Baseball is not a one-size-fits-all enterprise. Everyone takes a different path to The Show with some players jumping through more hoops than others. In the cut-throat world of pro baseball, doubters come with the territory and nobody is more attuned to that reality than 26-year-old Hayden Shenefield, who, until a few weeks ago, was prepping for his second season of indy ball with the New Jersey Jackals.
A scrawny right-hander who didn't crack the varsity team until his senior year of high school, Shenefield's ascension to the minor leagues, recently catching on with Cincinnati after a chance Reddit encounter with Reds director of pitching Kyle Boddy, is as unlikely an origin story as you'll find. Shenefield began pitching his senior season (which was preceded by years of riding the bench on JV as a talented infielder who couldn't hit a lick) at El Camino Real High in Woodland Hills, California, but, thanks to his slight frame and underwhelming fastball velocity, remained well off the recruiting radar.
As detailed by ESPN's Jeff Passan, the novice hurler waited patiently, settling for a spot on San Diego State's club ultimate frisbee team after trying and failing to make the baseball squad as a walk-on each of his four years at SDSU. Exploiting a loophole known as "dual enrollment," Shenefield continued to take classes at San Diego State while playing juco ball at nearby Grossmont College. Shenefield finally landed a scholarship offer from Cal State Northridge, where he earned all-conference status as a grad transfer in 2018. Hoping to parlay that success into a professional career, Shenefield beefed up to 193 pounds (accomplished through frequenting a local buffet that he would sometimes visit twice a day) and adjusted his mechanics, eventually touching 96 mph on the radar gun with a spin rate comparable to Dodgers ace Walker Buehler and reigning AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber.
Familiar with Boddy's analytics-driven approach and his high ranking within the MLB scouting community (Passan described him as a "kingmaker"), Shenefield made sure to attend his Reddit AMA (ask me anything) on May 6th. After briefly bonding over their shared love of steak, Shenefield shared his credentials with Boddy, providing every last detail of his three-pitch repertoire (fastball, split changeup and a "gyro" slider) including velocity, spin rate and even numbers measuring the horizontal break on his pitches. The whole exchange took place while Shenefield was grubbing at Taco Surf, a burrito spot in San Diego.
Boddy was intrigued enough to share his email address with Shenefield, who sent along video the next day. Weeks later, Shenefield received a congratulatory phone call from his independent league coach (the good news came while he was ordering at a Wendy's drive-through), revealing that the Reds had purchased his contract. Shenefield reported to the team's spring training facility in Arizona last week, reaching a top speed of 95.7 mph in his initial bullpen session.
While some, perhaps even within the Reds organization, may be quick to dismiss Shenefield as a meme pitcher in the mold of Nathan Patterson (who went viral by throwing 96 mph in a speed-pitch game, but didn't last long with the Oakland A's) and other flash-in-the-pan novelties, you can't deny his creativity, using his social-media savvy to get discovered after years of being overlooked.
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