St. James ballplayer finds inspiration and motivation in unexpected work with MLB duo
Olathe resident Steven Azzaro should’ve been preparing alongside his teammates for Monday’s season opener for the St. James Academy baseball team. Instead, he was available when his phone rang Friday afternoon, a reporter on the other end.
Azzaro, 17, is just one of countless high school students across the U.S. who’ve seen their spring sports seasons wiped out by the growing effort to quell the COVID-19 coronavirus global pandemic amid a national emergency.
The high school junior, a catcher and pitcher, chatted primarily about two topics. One, of course, was the lost season that will likely largely color his memories of this spring. The second: an experience this February, before his high school team’s workouts began, that he’ll use as a beacon of hope for his baseball aspirations.
A lifelong Kansas City Royals fan and baseball zealot, he caught bullpen sessions for a pair of big-league pitchers this winter, in Royals closer Ian Kennedy and Kansas high school product and Baltimore Orioles All-Star pitcher John Means.
“He loves baseball,” St. James coach Brian Bucklin said. “Basically his whole life he’s been the guy who has been all-in on baseball. He would do just fine. He’s the guy who catches our best guys as well as anybody.
“It’s kind of funny. You kind of always match guys up. If a catcher is going to get over-matched by a pitcher, then you’re not going to put him in there. I would honestly say Steven would do just fine with those guys.”
Azzaro latched onto baseball early. In sixth grade started taking lessons at the Mac-N-Seitz facility to learn to catch and hit from former Royals catcher Mike Macfarlane.
Eventually, Azzaro also started working out with the sports performance program PSP3 and coaches Nathan Hemphill and Derek Gordon.
Azzaro spent last summer and breaks from school lifting and training with Hemphill and Gordon, the younger brother of Royals star Alex Gordon and a former Royals minor-league pitcher who currently works as a pitching coach and strength coach.
Along with a lot of college pitchers, Gordon works with professional pitchers on mechanics at the facility in Martin City.
Oftentimes, Gordon ends up catching their side sessions. He prefers to get up from behind the plate and keep a close eye on the pitchers. That’s where Azzaro came into the picture.
Azzaro, a regular at the facility who has caught side sessions for college pitchers there, keeps his catching gear in his car. When Gordon asked Azzaro if he’d be willing to stand in for him and catch back-to-back bullpens for Kennedy and Means, Azzaro replied, “Let’s do it.”
A lasting impression
“There definitely was some nerves, not wanting to disappoint — especially in front of John and Ian,” Azzaro said. “But I would say the thing that was more concerning was the 90 mile per hour fastball. Once I got under it and got a few in my line of sight, it was like (just) another guy. I had to rely on myself, just like catching another bullpen.”
Kennedy, a right-hander who converted from starter to reliever last season, became the fifth player in Royals franchise history with a 30-save season alongside Dan Quisenberry (who did it five times), Jeff Montgomery (five), Joakim Soria (three) and Greg Holland (three).
Kennedy also became the fourth pitcher since saves became an official MLB stat in 1969 to record both a 20-win season (21 in 2011) and a 30-save season. He joined Dennis Eckersley, John Smoltz and Derek Lowe in that exclusive club.
Means, an 11th-round draft pick of the Orioles in 2014, finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting last season. The Gardner Edgerton High graduate was the fifth rookie in Orioles history and first since 1966 to be named to the All-Star team.
The left-hander also became the first homegrown Orioles starter to make an All-Star team since Mike Mussina (1992-94, 97, 99).
“Their control was just absolutely amazing, and the action on all of their pitches was just so much more advanced than anything I’d ever caught,” Azzaro said. “Having said that, it does help having a pitcher that knows exactly where the ball is going.
“So while the speed and the action does increase, it does in a way get easier because it takes all the guessing out of the bullpen and you both are on the same page.”
Azzaro planned to follow up that experience by earning a job on the St. James varsity squad this season. He and his teammates had about two weeks of workouts together before they were set to hit the Kansas high school spring break period.
The Friday before spring break, their coach called them together and told them they’d need to keep practicing on their own. Coronavirus concerns forced them into separate corners, and none was certain what would come next.
Unfortunately, that was their last gathering on a the field as teammates. Their season was canceled before it ever started.
This was understandably deflating in many ways, but Azzaro has the summer and another year of school ahead. He also has another unique memory to pair with this lost season.
“Regarding the high school season, it was good to see everyone in uniform one more time, and that is something I will hold onto for a very long time,” Azzaro said. “Regarding catching those guys, it just sort of solidified the idea that the dream is possible. It was very motivating.”
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
