Rob Mallicoat (1964-2025) – RIP Baseball

RIP to left-handed pitcher Rob Mallicoat, a one-time top prospect in the Houston organization before an array of injuries limited his major-league career to 53 games over 3 seasons. He died in Yakima, WA, on October 19 at the age of 60 from colon cancer. He played for the Houston Astros in 1987 and 1991-92.

Robbin Dale Mallicoat was born in St. Helens, OR, on November 16, 1964. As a sophomore for Hermiston High School, he threw his first-ever no-hitter on May 1, 1981, striking out 14 Ontario High batters in the 4-0, 7-inning game. He set a school record with 110 strikeouts that year. He formed a formidable pitching duo with teammate Mark Keimig, and the two hurlers made Hermiston one of the top baseball schools in the area, winning the Intermountain Conference championship in 1982. Mallicoat transferred to Hillsboro High in his senior year and had an ERA of 0.85 and 118 strikeouts in 71 innings — with a 2-5 record. He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the Eighth Round of the 1983 June Amateur Draft, but he elected to attend Taft College in California. The Houston Astros then drafted him in the 1984 Secondary Phase Draft, which took place in January. He was the 16th overall player taken in the First Round. Mallicoat decided to pitch for Taft in the spring of 1984 and turned in a perfect 7-0 record and 1.71 ERA. He struck out 109 batters in 79-1/3 innings and yielded just 30 walks and 31 hits. Mallicoat was named the 1984 Western State Conference Player of the Year, and he elected to turn pro that summer.

Source: Hermiston Herald, January 18, 1985.

“This has been my goal all through baseball,” Mallicoat said when he signed with Houston at the end of May 1984. “It’s going to be hard work, but I think it’s going to be a good experience.”

Mallicoat began his pro career with a pair of Class-A teams that summer, and he ended the year with a 3-4 record and 4.02 ERA while pitching for Asheville and Auburn. His fastball and slider mix got him plenty of strikeouts — 63 in 69-1/3 innings — but his control was a little shaky. Immediately after completing his first year in the pros, Mallicoat went through additional instruction at camps in Florida and Arizona and then pitched in winter ball in Colombia. Following that offseason work, Mallicoat spent 1985 with Osceola of the Florida State League and had a brilliant season. He led the league with 16 wins, 159 strikeouts and a 1.37 ERA. Mallicoat nearly made the jump straight to the majors in 1986, as Houston manager Hal Lanier was very impressed by the lefty in spring training. “I’d hate to bring him up and not use him. I’d rather see him pitch in Triple-A this season so he can get some innings and experience,” Lanier said. Then Mallicoat stumbled in a sand trap while golfing and badly sprained his left ankle. He missed two months of action and then lost 8 games without a win for Triple-A Tucson and Double-A Columbus before season-ending surgery. A fully recovered Mallicoat won 10 games in the minors in 1987, and he was rewarded with a trip to the major leagues in September.

Mallicoat debuted on September 11, 1987, at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. The Padres had a comfortable 10-0 lead when the rookie entered the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. He struck out two of the first three batters he faced but allowed an RBI single to Chris Brown. That was the only scoring the Padres could manage off Mallicoat in 3 innings of work. His second appearance, on September 16, was in another blowout loss, and he tossed 2 scoreless innings against San Francisco. Mallicoat then faced one batter in an extra-inning game against San Diego on the 19th. “I pitched well, but I ended up walking him [John Kruk],” Mallicoat related to the East Oregonian. “Everybody was really happy with the way I was throwing, I just didn’t happen to get him out.” Mallicoat took a 1.80 ERA into a start against Cincinnati on October 2. He was roughed up by the Reds, allowing run-scoring hits to Tracy Jones and Dave Concepcion and was charged with 4 runs on 5 hits in 1-2/3 innings. That outing left him with a 6.75 ERA, with 6 walks and 4 strikeouts in 6-2/3 innings.

Source: The Orlando Sentinel, February 25, 1987.

Going into spring training in 1988, Mallicoat was considered one of the Astros’ top prospects and was a candidate to make the team as a left-handed reliever. Then he came down with shoulder tendonitis. The injury was expected to delay the start of his 1988 season. Instead, it canceled it completely, and the only pitching he did was in rehab in Florida. Further shoulder problems wiped out his 1989 season as well. After a surgery to repair torn cartilage by the Houston physician didn’t fix his shoulder, Mallicoat underwent shoulder reconstruction surgery by Dr. Frank Jobe. It was a riskier procedure, but it allowed him to return to the mound after recuperating. Mallicoat’s fastball, which had been in the 90s, had dropped to the upper 80s, but he compensated by improving his slider and adding a curveball to his mix. “I want to give it every chance I can to come back,” he said that October. “If not, I would always feel I had cheated myself.” The Astros nursed Mallicoat along slowly, and he pitched fewer than 30 innings in the low minors in 1990. He struggled with his control but had enough success that the Astros tried him at the higher levels in 1991. The results were mixed, but when the team needed a left-handed reliever in the summer, Mallicoat returned to the majors after more than 3 years away.

