PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Last year pitching for Butchy's Heat, Monday making his Major League debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
It's some journey from the Staten Island 'Mid-Island Men's League', where Shea Spitzbarth pitched last year with guys who finished their day jobs as plumbers, firefighters, cops, garbage men. To facing the first-place Milwaukee Brewers Monday evening.
The 26-year-old had given serious thought to joining his father and uncle with the New York City Fire Department after his baseball career appeared over. He made it to the Dodgers AAA team in Oklahoma City in 2019, but in 20 games had an 8.18 ERA.
Then the pandemic hit. Spitzbarth wasn't selected to join the Dodgers alternate site, so he went pitching for the Heat. While there, he held little hope.
"I got two phone calls from an anonymous person in an organization and said 'hey, get ready, something is going to happen'," Spitzbarth explained with Dan Zangrilli on 93.7 The Fan Tuesday. "I was ready. It never happened. That hurt a little bit."
It more than hurt, he was ticked off. Before making a rash decision, Spitzbarth decided to continue playing with some of his old buddies in the Staten Island recreational league.
"I just kept on throwing because I wanted to stay fresh," Spitzbarth said. "Either telling myself either this year or next year will be it if I don't get my chance. I worked at it. I stayed with it."
Then this off-season in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft, the Pirates selected Spitzbarth. The phone call with Pirates GM Ben Cherington put a jolt into his career. The motivation was there to prove the Pirates right.
In his first outing for Triple A Indianapolis, he gave up a solo home run in just two-thirds of an inning. The righty was working on a new pitch, a split-fingered fastball along with a new grip on his curveball making it more of a four-seamer. The results quickly changed.
He would give up one more earned run from May 8 until July 10. His numbers at Triple A, 3-2, 1.41 ERA with 20 hits, 13 walks, 25 strikeouts in 32 innings.
Then the call-up to the majors last weekend and finally, after years of waiting and nearly giving up on his dream, he was in a Major League clubhouse.
"They couldn't speak," Spitzbarth said of his family's reaction. "My uncle got here (Milwaukee) from Florida. He was breaking down. He had tears in his eyes."
Spitzbarth saw him while in the bullpen, while nearly hit by a ball thrown back at him. His parents were on a different flight, he didn't know if they made it.
Ready or not, the boy named after Shea Stadium, finally got into a big league game. After an early hit and a walk allowed, Spitzbarth ended up going 1.1 innings giving up no runs. Then on the way towards the dugout after the outing was complete. He looked up in the stands and saw his parents.
"I didn't know my family was next to the dugout," Spitzbarth said. "It's something that I will never forget. They will never forget."
"It's been a dream come true. It's been a rollercoaster. It's been an unbelievable ride."
As he started to think about his story, he continued.
"I shouldn't be here," Spitzbarth said. "This is impossible. It's a lot of hard work and dedication. It's not just me. It's family, friends, coaches, ex-teammates, trainers. Hard work, that's all I can say."
"Family all Mets fans. Dad is FDNY, Mom works at Citi Bank. It was supposed to be the Mets, but I'm happy as hell to be a Pirate."
