Tom Eshelman


Thomas Darwin Eshelman is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball. He made his MLB debut with the Orioles in 2019. He played college baseball for the Titans of California State University, Fullerton. The Houston Astros selected Eshelman in the 2015 MLB draft, and traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies after the 2015 season. He was traded to the Orioles during the 2019 season.

Amateur career

Eshelman attended Carlsbad High School in Carlsbad, California. He played as a pitcher and catcher for Carlsbad's baseball team. He was named to the California Interscholastic Federation's first team at the end of his senior season. However, he was not selected in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft.
Eshelman enrolled at California State University, Fullerton to play college baseball for the Cal State Fullerton Titans, exclusively as a pitcher. In 2013, his freshman year, Eshelman did not issue a walk in his first innings pitched. He ended the season with three walks allowed in innings, setting the National Collegiate Athletic Association single-season record for walks per nine innings pitched. He was named to the 2013 College Baseball All-America Team by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. In 2014, he was a member of the United States national collegiate baseball team. He finished his collegiate career with 17 walks in innings.

Professional career

ranked Eshelman as the 99th best available prospect in the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, while Baseball America rated him 126th.

Houston Astros

The Astros selected Eshelman in the second round, with the 46th overall pick, in the draft. Eshelman signed with the Astros, who assigned him to the Gulf Coast Astros of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League to limit his workload for the remainder of the year, following the 130 innings Eshelman pitched for Cal State Fullerton in 2015. In August, the Astros promoted Eshelman to the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Class A Midwest League. He pitched in only four games as a professional in 2015. Eshelman went a combined 0–1 with a 4.35 ERA between both clubs.

Philadelphia Phillies

The Astros traded Eshelman, Mark Appel, Vince Velasquez, Brett Oberholtzer, and Harold Arauz to the Philadelphia Phillies for Ken Giles and Jonathan Arauz on December 12, 2015. He spent the 2016 season with the Clearwater Threshers of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League and the Reading Fightin Phils of the Class AA Eastern League, where he posted a 9–7 record with a 4.25 ERA, along with a 0.97 WHIP, between both clubs.
Eshelman began the 2017 season with Reading, and earned a promotion to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs of the Class AAA International League in May. He posted a combined 13–3 record with a 2.40 ERA between both teams. The 2018 season found him once again on the IronPigs’ roster. The season was mostly a disappointment, with Eshelman going 2–13, with a 5.84 ERA in 27 games.
Eshelman began the 2019 season in with Reading but was promoted back to Lehigh Valley after six starts with the team, going 0–3 with a 6.28 ERA.

Baltimore Orioles

The Phillies traded Eshelman to the Baltimore Orioles for international bonus allocations on June 10, 2019. Eshelman had posted a 1–1 record with a 2.77 ERA, 23 strikeouts, and a complete game for Lehigh Valley at the time of the trade.
After making three starts for the Norfolk Tides of the International League, the Orioles promoted to the major leagues to start against the Tampa Bay Rays on July 1. In his debut, he allowed two runs over five innings pitched. On September 2, Eshelman was designated for assignment.

Personal life

His older brother, Sam, is the varsity basketball coach at Carlsbad High School.