John Bannister
Minor league free agent — No. --
Pitcher
Born: January 20, 1984 (1984-01-20) (age 25) Tucson, Arizona
Bats: Right	Throws: Right

John David Bannister (born January 20, 1984, in Tucson, Arizona) is a Minor League Baseball free agent pitcher who was most recently in the Kansas City Royals organization. He was signed as a non-drafted free agent on August 22, 2002. He was a 2002 graduate of Sabino High School in Tucson, Arizona.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Minor leagues (2003–09) 1.2 Texas Rangers 2 References 3 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Minor leagues (2003–09)

Bannister was signed in late August and participated in the Rangers Fall Instructional League in 2002.

He spent his first professional season in 2003 with the Arizona Rangers, where he went 2-4, with a 4.22 ERA with one save in 13 games . He earned first professional win on August 1 against the Arizona Royals, allowing one unearned run on one hit in 4.0 innings. He pitched 4.0 scoreless innings on July 27 vs. Royals. Bannister earned his lone save on August 21 vs. Royals.

Bannister split the 2004 season with the Spokane Indians and the Clinton LumberKings, combining to go 2-2, with a 3.38 ERA with 72 strikeouts in 17 games. He started the season with Spokane, going 2-2, with a 3.51 ERA and a team-leading 67 strikeouts in 16 games. His 67 strikeouts ranked fifth in the Northwest League, and 3.51 ERA would have ranked seventh had he thrown enough innings to qualify. Bannister notched a season-high 7 strikeouts on two occasions, first on July 25 against the Vancouver Canadians and once more against the Tri-City Dust Devils on August 17, allowing no runs and just 3 hits over 10.0 innings in those outings. He was selected as a midseason Northwest League All-Star, tossing 1.0 scoreless inning for the East squad. Later that season he was promoted to Clinton.

In 2005 he spent the entire season at Clinton, going 8-10, with a 4.58 ERA in 29 games He ranked tied for first among Texas minor leaguers in starts, and fifth in strikeouts and innings pitched. He led the Midwest League in starts and ranked fourth in innings pitched. Bannister earned Midwest League Midseason All-Star honors, his second consecutive all-star selection.

In 2006, Bannister pitched for both the AZL Rangers and the Bakersfield Blaze.

He split his 2008 season with the Blaze and the Frisco RoughRiders of Double-A baseball.

Bannister is currently at the Double-A level with the Frisco RoughRiders; before that he was pitching for the Triple-A Oklahoma City RedHawks.

[edit] Texas Rangers

In the 2009 season Bannister was invited to spring training with the Rangers. In 2.2 innings pitched he had a 3.38 ERA in 3 games.^[1]

On August 5, 2009 Bannister was designated for assignment to make roster room for Esteban German.^[2] He was claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Royals on August 11, 2009 and became a free agent at the end of the season.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)