WASHINGTON — It may not be the hometown Mariners, but Jeff Ridgway found a taker.
The former Port Angeles High School standout signed a minor league contract to pitch for the Washington Nationals organization last week.
Ridgway’s agent hooked him up with the Nationals during baseball’s winter meetings in Indianapolis.
The contract, while not guaranteed, gives the left-handed reliever a chance to pitch his way back to majors, where he last appeared in an Atlanta Braves uniform in September of 2008.
The fact that it would be with the Nationals, a perpetually bad team that had a league-worst record of 59-103 last year, means little to Ridgway.
“I’m willing to do anything to get back on the field, whether it is with the Yankees or the Nationals,” said Ridgway, who will enter his 11th season in professional baseball next spring.
“In the grand scheme of things, it’s a weight off the shoulders [to sign a contract]. I can actually relax now this offseason and focus on March and getting ready for the season.”
Ridgway got a chance to work out for Mariners brass earlier this year, but did not receive a contract offer.
Other teams contacted his agent, Ridgway said, but he ultimately inked a deal with Washington.
He will report to the Nationals’ minor league camp in March, where he will compete for a roster spot on either the Harrisburg Senators of the Double-A Eastern League or Syracuse Chiefs of the Triple-A International League.
“It was bittersweet,” Ridgway said. “I really was kind of partial to going to Seattle, but in the end it wouldn’t have been fair to myself to just single it out to one team.
“I needed to be a little more open minded because of my history.”
The history Ridgway is referring to includes five surgeries on his left arm.
Two of those came in the 1 ½ years after Atlanta Braves doctors discovered a loose bone fragment in his left elbow in September 2008.
His elbow was scoped upon the discovery, but his elbow didn’t fully heal in time for spring training in March and his performance suffered.
He was released by the Braves prior to the team breaking camp. When he went under the knife days later, doctors discovered more loose bone in his elbow and removed it.
Ridgway put together a string of good performances in the majors prior to going on the injured list. He was called up twice by the Braves in 2008, posting a 3.72 ERA in 10 relief appearances.
He earned his first major league win Sept. 13, 2008, against the Mets in Shea Stadium, but his season came to an end immediately afterward when the elbow problems were discovered.
“When I was at Shea Stadium throwing the ball in the big leagues, I felt like I was hitting on all cylinders,” Ridgway said.
“It baffled me that it took a turn like that. It’s amazing how quick you can lose something.”
Ridgway has made 13 appearances in his major league career, having also pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays in September 2007.
He has a career ERA of 9.90 with 1-0 record and eight strikeouts in 10 innings pitched.
He rehabbed his elbow in Tempe, Ariz., this summer after being released by the Braves.
He said his arm feels healthy again, and that he’s ready to resume his quest to become a fixture in the majors.
“I don’t take anything for granted, but whether it be crazy or not I think [the majors] is where I belong when I’m healthy,” he said. “This is one of those things that I still think about and feel all the time.
“If that fire was gone, I would admit that it’s gone and do something else. But I feel the drive like I felt when I was 19.
“Until my arm falls off, I’m not going to shut it down.”
