Brian Jeroloman was 22 years old the first time he played for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. The year was in 2008, his third as a professional, and the 2006 sixth-round pick was continuing his march upwards in the organization after spending the previous two seasons at the Short-Season and High-A levels.

He hit .270 with six homeruns in 70 games for the Fisher Cats, earning a spot in the Eastern League All-Star Game and a promotion to Triple-A Syracuse in late July, but an important building block in his career was put in place before the season even started, in spring training.

“One thing I’ll never forget is my first year of big league camp was in ’08,” Jeroloman said recently. “It was my second spring training and Sal [Fasano] was a player, and I was a player as well so we were both teammates for that little period of time. And I’ll never forget, I never caught any of the big leaguers before big league camp, and when I went to big league camp EVERY pitcher wanted to throw to Sal Fasano, and they would argue over it.

“That’s how much respect he had for pitchers, and if you have that much respect for pitchers, you have my respect, just because that’s where I wanna be. That’s when you know you’re taking steps in the right direction, when pitchers start requesting you.”

Fast-forward four years. It’s 2012. Jeroloman just turned 27, and he’s had a wild ride. He spent the entire 2009 season in New Hampshire while J.P. Arencibia, the 2007 first-rounder who had arrived in Double-A in 2008 just before Jeroloman’s promotion to Syracuse, leapfrogged him and played regularly in Triple-A. The next year brought more of the same, with the two catchers splitting levels until Jeroloman was promoted again in August.

With Arencibia advancing to the major leagues in 2011, Jeroloman finally spent the entire year in Triple-A, but there was trouble in the rearview mirror: another first-rounder, Travis d’Arnaud, acquired in the blockbuster trade for Roy Halladay after the 2009 season, was tearing it up in New Hampshire en route to winning the Eastern League Most Valuable Player award. And behind d’Arnaud, youngsters A.J. Jimenez and Carlos Perez were drawing accolades for their work in High-A and Low-A, respectively.

Meanwhile, Jeroloman struggled in Las Vegas, hitting just .240 with two homeruns and 26 RBI. Worse, his normally outstanding defense wasn’t up to par: he threw out a career-low 15% of would-be base stealers and made a career-high nine errors. Still, in late August, he was called up to the major leagues, but the season ended without him seeing any live game action.

Suddenly, after years of hard work, Jeroloman was the odd man out. No longer a prospect, he returned to New Hampshire for the fourth time to start the 2012 season. d’Arnaud is in Triple-A. And Jimenez, all of 22 years old, is the guy Jeroloman used to be: the hot young prospect at the top of the Double-A depth chart.

Some players might not deal well with such adversity. Jeroloman says he has seen guys who have fallen off the prospect lists, gone from being “the guy” to just another player, and handled the situation poorly.

“It’s easy to become a prospect and then go to a suspect pretty quick,” he said. “But it’s pretty hard to become a suspect back to a prospect.”

Jeroloman tries to avoid a similar fall from grace by doing the job he was sent to New Hampshire to do: work hard on his own game, serve as a “second voice” for the young pitchers like Chad Jenkins and Deck McGuire, and help Jimenez develop as a catcher.

“They’ve got me here to help the younger pitchers and help our young catcher,” he said. “It’s one of those things that’s a unique situation, but it’s a situation I can work my way out of as long as I just keep going out there and doing what I do behind the plate.”

“I’ve been in a lot of situations in the game of baseball. A lot of good ones, a lot of bad ones. On the field, I’ve had my ups and downs, so I can talk to them about how, through my experience, I’ve dealt with things. Hopefully I can clear a path easier than the one I’ve had, for them, and whatever I can do to help them out to expand their knowledge of the game, I’ll do it any way that I can.”

While Jeroloman displays a positive attitude about his return to the Granite State and his new role within the organization, it obviously isn’t easy to handle the shift from holding down a starting job to being asked to play every few days as a back-up. One thing that makes the experience easier has been the Fisher Cats manager: Fasano, his former spring training teammate.

