Shawn Hillegas

Shawn Patrick Hillegas (born August 21, 1964 in Dos Palos, California) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics.

Hillegas was 6'3", 190 pounds (although one source says he was 6'2", 208 pounds) and he threw and batted right-handed. He attended Forest Hills High School in Sidman, Pennsylvania and then Middle Georgia College.

Hillegas was drafted by the California Angels in the 26th round (657th overall) of the 1983 draft. He opted not to sign that year, but in 1984 he did sign after being drafted 4th overall in the first round by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He did well in the minors for the most part, having only one real bad stretch: in 1986 with the Albuquerque Dukes, he had a 6.17 ERA in 9 games. His best minor league season statistically was 1984 with the Vero Beach Dodgers, where he had a 1.83 ERA in 13 games.

On August 9, 1987, Hillegas made his major league debut. He lived up to his first round status in his debut-he pitched 8 ²⁄₃ innings with 6 strikeouts and 2 earned runs for the win. Perhaps his best Major League season was his rookie year-he went 4-3 with a 3.57 ERA in 58 innings pitched.

Overall in his career, he went 24-38, with a 4.61 ERA. He never quite lived up to his 1st round status as a whole. As a batter, he went 2-29-that's a .069 batting average. He committed 9 errors in the field, for a .900 fielding percentage. He balked only once in his career.

He played his final game on July 17, 1993.

• On August 30, 1988, Hillegas was traded to the White Sox from the Dodgers for Ricky Horton.
• On December 4, 1990, Hillegas was traded with Eric King from the White Sox to the Indians for Cory Snyder and minor leaguer Lindsay Foster.