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By Ben McCarty
News staff writer
June 20, 2009
Andy
Baldwin is 30 minutes away from the big leagues.
That’s
how long it takes to get from Cheney Stadium, home of the AAA
Tacoma Rainiers, and Safeco Field, home of the team’s parent
club, the Seattle Mariners.
“It’s
right there, but there are so many reminders that you are not
there,” Baldwin, a 2001 graduate of Hood River Valley High
School, said Wednesday as the Rainiers prepared to face the
Portland Beavers at PGE Park.
Reminders like long bus rides instead of charter planes, peanut
butter sandwiches instead of opulent post-game spreads,
significantly smaller crowds, and the biggest difference of all:
the pay.
This is
Baldwin’s sixth year of playing pro ball, after being drafted
out of Oregon State by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2004.
After
living in Oregon for most of his life, he suddenly found himself
on the other side of the country, pitching in the metropolis of
Batavia, N.Y., for the Batavia Muckdogs, as well as visiting
teams like the Mahoning Valley Scrappers and the Aberdeen
Ironbirds.
“There
was nowhere up there that I would really want to go back to,”
Baldwin said.
He was
traded by the Phillies to the Mariners in 2006 for pitcher Jaime
Moyer and has been moving up the ladder since then.
He
pitched for single A Inland Empire in 2006, AA West Tennessee in
2007, and in Tacoma since 2008.
Now he
is just waiting for his opportunity.
Baldwin
has seen what it takes to get the major leagues. On his Tacoma
team, 26 of his teammates have seen time in the majors during
their career. “There are so many guys on this team that have
gone, especially this year,” he said. “It’s nice to know what it
takes.”
Baldwin
has established himself as one of the most consistent pitchers
for the Rainiers.
After
starting last season as a reliever, he moved into the starting
rotation and received the team’s “King of the Hill” award as its
best pitcher after going 10-5 with a 4.75 era.
He
doesn’t blow hitters away with a dominating fastball, but
doesn’t walk many hitters or give up many home runs.
He can
also throw a bunch of innings. He currently ranks second in the
Pacific Coast League in innings pitched.
“I’ve
discovered what I do as a pitcher; I’m not gong to dominate
guys,” he said. “Now it is about developing consistency and
waiting for the opportunity.”
When he
was pitching at HRV, Baldwin never even thought he would have
the opportunity to make it this far.
“I
played with a lot of good players in high school,” he said. “I
was on varsity as a sophomore and there were guys that I thought
were so much better than me.”
The
Eagles struggled during Baldwin’s senior year, but he still
earned a scholarship to Oregon State.
During
his junior season, scouts started to take notice and the
Phillies took him in the fifth round.
“I never
thought I would have a baseball life until maybe halfway through
my junior year in college,” he said. “A lot of guys that’s what
they know they want to do, they are practially born into it, so
I’ve had to work harder than many guys.”
On
Wednesday, he took the mound at PGE Park in front of a large
contingent of hometown fans.
When he
left in the eighth inning with a 5-2 lead, he got more applause
than the Beavers players.
“There
were a lot of ex-Eagles up there,” he said.
It’s
these trips back to Portland that Baldwin enjoys most about
playing in the Northwest.
He lives
in Portland in the offseason now, and still has plenty of
friends from college and high school in the area.
“This is
my favorite place to play,” he said. “Just pitching on the West
Coast is great.”
He has
pitched all over the country, from upstate New York to the
California desert to the swamps of Florida and humidity of New
Orleans.
“It just
gives me an appreciation of how great Oregon is,” he said.
His
travels have also let him see how well-known Hood River is
across the country.
“I’ll be
in someplace like New Orleans and somebody will say ‘You’re from
Hood River?’ and either say its beautiful or have heard that it
is beautiful,” he said.
At
26-Baldwin is right about the age where things need to start
happening for a minor leaguer if they are going to have shot at
getting to the big leagues, so he has dedicated himself to
showing the Mariners what he can do.
“I’ve
shown the organization what I need to in terms of my abilities;
I don’t think there is any doubt about that,” he said. “Now I
just need to get the opportunity.”
He
went a long way toward helping himself toward that Wednesday
night, when he pitched a shutout into the sixth inning before
allowing a run on a wild pitch, and pitched into the eighth
inning before being pulled after a lead-off home run.
The
Rainiers held on despite a lead Beavers rally for a 7-5 victory
and got Baldwin his team-leading fifth win of the season. During
the three-game series, two of Baldwin’s teammates, Mike Carp and
Chris Woodward, both got calls to the big league club.
The
Mariners have shuffled their roster plenty this season, and with
a pitching staff hit particularly hard by injuries, his chance
at a major league job is just a phone call and half-hour drive
away.
“When it
comes,” Baldwin said, “I’ll be ready.”
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