a 56-61 record with 3 saves and a 5.29 ERA.

Elarton is listed as having played one game in centerfield in 1999, although he never actually took the field at the position. The quirk was a result of the Astros' game of June 13th against the San Diego Padres being suspended with the Astros batting in the bottom of the 8th inning when manager Larry Dierker suffered a seizure in the dugout. When the game was resumed on July 23rd, two of the Astros' players - CF Carl Everett and 3B Ricky Gutierrez - were now on the disabled list, while starting pitcher Shane Reynolds was unavailable to return to the mound. As the Astros could not leave the two positions in their line-up unoccupied while they completed their turn at bat, but not wanting to commit to a precise spot in the batting order for their pitcher, they inserted the name of two starting pitchers in the line-up when play resumed: Elarton in CF, and Jose Lima at 3B. When the Padres came to bat in the top of the 9th, Dierker, who had since returned to the helm, inserted regular substitutes for his two "ghost players".

Elarton briefly held one very obscure all-time record: most consecutive starts of six innings or fewer. He pitched exactly seven innings on September 22, 2001, and again on July 28, 2004; in between, he had 28 starts of six or under. Wil Ledezma broke this record in September 2006.

The Pittsburgh Pirates hired Elation in 2014 as a pitching coach for the GCL Pirates and promoted him to Bradenton Marauders pitching coach in 2015. Elation moved into a front office role in 2016 as Special Assistant to Baseball Operations. He continued as a Special Assistant for a number of years. His formal title in 2025 is unclear, but he "travels about every other week working for the Pirates organization, mainly helping young players with their mental game. It’s a job he pretty much created and one that would have been very helpful to him when he was fighting to stay healthy and in the game."[1]

Notable Achievements

• 15 Wins Seasons: 1 (2000)