Chad Billingsley

American baseball player (born 1984)

Chad Ryan Billingsley (born July 29, 1984) is an American former professional baseball right handed starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers from through and Philadelphia Phillies in He was a National League (NL) All Star in .

Billingsley attended Defiance High School in Defiance, Ohio, and played for the school's baseball team. Billingsley was a high school teammate of Major League pitcher Jon Niese. He was named to the Rawlings All American first team in his junior year as a utility player and as a pitcher in his senior year. As a senior in 2003, Billinglsey posted a 1.21 earned run average and 138 strikeouts in 69 innings. He also had a .383 batting average with 93 runs batted in and 24 home runs as a senior. Billingsley finished high school with a state record 502 strikeouts. He pitched three games and went 3–0 with a 2.45 ERA for Team USA, which won the bronze medal in the 2002 World Junior Baseball Championship in Sherbrooke, Quebec. He committed to attend the University of South Carolina.

The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Billingsley in the first round, with the 24th overall selection, in the 2003 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the Dodgers, receiving a signing bonus of $1.375 million. Billingsley pitched in 2003 for the Ogden Raptors of the Rookie level Pioneer League, compiling a record of 5–4 with a 2.83 ERA. He went 7–4 with a 2.35 ERA for the Vero Beach Dodgers of the Class A Advanced Florida State League in 2004, before being promoted to the Jacksonville Suns of the Class AA Southern League, where he pitched through 2005. He was 13–6 with a 3.51 ERA for Jacksonville in 2005. He started 2006 with the Las Vegas 51s of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League before being promoted to the Dodgers. According to Baseball America, Billingsley was the number one prospect in the Dodgers organization prior to being recalled to the major league roster in June 2006.

Billingsley signed a one year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies on January 29, 2015. He began the 2015 season on the 15 day disabled list to recover from his previous elbow surgery and made his debut with the Phillies on May 5, 2015.

Billingsley was a versatile pitcher, throwing four pitches with regularity and another two infrequently. He led with a four seam fastball at 90–93 mph and a sinker at 90–92 mph. He featured a cut fastball in the upper 80s, an occasional slider in the mid 80s, a changeup in the mid high 80s, and a curveball that is usually in the upper 70s. (Occasionally, he threw it as slowly as 65 mph, so that it resembled an eephus pitch.) Billingsley typically worked right handed hitters with all of his pitches except for his slider and changeup. Against lefties, he used the changeup more frequently. He used his curveball in many two strike counts once he established the strike zone with fastballs.

In January 2018, Billingsley was named head baseball coach at Conrad Weiser High School in Pennsylvania. Billingsley resigned from the position in June 2021 (can't be verified).