Seth Maness

On February 7, 2019, Maness signed with the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.

On May 1, 2019, Maness's contract was purchased by the Texas Rangers and he was assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. He produced a 8–4 record with a 5.38 ERA over 117 innings for Nashville and was named a 2019 Pacific Coast League All-Star.

On February 13, 2017, the Royals announced that Maness signed a minor league contract, with a $1.25 million incentive for reaching the major leagues. The Royals promoted Maness to the major leagues on May 10. He resigned a minor league deal on November 2, 2017. Maness was released from the organization on May 10, 2018.

An arbitration-eligible player prior to the 2016 season, Maness and the Cardinals agreed to a one-year, $1.4 million contract on January 15, 2016.

The Cardinals non-tendered him on December 2, 2016, making him a free agent.

Maness was born in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The son of Michael Maness and Jan Andrews Benton, he has two siblings—Bailey and Tanner. He attended Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines, North Carolina, where he played for the school's baseball team. As a sophomore, he earned first team All-State and conference Player of the Year honors. His father served as one of his coaches.

Maness started his professional career with the Batavia Muckdogs of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League. After appearing in the All-Star Game, the Cardinals promoted him to the Palm Beach Cardinals of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League. He finished the season with the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Class A Midwest League.

Maness made his MLB debut on May 3. He pitched one inning in his debut, against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park in the eighth inning, giving up no hits, and getting three consecutive groundouts (the third out hit to him) for his debut, following the seventh inning debut of Carlos Martinez who was brought up earlier that day. On May 15, 2013 he became the first Cardinal rookie pitcher since 1900 with three relief wins in his first five major league appearances. In 66 games with St. Louis, Maness went 5–2 with 15 holds, 1 save and a 2.32 ERA, striking out 35 in 62 innings. He led the team in ERA.

Maness pitched five effective innings in the Cardinals postseason run, posting an earned run average of 1.80. The one earned run he surrendered was a three-run home run to Jonny Gomes in Game 4 of the 2013 World Series. The Cardinals would not lead in a World Series game after this home run, falling in six games.

After a medical review of his injury, Maness had surgery on August 18, to fix his Ulnar collateral ligament of elbow joint instead of Tommy John surgery ligament replacement, drastically reducing his recovery time from 12–15 months to 6–8 months, which would make him available for Spring Training in 2017.

The St. Louis Cardinals selected Maness in the 11th round of the 2011 MLB draft, and Maness signed with the Cardinals.

Following high school, Maness enrolled at East Carolina University, majoring in accounting. He played college baseball for the East Carolina Pirates where he became a four-time first team All-Conference USA performer (2008–11). In 2009, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League. He finished his ECU career as the Pirates career leader in wins (38), strike outs (321), innings pitched (411.2), and games started (61). In 2010 Maness was named Conference USA Pitcher of the Year. The Florida Marlins drafted Maness in the 41st round of the 2010 MLB draft, but he did not sign.

Michael Seth Maness (/ˈ m eɪ n ɛ s / MAY -ness; born October 14, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals.