When the season started I was slated in as the 3rd starter and started the season very well composing a 5-0 record. After this start, I was moved from number 3 to number 1. Just a year ago I was a walk on, now I was considered the ace!
The rest of my college career went by very fast, and before I knew it my Senior year had arrived. My first start that year, I started against one of my close friends that was going to get drafted and play professionally. The only question was, by who? Since he was starting, there were a bunch of major league scouts there to see him pitch. I remember thinking to myself just before I stepped on to the rubber, "...one more year, one more year then I will go get a job...man I am sure going to miss this." I did not realize it at the time, but my friend, the opposing pitcher, had created yet another opportunity for me....major league scouts. I remember looking up in the stands and seeing all of them and thinking they were just their to see my buddy pitch. What did anyone want with a mid to high 80s (meaning 85-89 mphs) throwing right-hander?
I ended up throwing 8 innings and we lost 2-1 in extra innings. I gave up a homerun late that I believe still has not landed and that was it. After the game, my dad met me at the gate with the largest smile on his face that I have ever seen. He told me that I did not throw a fastball under 91, was up as high as 94, and that he thought there were some people there that wanted to speak to me. That is when I noticed that all of the scouts had hung around. I filled out more questionaires that night for pro teams that I could ever of imagined.
Three quarters of the way through my senior year, I broke the all time strikeout record for my school forever leaving my mark. It was such a personal accomplishment for me because I could still hear my high school coach, "...slow as a turtle, flip a coin...." Before I knew it college baseball was over and I had graduated with a computer science degree. With little contact with the pro scouts that I had filled questionaires out for, there was a lot of uncertainty in my near future. I knew that I needed to start looking for a job, but man I wanted to still play baseball and on June 7th, 2006 I got my wish.
On the second day of the draft the Pittsburgh Pirates took me in the 29th round! I had watched every round of the draft until the 29th rolled around. I had had enough of the emotional roller coaster, and closed my computer when the phone rang. On top of that my mom had gone to the store, my girlfriend at the time (now wife) had gone with her, and my dad had left the house too. I don't recall where my brother was, but I was alone when it happened. When I answered the phone, it was a friend, congradulating me for being drafted. I thought he was kidding, I didn't know that the Pirates had actually drafted me. While on the phone with him, an unfimiliar number popped up on my phone, and when I answered, it was the Pittsburgh Pirates with the exciting news.
I spent 3 years in the Pirates farm system, with never a true defined role. I pitched as high as Double A and was released in spring training in my fourth year. It was even more of a suprise than getting drafted, considering the conversation I had with a pitching coach the day before I was released in which he promised I was going to break camp with him.
To make a long story short I got caught up in the business side of professional baseball. To better explain, it came down to me and another pitcher that the Pirates had a lot of money invested in biding for the same spot. Needless to say the investment won and I was released...business is what I was told. All of this was explained to me on the phone by the pitching coach that made me the promise not 12 hours before.
Being released stung, but I reminded myself of all the adversity I had overcome to get to where I was and have no regrets. From high school bench warmer, to small college walk on, to record holder, to professional baseball player. And to think it all started with one opportiunity...
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