Rob Mallicoat, once recognized as the Houston Astros’ top minor league prospect in 1986, passed away Sunday at age 60 after a long battle with colon cancer.
A left-handed pitcher, Mallicoat was selected by the Astros in the first round of the January 1984 draft out of Taft (Calif.) College. He quickly made a name for himself, dominating at Single-A Osceola in 1985 with a 16-6 record and a 1.36 ERA, earning a chance to compete for the Astros’ fifth starter role in spring training the following year.
“I see him in the starting rotation for us,” Astros manager Hal Lanier told the Houston Post during 1986 spring training. “Whether it’s this year or next year, I don’t know.”
Baseball America ranked Mallicoat as Houston’s top prospect, and the team assigned the 21-year-old to Triple-A Tucson. However, author Dan Good later noted that a freak Achilles injury suffered while golfing that spring altered the course of his career.
While the Astros narrowly missed their first World Series appearance in 1986, Mallicoat struggled in the minors before debuting as a reliever late in the 1987 season. Shoulder surgeries sidelined him for the next two years, but he managed a comeback in 1991, posting a 3.86 ERA over 24 relief outings. He made 23 more appearances in 1992 before another shoulder surgery derailed his progress.
Mallicoat went on to pitch briefly in Corpus Christi and overseas in China before retiring in 1995 at age 30. Over his MLB career, he went 0–2 with a 5.70 ERA, earning his lone save in 1991 with three innings of one-hit relief against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.
Following his baseball career, Mallicoat settled in the Pacific Northwest and transitioned to a long career in IT, spending nearly three decades in the field, including three years as a senior program manager at Microsoft.
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