Shawn Anthony Dubin (born September 6, 1995) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Amateur career

Dubin played soccer and baseball at Allegany-Limestone High School in Allegany, New York. He initially enrolled at Jamestown Community College where he hoped to play college soccer but dropped out and got a job at Lowe's. He was persuaded by a friend to try out for the college baseball team at SUNY Erie and earned a spot on the team.^[1] After one year at Erie, he transferred to the University at Buffalo where he played two seasons before Buffalo's baseball program folded in 2017.^[2] He played collegiate summer baseball with the Olean Oilers and won the 2016 New York Collegiate Baseball League championship. His eventual promotion to the Major Leagues would make him the first Oilers player to reach the majors.^[3] He finished out his college career in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) at Georgetown College.^[2] He was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 13th round of the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft.^[4]

Professional career

Dubin made his professional debut in 2018 with the Low-A Tri-City ValleyCats, pitching to a 4.60 ERA in 14 appearances. In 2019, he pitched for the Single-A Quad Cities River Bandits and High-A Fayetteville Woodpeckers, accumulating a 7–5 record and 3.58 ERA with 151 strikeouts across 25 games (19 of them starts). Due to the cancellation of the 2020 Minor League Baseball season due to COVID-19, he did not pitch for a team, but was a member of the Astros' 60-man player pool.^[5][6]

The Astros invited Dubin to their Spring Training in 2021.^[7] He did not make the team and spent the year with the Triple-A Sugar Land Skeeters, working to a 3.44 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 49.2 innings of work across 16 contests. He was selected to the 40-man roster following the season on November 19, 2021.^[8]

Dubin was optioned to the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys to begin the 2023 season.^[9] In 9 games (5 starts), he struggled to a 7.96 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 26.0 innings pitched. On June 18, 2023, Dubin was promoted to the major leagues for the first time.^[10] He had fifteen friends and family fly to Houston from Western New York but did not appear in that day's game.^[2] He made his debut on June 19 against the New York Mets and struck out the first batter he faced, Brandon Nimmo. He pitched two scoreless innings but allowed five runs in his third inning of work.^[11] Dubin made his first MLB start on July 2, allowing one run in four innings against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field.^[12] Following the game, the Astros added Brandon Bielak to the active roster and sent Dubin to Triple-A.^[13] Dubin finished the year in the minors, spending about three weeks of August on the injured list.^[14]