Topic: Mike Scott

Michael Warren Scott (born April 26, 1955 in Santa Monica, California) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the New York Mets and, most notably, the Houston Astros. He won the National League Cy Young Award in 1986. Scott is part of a select group of pitchers that have thrown a no-hitter and struck out 300 batters in the same season.

Scott made his Major League debut with the Mets in 1979. The Mets traded Scott to the Astros for Danny Heep on December 11, 1982. By the end of the 1982 season, Scott had compiled a 14-27 major league record and was happy to be traded away from the poorly-managed Mets that featured a four-man starting pitching rotation. Scott continued to struggle in his first two seasons with the Astros, going 15-17.

The turning point in Scott's career came in 1985, when he became a student of legendary pitching coach Roger Craig. Craig taught Scott the split-finger fastball, a pitch he had made famous while coaching the pitchers of the 1984 World Series champion Detroit Tigers. Scott became an 18-game winner in 1985 and was rewarded with a new three-year deal with the Astros, valued at around two million dollars.