“Sal Fasano, in two weeks, worked with me more than anyone else has in my six years in the Blue Jays organization,” said Jeroloman. “The stuff I’ve learned from him, the talks we can have, is truly amazing. We think on the same page, we think a couple hitters ahead, and not a lot of people do that. His knowledge of the game, you don’t find that often.

“It’s a truly remarkable experience just being around him, and I don’t wanna say anything without sounding like a brownnoser, but he sends out an aura. He has so much knowledge and the things he says, he knows how to talk to players. It is truly amazing.”

Fasano helped Jeroloman correct one of the flaws that hurt him in throwing out runners last season, fixing mechanical problems that had arisen after he got himself out of whack by trying to be even faster with his already quick release. The work has already paid off: while Jeroloman is struggling mightily at the plate in his new role as back-up, hitting just .103 in 39 at-bats over 13 games, he has made no errors, allowed no passed balls, and thrown out 53% of the runners who have attempted to steal on him.

Jeroloman’s respect for Fasano is evident, and when he talks about holding catchers in high regard, expecting a lot out of them, and taking pride in his own work, he sounds like a guy with one foot in the manager’s office. Someday that may be the case. For now, however, it’s all about working hard, waiting for his opportunity, and getting another shot at the big leagues.

“Baseball’s always been my life. I’m gonna play for as long as I can,” he said. “I’ll be back in the major leagues, it’s not a matter of that. It might not be with the Blue Jays, it might be with a different team, but I know I’ll be back up there. It’s just a matter of time.”

Photo: The Star

I spoke with McGuire late last week before a game against the Binghamton Mets. We talked about the origins of his unusual name, if he benefits from facing the same team multiple times, and the positives and negatives of being an active Twitter user.

First think I have to ask you about is your name. I know it’s your middle name, but it’s a little bit unusual, so I was just wondering where the name Deck came from?

It’s actually my mom’s maiden name, so it’s a family name. She called me Deck ever since I was a little kid. It’s cool now, it’s a cool name now. Growing up, not so much.

It’s a little different than being Bill McGuire or Will McGuire?

Yeah, you can turn Deck into a lot of not-nice things when you’re the middle school age. It’s a cool name now, I’ve accepted it, I love it, and it’s who I am.

Getting to your performance this year, you’ve had great, good, and bad outings, in terms of numbers. For you, what distinguishes a good outing from a not-so-good outing? Is it the numbers, is it how you feel?

Really and truly, it really boils down to two things: one is development – I mean, do you get a little bit better every time out – and the other thing is just giving your team a chance to win. I think my job’s really to go eat some innings, keep the game as close as I can, and kinda let the guys do their thing on offense and just give us a chance to win.

With the development thing, just keep working on stuff. Sometimes that’s tough, as a competitor, right off the bat you think to yourself, “Gosh, I just wanna win,” but you gotta realize you’re here for a reason. You’re here to get better. You’re here to WORK to get to the big leagues, so sometimes you’re gonna have to maybe sacrifice what you would LIKE to do, in a sense, to really actually work on what you NEED to do to get a little bit better.

This season you’ve pitched games opposite Zack Wheeler, you’ve pitched games opposite Trevor May. Going against top guys like that, does that help you raise your game at all to a different level?

Yes and no, I guess you could say. It’s obviously cool to get to pitch against some of the best guys in minor league baseball, but I think on the other side of things, if you let outside factors determine how you pitch you might be in for some trouble. And there’s also [the fact that] you get to know some of these guys on the other team, I guess Trevor especially, being in Clearwater and us being in Dunedin all year last year. There’s a little bit more of a friendly rivalry to that. But when it comes to just anybody? No, I think you just go out and like I said before, try to get a little bit better every start and just keep your team in the game.

I asked Drew Hutchison that same thing earlier [in the year] and he was like, “I don’t even know who’s throwing that night.” Do you notice – “Oh hey, I’m pitching against Trevor May tonight?” – or is it something that doesn’t even cross your mind?

