George Kontos
George Nicholas Kontos (born June 12, 1985) is a former American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians. A right-handed pitcher, he grew up in Lincolnwood, Illinois, attended Niles West High School, where he starred in baseball, and went to Northwestern University to study economics. He played summer baseball with the Harwich Mariners in the Cape Cod League in 2005.
Drafted by the Yankees in the fifth round of the 2006 draft, Kontos worked his way through the minors, winning a league title with Staten Island in 2006. He had Tommy John surgery in 2009, which sidelined him for the season. After a brief stint in the Padres organization via the Rule 5 draft in 2010, he was returned to the Yankees and made his MLB debut on September 10, 2011.
Kontos was traded to the Giants before the 2012 season and became a reliable bullpen arm during their championship run, helping the team win the World Series that year. He remained with San Francisco through 2016, then signed one-year deals before being traded to the Pirates in August 2017. In 2018 he also spent time with the Indians and the Yankees. Kontos played in the minors and independent leagues in 2019 and retired from professional baseball in 2020.
After retiring, Kontos joined NBC Sports Bay Area as a pre- and postgame analyst for the Giants. He has a younger brother, Chris, who also played baseball.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:16 (CET).