The success of Stanford’s baseball program has carried over to the pros, where several recently graduated Cardinal players are starting to make their mark. Pitcher Drew Storen, catcher Jason Castro and infielders Colin Walsh and Adam Gaylord are among the notable Stanford players making the transition to professional baseball this season.
Storen and Castro have earned widespread acclaim playing in the MLB for the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, respectively. They’ve done well to this point; Storen has posted a 2-1 record and a 2.28 ERA in 25 appearances, while Castro got a hit in his first major league at-bat and has recorded two home runs in 19 games. For him, the biggest difference between playing professionally and at Stanford has been the travel.
“Playing on the road every week or so in different cities has been challenging, as well as the amount of games played consecutively,” Castro wrote in an e-mail to the Daily.
Walsh, playing Single-A ball with the St. Louis Cardinals subsidiary Batavia Muckdogs, agrees that the professional schedule was hard to get used to.
“You play every day here, no breaks, no practices,” Walsh said. “Even five days a week [at Stanford] is real different than seven days a week, every week, so that’s the hardest transition to make.”
Walsh, who grew up in San Diego before coming to The Farm, had to adjust to the climate and size of his new setting as well.
“I’m used to California weather and cities,” he said. “Now, we’re in small towns in upstate New York, so the atmosphere’s a little different.”
So far, the Cardinal’s former second baseman has been able to adjust fairly well. He’s batting .320 through 12 appearances.
Also playing on the East Coast is Gaylord, with the Baltimore Orioles affiliate Aberdeen IronBirds at the Single-A level. He has played in 31 games, batting .309 and knocking in 13 runs.
Gaylord points out that players moving to the pros have to master a new technical aspect of the game as well, as they begin playing with a wooden bat for the first time.
“Wooden bats are a little bit more top-heavy,” he wrote in an e-mail to the Daily. “So you have to alter your hand path through your swing a bit to keep the barrel of the bat from dragging under the ball and inducing a pop fly.”
“You have to spend more time stretching and treating possible injuries proactively so that you can stay healthy,” Gaylord added. “Besides that, it’s the same game that I’ve been playing since I could walk.”
These adjustments have to be made while advancing through the farm system with the ultimate goal of reaching the MLB, a journey that took Castro two years and on which Walsh and Gaylord have only just embarked.
Walsh claims that Stanford has prepared him well for the road ahead.
“Playing in a conference like the Pac-10, and playing some of the best teams in the nation year in and year out facing the best players that college baseball has to offer […] consistently makes you a better player,” he said.
Gaylord, Walsh’s teammate for four years at Stanford, agrees, and noted another benefit of his time at the Farm.
“Having graduated from Stanford, I feel like I have a great backup plan if baseball doesn’t end up working out,” Gaylord said.
History suggests that baseball has a good chance of working out for the new pros; Stanford players have represented a consistent force in the majors in recent years. Pitcher Mike Mussina was one of the league’s dominant pitchers from 1991 to 2008, and outfielder and designated hitter Carlos Quentin has been a stellar hitter as of late, with 90 home runs in under five seasons.
Though Stanford’s graduated players are playing at different levels, in different leagues and for different teams, they have been sure to stay in touch. When they meet on opposite sides of the diamond, however, things are as competitive as ever.
“I actually just played against my old roommate at Stanford, Brandt Walker,” Gaylord said. “He got me to ground out to the shortstop.”