Not usually till you watch him step on the mound. Usually you just go about your business before the game and then when you see him step on the mound you kinda give it a shrug like, “Oh wow, hey, that guy’s pretty good.” But yeah, I gotta agree with Hutch. It’s just one of those things, you know you’re gonna run into him sometime throughout the season and you just try to go out and do what you have to do to keep your team in the game.

I read in Baseball America you throw a fastball, slider, change, and a curve. Can you tell me a little about how and when each of those developed?

Gosh, I guess I was just always kind of a fastball-curveball guy. I was that guy in Little League that threw the pitch nobody was supposed to, and just knock on wood it never led to any serious injury or anything. Slider was kinda something, gosh I don’t even know, just watching too much baseball on TV, I guess, thought that was something that looked cool to throw. Kinda throughout high school it started developing, and then once I got to college it really clicked and that became my second pitch after my fastball. And the changeup was in college. I mean, those guys are good, and they have metal bats, so the more often you can miss those bats the better off you’ll be. So my freshman year in college was the first time I ever consistently started throwing a changeup.

They still don’t click all the time. It’s one of those things where, that’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m in the minor leagues. Every bullpen’s important, every day throwing’s important just to try and refine those to be as consistent as you can possibly be. Something I struggle with every day.

Is there anything new you’re working on or are you pretty content with the repertoire you have right now?

I think the four pitches is plenty. I think it’s now more refining each pitch. Like I said, being more consistent, locating each pitch, using it in the right spot and learning how to pitch with those four pitches.

When you let it go, how soon do you know if it’s a good one or a bad one?

Sometimes before it ever leaves your hand. It’s just kind of one of those things. We throw every day for seven, eight months. The more you feel it, the more comfortable you feel with it, and there’s gonna be days where you’re so sure of your stuff you know before it ever leaves your hand whether it’s gonna be the pitch you want it to be or not, just based on the timing of your body, and there’s some days where you think it’s gonna be great and it’s nowhere near where you want it to be. So it’s just one of those things where you kind of adapt, pitch to pitch. Some of the best guys are good because they can adapt pitch to pitch, at-bat to at-bat. And then sometimes it’s just grip it and rip it.

It’s interesting you mention adapting because I wanted to ask about how it benefits you to face a single team multiple times, like Binghamton, Trenton you’ve faced a couple times. How does that benefit your ability to adapt as you face them multiple times?

Well, luckily for me I’ve had two really bad starts against both those teams to start the year, so there was really nowhere to go but up. But all kidding aside, it’s good and bad because as much as I can adapt to them they can adapt to me. So it’s kinda where baseball becomes such a great sport, because it’s just a chess match. Every single pitch is a chess match, and I obviously have the advantage. If I execute I have a way better chance of getting them out than they do of hitting off of me. It’s just one of those things. It’s nice to be comfortable facing a team. It’s nice to know who you’re going up against and you’re not going in blind, but at the same time you gotta remember how you pitched a guy one night and how you’re gonna tackle him again and again.

Making the adjustments that you make against a team like that, does that help you recognize those adjustments faster when you face a team you may not pitch against so often?

Yeah, I think it’s kinda the comfort aspect of everything. You see a guy that steps in the box and maybe you own that guy and he’s not seeing you very well, he’s never seen you very well, yeah there’s definitely a comfort factor. At the same time, there might be a guy on the other team that has your number, and it is nice to know, “Okay, here’s what I did last time, here’s what he didn’t hit.” So I think there’s always gonna be a little bit of a comfort factor facing a guy. We play 142 games, you’re run into everybody a couple times, so there’s definitely a little bit of a comfort factor when it comes to that stuff.

I wanna ask you also about your catchers. Second year in a row you’ve worked with A.J. Jimenez, and from what I’ve read he has a great defensive reputation, great reputation as a handler of pitchers. From your point of view, from the pitcher’s point of view, what is it that makes him so good at dealing with you or helping you through a game?

