Thursday, June 26, 2008
Ready for the next dream sequence
Aaron McFarling
Recent columns
This is a story about baseball dreams.
But there are many types of dreams, some more realistic than others. And few visions are more real, more sobering, more indicative of the minor-league meat grinder than the one Matt Trent had recently.
Trent dreamed that he got released.
And sadly, some dreams really do come true.
Let's back up a bit, to mid-March. Head out west to the Colorado Rockies spring training in Tucson, Ariz. Trent, a Roanoke native and former Cave Spring pitcher, was preparing to enter his fourth season of professional baseball.
He had battled through injury and illness in the Cardinals' and Rockies' systems, but his minor-league numbers sparkled like prospects' gold: a 2.71 career ERA, 127 strikeouts and only 111 hits allowed in 13913 innings, all at the Class A level.
Opening day was mere weeks away. The 25-year-old right-hander assumed this would be the year he'd get the call to move to Double-A. But one day, during a workout, that outlook changed with one conversation in the outfield.
"My buddy is in the big-league camp," Trent recalls a fellow pitcher saying. "He said there's going to be a lot of moves tomorrow. A bunch of guys are really bitter because they're going to get dropped down to Double-A from big-league camp. They're not going to Triple-A."
Trent gulped.
"Really?" Trent said. "Are they all relievers?"
"Yep."
Trent's stomach turned. The numbers suddenly looked jumbled. If those guys were heading to Double-A, then where would that leave him?
"I immediately went from thinking, OK, I'm going to make Double-A to thinking I'm going to get released," Trent said. "Which is pretty crazy."
That night at the team hotel, Trent had trouble sleeping. When he finally did doze, he saw himself being called into the manager's office -- and let go.
The next day, that's exactly what happened.
"I just knew it," Trent said. "It was weird. Because if I had been released the day before, I would have been the most shocked person ever.
"As it was, I wasn't that shocked. I was upset. I was embarrassed."
And he was at a crossroads in the only career he'd ever known.
But this is a story about baseball dreams, remember. And the best dreamers don't let one shocking vision-turned-reality define them. They simply conjure up a new one. Forge on. Dream anew.
Which brings us to Matt Trent's summer home: An apartment atop a garage in York, Pa. The inside is fully furnished, with a kitchen, a bathroom and all the necessities. And the rent is unbeatable; the owners let Trent and his wife, Emily, stay there for about $100 a month.
That's a good thing, considering Emily -- a bright woman with a degree in interior architecture and design -- is out of a job for the first time in their three-year marriage.
But they both want to be there, because Trent isn't ready to give up yet. He still thinks he can play.
And so far, he's proving it.
In 22 appearances with the York Revolution -- one of eight teams in the Atlantic League, a high-level independent circuit -- Trent has compiled a 3.10 ERA. That ranks fourth on the staff among pitchers with at least 20 innings. Opposing batters are hitting just .216 against Trent, the lowest average against any York pitcher with at least 10 innings.
And this isn't just some random collection of arms. The York staff includes former major leaguers Frank Castillo (Red Sox, Marlins), Aaron Myette (Reds), Aaron Rakers (Padres, Orioles) and Corey Thurman (Blue Jays). The team's closer, Dave Veres, was a 10-year big-leaguer who amassed 31 saves for the Rockies in 1999.
At 25, Trent is among the youngest players in the league. He got the opportunity just days after his release, when he called a York representative who looked at his numbers and offered him a contract. Trent signed it immediately.
"I just decided, hey, I'm going to give this a year and see what happens," said Trent, who worked out with former Hidden Valley ace Mikey O'Brien in Roanoke before reporting to York. "If I can be successful and get an opportunity to get picked up, then I will. If not, we'll just have to see what our situation is."
One thing's certain: He's done letting the negative dreams hijack the positive.
That's always a challenge for any professional baseball player, most of whom lug the possibility of a release to the ballpark every day. But Trent looks around the veteran-laden Atlantic League and sees so many guys who just missed, or should have been, or simply got hosed, and it's helped him steel himself against the specter.
Just last week, York played the Long Island Ducks, whose leadoff man is Alex Sanchez, a .296 major-league hitter in 1,527 at-bats with Milwaukee, Detroit, Tampa Bay and San Francisco. In 2007, he hit .359 at Triple-A -- and still wasn't re-signed by the White Sox.
"I've heard story after story from guys in our league," Trent said. "I'm like, how are these guys here?"
Because it's a brutal business, that's how. And Trent knows it. Maybe if he hadn't been traded last year to the Rockies from the Cardinals -- who drafted him in the 30th round out of Wingate University in 2005 -- he'd still be in affiliated ball. Maybe if he still threw 91-94 mph instead of the 88-91 he's clocking now following arthroscopic elbow surgery, he'd be in Double-A. Or maybe if he hadn't experimented with that cut fastball in spring training. ...
It's futile to consider it all. All he can do is show up, work hard, produce and hope. The coaches and veterans on the Revolution have helped him harness his 6-foot-2, 220-pound frame, creating a more fluid motion. Perhaps this will help unlock another chance.
Or perhaps not.
"There's two types of baseball players," Trent said. "There's guys that are going to keep playing forever, even when they need to quit. And there's guys that need to say, 'Hey, I'm done, because it's selfish for me to continue playing.' "
Trent knows he's somewhere between Guy 1 and Guy 2. He doesn't want to drag his wife through multiple years of quixotic baseball. But he doesn't want to give up too early, either.
There are a few things Trent knows for sure. He has a fallback option, a college degree in business administration. He has Christian faith, a resting place for all his worries. And he has no regrets, no matter what happens tomorrow or next week or next month.
Best of all? He still has his baseball dream.
The good kind.
