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Ziegler’s route to the majors was tortuous, but he’s been wondrous since
By JOE POSNANSKIThe Kansas City Star
He could not believe it. He had made it to the big leagues, finally, after all this time. Everyone has a story about how they got to the big leagues, of course. Few of those stories involve two skull fractures, a release, a whole new pitching style and six years in the minor leagues.
Whatever. He had made it. On the last day of May, Ziegler entered the game in the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers. There were two outs, a man on third and he promptly gave up a run-scoring single to Ian Kinsler. It did not count as his run, of course — though he was not thinking about that then. Ziegler picked off Kinsler to get out of the inning. So in his first major-league outing, he did not actually retire a batter.
Three days later, he went into a game against Texas in the fifth inning. The first batter he faced, Miguel Cabrera, launched a line drive to deep right field. It was caught. He then hit Carlos Guillen. And he got Edgar Renteria to ground out to third.
The groundout was important. Groundballs were why Ziegler finally had made it to the big leagues. His new submarine pitching style was getting ground balls in the minor leagues — though nobody knew if that would continue in the big time. The next inning, he got three more ground-ball outs.
•••
Ziegler pitched again the next day, another scoreless inning, this one sealed when he forced Cabrera to hit into a double play. He held the Angels scoreless on back-to-back appearances in June, then shut down the Yankees on three consecutive groundouts.
That was about the time when Brad Ziegler started to feel that something special was going on. There had been so many times in his crazy career when he thought he might not make it. He had been a good a pitcher growing up in Odessa, Mo. He was a conventional pitcher then — threw over the top. He had a pretty good fastball, like a lot of kids. He went to Missouri State and pitched well — won 12 games his senior year.
That was the year Philadelphia drafted him in the 20th round. As a rule, college seniors drafted in the 20th round have roughly the same opportunity to make the big leagues as college seniors who don’t play baseball. Sure enough, Ziegler pitched three games for the Phillies minor-league team in Batavia, N.Y., and then he got released.
So that was the first time that Ziegler wondered if he would ever make it to the majors. He overcame those doubts — his father always told him to stick with things. He pitched in the Northern League for a few games. The Oakland A’s noticed him, signed him and sent him to Modesto, Calif. And he pitched well there — won nine games.
Then he was pitching in the playoffs when he faced Fred Lewis, who is in the big leagues now, and Lewis smashed a line drive that hit Ziegler in the forehead and cracked his skull. “I wanted to finish the game,” Ziegler would say — because that’s the kind of guy he is — but instead he ended up at the hospital where doctors said he had fluid on his brain and stood by for emergency brain surgery.
As it turned out, he did not need that surgery. The swelling did go down, but a doctor told him: “I don’t think you should ever pitch again.” And that was the second time he wondered if he would ever make the show.
•••
After he shut down the Yankees, Ziegler held off San Francisco. He pitched four consecutive days — two against Arizona and two against Florida — and he did not allow a run. He held off the Giants again, the Angels again and on Independence Day, he had a 1-2-3 inning against the White Sox, a Jermaine Dye strikeout sandwiched in the middle.
Now people were beginning to notice — this 28-year old kid had not given up a run all year. Where had he come from? Well, he came from the hospital. After the line drive hit his head, he decided he had to pitch again. “It was all I ever thought about,” he said.
He pitched the very next year, though he had mixed results. He had a 6.86 ERA in Class AA Midland, Texas. So, really, that was worse than mixed. He pitched better in Midland the following year, but by then he was 26, and teams really don’t have much interest in 26-year-old pitchers in Class AA. It looked like time might have run out. That was the third time that Ziegler wondered if he would ever make it.
Then, something dramatic happen. The year ended, and a coach and former big league pitcher, Ron Romanick, approached Ziegler and said: “You know, you might make a pretty good submarine pitcher.”
•••
On July 7, Ziegler threw two scoreless innings against Seattle. That brought his scoreless streak to 15. At that time, it seemed more an oddity than anything else. Then he threw another scoreless inning against the Mariners and had two scoreless outings against those beloved Angels. He faced the Yankees again and held them scoreless again, this time by striking out Alex Rodriguez with a runner on first.
Then, the streak was more than an oddity. His new sidearm style was making the ball dive down — even Ziegler could not believe the action he was getting on his pitches. It made him laugh. His first reaction when Romanick had asked him to pitch submarine was to say no. He did not want to be a sidearm pitcher. That’s not how he saw himself. Ziegler liked pitching the way he had his whole life.
“But then I thought, ‘What if this is my best chance and I don’t take it?’ ” he says. “I really thought that if the A’s saw something in me and were willing to put the effort to teach me a new style, then I shouldn’t pass it up because of stubbornness.”
He started pitching submarine style in 2007, and immediately his numbers dazzled. He didn’t even know what he was doing half the time.
“I was thinking constantly about what my body was supposed to be doing instead of my pitches,” he says. But hitters kept swinging over his pitches. He had a 1.14 ERA in Midland. He won eight games in Class AAA Sacramento. And he did not give up a single home run all year. Not one.
This past January he was back in Springfield playing catch when some kid jumped in front of him, tipped the ball. It hit him in the forehead and fractured his skull. Again. “Can you believe it?” he says. “Twice. It’s like, maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket.”
The fracture wasn’t life threatening this time. But having your head cracked twice makes a man think. That was the last time Ziegler wondered if he would ever make it.
•••
After striking out A-Rod, Ziegler shut down Tampa Bay for two innings and then Texas for 1 1/3 innings. Then it was his big day. He needed one out against Texas on July 27 to break George McQuillan’s more-than-100-year-old record for most scoreless innings at the start of a career. He got the out by striking out Michael Young. In all, he pitched two scoreless innings, to boost his total to 27. It’s the greatest start in baseball history.
What a great story. And here’s the best part: The story isn’t over. Wednesday in Oakland, Ziegler pitched three more scoreless innings against the Kansas City Royals. So the streak is at 30 innings now. His ERA is still 0.00.
Ziegler sounds a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing. He credits his teammates. (“I’m not a strikeout pitcher, so they have to be really good behind me.”) He credits his family for helping him stick with this crazy game. And, this is funny, he says that he hopes Oakland won’t send him down when a couple of other pitchers come off the disabled list.
“I’ve learned,” he says, “that you never know what will happen in baseball.”