Every catcher I’ve run into that’s been really good, it’s kinda been an innate skill. It’s something that I feel like you either have it or you don’t. I’ve been blessed throughout my college and professional career to have guys like Himmy that just gets it. He gets you. There was obviously an adjustment period at the beginning of last year, never having really worked with each other before, but it clicked really fast. It seems like we’re always on the same page, and if we’re not on the first page it always seems to be that second page. I don’t know if I can put it into specifics, he just has it. Same thing goes for Jero, Brian Jeroloman. Both those guys are very cerebral catchers and I kinda pride myself on being a little bit of a cerebral pitcher, and they both just do a great job of reading my mind.

Would you say that a guy last year, Travis d’Arnaud, does he fit into sort of that same category?

Absolutely. I came up here last year, made three starts, and really couldn’t have been more comfortable. Travis did a great job. Obviously he’s known for offense as much as defense. There’s just that comfort level with every guy we have in this organization. I haven’t run into a bad one. They just all seem to know what you’re thinking, know what you want to do, really do a good job of helping you attack the hitter in the way you want to go about it.

The last thing I wanted to ask you about was, you’re a guy who’s pretty active on Twitter, with social media. From a guy who uses it, what are some of the positives and negatives of something like that?

I just really like interacting with the fans. I think it’s a great opportunity to give people the insight to what we go through on a day-to-day basis. It’s not all glitz and glam all the time. There’s some long bus rides and you play in some pretty tough conditions here and there, but it’s fun. It’s fun to kind of allow everybody to realize we’re all just normal guys. We get an opportunity to play a game that we love and that’s a blessing, but we’re all just normal guys having fun. We have fun with each other. As you know we joke, we laugh on Twitter, we laugh on the bus. It’s just a good time.

I think the negatives could be there’s sometimes, knock on wood I haven’t had one yet, but you say something you probably shouldn’t have, speak out about a topic or a situation where it’s just not in your best interest to talk about it. So I think it’s one of those things, there’s give and take, you know what I mean? It’s just fun, and it’s kinda becoming part of the game now. You get to talk to guys on other teams, joke, laugh, whatever, and just enjoy what we’re going through.

Thanks to Deck McGuire for his time and to New Hampshire’s Tom Gauthier and Chris Shuker for coordinating this interview.

Wheeler and I spoke after last Thursday’s win over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, his first in three starts against the Baby Blue Jays. We talked about a recent finger problem that lead to a missed start, his impressions on the California League, and how his approach to pitching has had to change as he’s moved up the minor league ladder.

First of all, feel good to finally get a win against these guys? You’ve pitched well against them a couple times.

Yeah, of course. These guys are good hitters. They try to jump on my fastball early so you have to get over your secondary pitches for strikes and I did a pretty good job of that today.

I read an interview this winter with MiLB.com that that was something you wanted to work on, developing your secondary pitches. I know we’re a little bit early in the season, but do you feel like that’s something that’s been going well for you?

Yeah, definitely. My slider I can throw for strikes and that’s been helping me out a lot because once you start getting up a little bit in Double-A, you can’t just throw your fastball by everybody anymore. So you’ve gotta be able to throw your secondary pitches for strikes, and like you said, I’ve been working on it this off-season and it’s helped me out a lot.

You missed one start with the bad finger, right? How is that feeling right now?

Felt great. I threw my bullpen the other day, like two, three days ago, and it felt good so they let me come out here and pitch and it felt great.

Was that something I read you dealt with before, a couple years ago?

Yeah. It happened my first year in Low-A. There’s like a growth underneath the nail, and they took the growth out so the nail was having a hard time reattaching to the skin bed.

Is that the same thing that happened this time?

Yeah.

Is that just something you’re gonna have to deal with from time to time? Just get used to it?

Yeah, pretty much.

How does that affect when you’re pitching? Does it cause pain? You just can’t grip the ball?

It’s kinda hard to explain. The nail, like I said, was detaching from the skin bed, part of the nail, so where it is still attached at the back, that gets sore, and it stay sore for two days just like your arm would. Then it starts healing up till the next start. So it’s not a big deal. I can pitch through it. I’ve done it plenty of times.