Mallicoat’s first appearance came against Los Angeles on August 17, in the seventh inning. Darryl Strawberry walked, and Eddie Murray doubled, but Mallicoat struck out Juan Samuel before being relieved by Curt Schilling. The very next day, he again entered the game in the seventh inning, with the Astros leading Los Angeles 6-4. He stranded 2 baserunners, striking out Strawberry and Gary Carter to help get out of the seventh, and he didn’t allow any runs in the eighth or ninth inning either. Houston got the 8-4 win, and Mallicoat earned his first major-league save. The Astros were using Al Osuna and Schilling as co-closers at the time, so Mallicoat became a setup man and frequent LOOGY (left-handed one-out guy). He made a total of 24 appearances with Houston in 1991, and 13 of them were for an inning or less. And for the most part, Mallicoat was pretty good. He struggled at times; he threw 3 pitches to the San Francisco Giants on August 20 and gave up a grand slam to Kevin Mitchell and a solo homer to Will Clark. He sported an 0-2 record but had a 3.86 ERA. He struck out 18 batters and walked 13 in 23-1/3 innings, and those two home runs were the only ones he allowed. More importantly, he consistently pitched on short rest or no rest at all, demonstrating that his left shoulder could withstand the strain of being a major-league pitcher. Mallicoat started the 1992 season in Triple-A Tucson, but he returned to Houston in May after 7 straight scoreless appearances. He was brilliant for the first month, with a 2.25 ERA in his first 15 games. He was knocked around after that stretch, allowing a total of 7 runs in 3-2/3 innings on June 14 and 15. Mallicoat was returned to Tucson at the end of June with a 5.96 ERA. He was brought up in September and allowed 4 runs in 2 appearances, raising the ERA to 7.23. Mallicoat pitched in 23 games and also made 2 appearances as a pinch-runner. He replaced Scott Servais, who had singled, in the ninth inning of a September 22 doubleheader nightcap against Cincinnati. He reached third base on a Casey Candaele double and scored on a Rafael Ramirez single, as a Houston rally fell just short in a 4-3 loss. It was Mallicoat’s final appearance in the major leagues. He was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff in March 1993 and once again underwent another surgery, courtesy of Dr. Jobe. It was widely assumed that another surgery would be a career-ender, and Houston released Mallicoat in October.

In parts of 3 seasons, Mallicoat appeared in a total of 53 games for Houston, with 51 coming as a pitcher. He had an 0-2 record and 5.70 ERA, with 1 save. In 53-2/3 innings, he allowed 56 hits and 38 walks while notching 42 strikeouts.

The shoulder surgery erased Mallicoat’s 1993 season, but it didn’t end his career. He signed with the San Diego Padres and made 2 appearances for High-A Rancho Cucamonga in 1994. He was 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA before leaving the team in April, unsatisfied with his performance. He was thinking about his next career move when the Kansas City Royals called him in the spring of 1995. “I think they just called to see if I was alive or not,” he joked, but the team was looking for replacement players, as the strike that canceled the end of the 1994 season had turned into a lockout by the others. “I’m just walking scar tissue,” he said, but he pitched brilliantly for Kansas City in the spring. He didn’t allow a run in his first 10 innings and was a lock for a bullpen role until the strike was settled. Mallicoat pitched in 3 games for Triple-A Omaha before he was released, and then Mallicoat pitched for an independent team in Corpus Christi and a team in China. But whatever magic he had discovered in spring training had worn off, and two reconstructive surgeries on his shoulder had taken their toll. Mallicoat retired at the age of 30. In 9 seasons in the minor leagues, he had a 39-35 record and 3.07 ERA, with 585 strikeouts.

In retirement, Mallicoat earned a degree in computer science from Taft University. He then spent more than 25 years in the IT world, working for Quest Software, Dell Technologies, and Microsoft. Per baseball writer Dan Good, who recently interviewed Mallicoat, he is survived by three children and his partner, Tracy.

Rob Mallicoat (1964-2025) – RIP Baseball

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