David Robertson, better known as Houdini to most Yankees fans and teammates, was born in Birmingham Alabama on April 9th 1985 so Happy Birthday to you a little early from The Greedy Pinstripes!!! David started at short stop and pitcher in High School at Central Tuscaloosa High Shcool where he started his first three years at school. There he helped his team win back to back area titles as well as back to back 6A State Playoff appearances. In his Senior year his high school was split into three smaller schools and David was sent to Paul W. Bryant High School where he led his Stampede team to an Area title and a 5A State Playoff appearance. That is one hell of a high school career if you ask me.
David then attended the University of Alabama for college and as a freshmen in 2005 he led the South Eastern Conference (SEC) with a .183 Batting average against (BAA) with a team high 32 games played, 3 of them being as a starting pitcher. That season he was named Freshman All SEC team and Freshmen All American by Baseball America. His success did not stop there as he led the Crimson Tide to a 25th SEC title in his sophmore season appearing in 29 games and led all of the SEC with 10 saves. David Robertson was 21 years old after that season so that made him eligible for the MLB First Year Player draft after his sophmore season and not after his junior season like most college players. The Yankees ended up drafting him in the 17th round of that draft in 2006. That season he also played in the Cape Cod league in summer ball and ended up winning the Cape Cod League MVP. The Yankees signed him in August of 2006 .
In college Robertson threw very hard while easily and comfortable sitting in the 94-95 mph range. He now obviously sits in the low 90's with what is described as a "natural" cutter. Robertson, surprisingly not that you can tell by his stats, actually struggled with his control while in college. Control is something that he has definitively not struggled with in his major league career. In college, and it is still true today, he had a fastball that he could not throw straight to save his life thus making it a "natural" cutter to go along with a plus curve ball and a plus slider.
David Robertson, albeit in a short sample size, has had a very good start to his career. Being called up in 2008 from Scranton (twice) he did not take advantage of the experience, being sent down the first time after compiling a 6.31 ERA. In 2009 he was called up again from AAA after a Xavier Nady injury shut him down but was sent down the very next day to make room for Juan Miranda. Finally in May of 2009 Robertson was called up, and stayed up, after a Brian Bruney injury. The 2009 playoffs is where he received his name of "Houdini" as he came into two separate situation with multiple runners on, once in each of the ALDS and ALCS, and did not allow a single run to score.
David Robertson was named an American League all star in 2011, replacing David Price, and finished that season with an astounding 100 strike outs as the Yankees set up man.He also received one vote, probably from his mother, in the AL CY Young and AL MVP award voting in 2011. David Robertson, in my opinion, is the heir apparent to Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. All the best to him and his family and especially to his foundation the High Socks for Hope, which I recommend everyone checking out. Basically he set it up to help members of his home town in Alabama recover from the tornado strikes in 2011 and even donated $100 for every strike out that he got in 2011.
That is it. Our special edition posts of Meet A Prospect is over. I hope you enjoyed, I hope you shared the posts, and most of all I hope you learned something. Thank you everyone for reading.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)