Doug Heinold

Douglas Wade Heinold
mistakenly listed as Heinhold in some sources

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 4", Weight 185 lb.
• High School Stroman High School

• Born January 12, 1955 in Victoria, TX USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Doug Heinold was selected by the New York Yankees in the first round of the 1973 amateur draft. He played six seasons in their organization, reaching the AAA level for four years before his career was ended by an arm injury.

Heinold was taken 13th overall in the 1973 draft, between Joe Edelen and Lee Mazzilli; while he did not pan out for the Yanks, they did better later in the draft with Mike Heath, LaMarr Hoyt and Garth Iorg. He made his pro debut with the 1973 Johnson City Yankees, going 5-4 with a 3.24 ERA. He struck out 73 and only walked 11 in 75 innings. The big right-hander was 9th in the Appalachian League in strikeouts and 10th in ERA. He also hit his only career home run.

Heinold dazzled for the 1974 Fort Lauderdale Yankees at 11-8, 2.26 with a 1.01 WHIP. He tied for 8th in the Florida State League with 3 shutouts, ranked 9th in ERA (between Gary Christenson and Rick Anderson) and was 10th with 108 strikeouts. He was part of a staff that had a 2.58 ERA; joining him in the rotation with sub-3 ERAs were Michael Rusk (12-8, 1.80), Neal Mersch (14-4, 2.04), Anderson (13-8, 2.29) and Hoyt (13-4, 2.40).

In 1975, Doug pitched for the West Haven Yankees (10-7, 2.29, 1.04 WHIP, 36 BB in 169 IP) and Syracuse Chiefs (3 R in 6 IP, 0-1). He was among the Eastern League leaders in ERA (5th, between William Davis and Mark Bomback) and hit batsmen (9, tied for first with Mike Armstrong. He joined Randy Lerch and Tom Farias in being picked as the EL's All-Star pitchers. He split 1976 between the same two clubs, going lights-out in AA for West Haven (7-3, 1.34, 10 BB in 74 IP) but proving human for the Chiefs (4-9, 4.73). Due to injury, he missed much of '78, going 1-2 with a save ans a 2.31 ERA in nine games for Syracuse. In 1978, he bounced between Fort Lauderdale (4-3, 2.44), West Haven (2-1, 4.32) and the Tacoma Yankees (1-2, 6.11).

Overall, the Texan hurler went 45-40 with a 2.83 ERA in 117 minor league games, completing 44 of 108 starts. He issued just 162 walks in 756 innings while allowing 724 hits and striking out 368.

Since 2008, Heinold has been an assistant coach at the University of Houston-Victoria.