The Ballad of Clayton Richard

When 2008 started, Clayton Richard wasn't even a Top 10 prospect in the White Sox farm system. In that short time he has started the Futures Game for Team USA, almost made it to the Olympics, and tomorrow will make his Major League debut against Texas.

But who is this guy?

He was born in September 12, 1983 in Lafayette, Indiana and attended McCutcheon High School where he developed into a star quarterback, and was at one time named one of the top football recruits in the Midwest by Rivals.com. Richard accepted a football scholarship to play at the University of Michigan in the fall of 2003, but instead, Richard was redshirted his freshman year. In 2004, he battled for the starting spot on the team, but lost out to Chad Henne. Richard was the Wolverine's #2 quarterback that season, but he saw limited action, mostly in garbage time of blowout wins over Miami (Ohio), Indiana, and Northwestern. Richard appeared in 4 total games for the Wolverines in 2004, only attempting 15 passes for 8 completions and 52 total yards.

The following spring, Richard joined the Wolverines baseball team and pitched well. In his one season in Ann Arbor, Richard pitched 21 games, mostly as a reliever and compiled a 0-1 record with a 2.43 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP, and 27 K's in 33.1 IP, good for a 7.29 K/9 innings ratio. The Wolverines were 42-19 that season and finished 4th in the Big 10 with a 17-12 conference record. They were the 3rd seed in the Atlanta Regional of the College Baseball Tournament, but were eliminated in the 2nd round of the Regionals, losing both games to South Carolina by 1 run.

Richard's baseball career, however, would continue. In the June Draft, the White Sox selected the 6'5'' lefty in the 8th round. He was the 2nd player from Michigan drafted, the first being Chris Getz, also selected by the Sox in the 4th round. Richard pitched in Great Falls and Kannapolis in 2005, dominated Rookie Ball and struggling in limited work in A-ball. After starting his baseball career with moderate success, Richard dropped his football scholarship at Michigan and focused on baseball full-time.

He spent most of 2006 with the Low-A Ball Kannapolis Intimidators, and while the Intimidators themselves were terrible, Richard found success, starting 17 games and posting a 3.66 ERA. He also started 4 games in Winston-Salem with the same success. Richard spent 2007 entirely in Winston-Salem, and was part of a good pitching staff that had a sub-4.00 ERA on the season. That earned Clayton a promotion to AA Birmingham for the start of the 2008 season where he continued to impress. Though he only had a 6-6 record, Richard posted a 2.47 ERA and a WHIP under 1 in Birmingham and was moved to AAA Charlotte in the middle of the season, where he won all 6 games he started, struck out 29 over 38 innings and had a 2.37 ERA and ridiculous WHIP of 0.76.

Clayton Richard will wear #54 tomorrow when he makes his Major League debut for the White Sox against Kevin Millwood, the same number that Hall of Famer Goose Gossage sported in his tenure on the South Side. Hopefully, it's a sign of things to come.