He was selected by the Phillies in the fourth round of the
1985 Major League Baseball draft. Although he had signed a
letter of intent to continue his college baseball at
Loyola Marymount, he chose to sign with the Phillies and was assigned to the
Bend Phillies to begin his professional career. In the offseason after the 1986 season, Ritchie played in Mexico for the
Venados de Mazatlán. Ritchie made his Major League debut on May 1, 1987 against the
Cincinnati Reds. On June 29, he recorded the first
save of his big league career by retiring nine consecutive batters. Ritchie would total 62.1
innings pitched over 49 relief appearances in 1987, the fullest season of his Major League career. Ritchie spent entirety of the 1989 and 1990 seasons in Triple-A with the newly formed
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, primarily as a
starting pitcher. He was credit with throwing a
no-hitter in the first game of a
doubleheader against the
Syracuse Chiefs on May 25, 1990. In 2014, Ritchie would return to throw out a
ceremonial first pitch in celebration of the franchise's 25th anniversary. On May 7, 1991, Ritchie returned to the Major Leagues for the first time since 1988 after the Phillies'
Lenny Dykstra and
Darren Daulton were injured in a
drunk driving car accident. On June 4, Ritchie hit
Atlanta Braves veteran outfielder
Otis Nixon with a pitch for the first time in Nixon's career. Nixon charged the mound, kicked Ritchie in the stomach and punched him in the head three times. Ritchie was suspended for one game. Ritchie was injured in the scuffle and placed on the
disabled list but was activated and served his suspension a few weeks later on June 27. Ritchie saw consistent use out of the Philadelphia
bullpen to start the 1992 season but was demoted to the minors on July 29 and did not appear in another Major League game in his career. He became a
free agent after the 1992 season and signed with the
Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers released him during
spring training and he caught on with the
Detroit Tigers five days later. He was invited to the
Triple-A All-Star Game that year. He spent the following season in
Double-A in the
Cincinnati Reds farm system. Ritchie returned to baseball in 1997 after a hiatus of two seasons spent working in construction and
civil engineering. He spent the 1997 season in
independent baseball with the
Salinas Peppers and joined the
Mission Viejo Vigilantes the following year. While playing for Mission Viejo, he commuted from his parents' home in Glendale. He departed the
Western Baseball League in the middle of the 1998 season to pitch for the
Mercuries Tigers in the
Chinese Professional Baseball League. ==Post-playing career and personal life==