Last year you were in the California League before you got traded. It’s known as a tough league for pitchers. What were your impressions of pitching there, in that league?

California League’s definitely a little different. The fields are a little bit shorter, I think, and the wind always blows out into the outfield. There’s no places where the wind blows in, so when you’re out there on the mound you’re always looking back at the flags and like I said, they’re always blowing. So you just try to work your corners and stay down and try to get a lot of ground balls. That’s all you really CAN do out there.

Was it nice to go from there to the Florida State League after you got traded?

When I got traded and I found out where the Mets High-A team was I was pretty pumped about being in Florida.

You were traded straight up for Carlos Beltran. Was that a big deal for you, to be traded for somebody as accomplished as he is?

Yeah, feels great. But this is baseball, really, to me. Stuff’s gonna happen. You just gotta keep on performing.

A couple years ago in the Prospect Handbook for Baseball America, they said that during your first season you learned that, “You can’t strike everyone out.” Was there sort of an “A-ha!” moment where you realized you could change the way you approach hitters and still get guys out?

In high school, you could literally throw the fastball by everybody, and you really didn’t have to develop a changeup. I got away with a, scout say decent, curveball. It got me through it. But once you get up to this level that curveball would’ve been getting hit around for sure. So you get up there and you see people throwing as hard as you do, and people are hitting it, you gotta learn actually how to pitch. And I thought I went into it knowing how to pitch, which I did a little bit, but you’ve still gotta go out there and perform.

CF: Seven years in your hometown Astros system, now this is your first year in another organization. How’s that going for you? Has there been anything that’s tough to transition to?

The last few years I’ve been an everyday player, but this year I’m kind of filling in, playing a few different positions. Playing about one every three, every four games right now, but enjoying every opportunity I get and everything about this team and the guys I’m playing with. It’s a fun environment. I want to come up here and work and get better every day. It’s been great working with Sal, working with Nuns [hitting coach Jon Nunnally]. It’s really getting technically sound with my swing and approach and also really learning the ins and outs of what to be thinking when you’re playing defense. You’ve got to be thinking a lot. I’m lucky to be where I’m at right now. Some people think it would be a demotion to come back to Double-A after being in Triple-A last year, and being in a backup role, but sometimes you gotta take a step back and get my game back in order. Because I did struggle last year. I had a down year, and just gotta work hard and get back up on it.

BM: Two-thousand-nine you had a really good year. You said last year you had more of a rough year. Mentally, how do you balance yourself out with the highs and the lows like that?

Baseball’s one of the most mentally frustrating games because some days you’re gonna feel great, some days you’re not. You’re gonna be doing everything right and you’re still making outs, like hitting line drives right at people, and then you see the guy hitting after you hit like a broken-bat somehow squeaks through the infield for a knock and you’re just like, “What do I gotta do?”

It’s just such a long season. To play every day, you’ve got to take every at-bat and try not to give anything away, but always stay even keel. Don’t ever get too high and never get too low. Just stay that easy “stay the course” mentality, stay with the same routines, because if you put together a good routine of what you’re doing to get ready for the game, it’ll keep you in a good state of mind feeling comfortable and feeling where you need to be.

That’s what I’ve been doing a lot of this year. It’s tough to be ready to hit every day, playing once every three days, but I feel comfortable. I feel great in the box right now. It’s early right now and I’ve got a lot more at-bats to come, so I’m looking forward to it.

BM: You’ve played a bunch of different defensive positions. Where are you most comfortable when you’re in the field?

In the batter’s box? That’s where I would say I’m most comfortable. I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable playing third and first, especially the last three years I’ve been playing first so I’m obviously more comfortable there now. Catching was fun, I was starting to get the hang of that. My first year was a zoo. Second year I was a lot more comfortable with it. Third [base], I just gotta stay confident over there. And then I gotta do some more work in the outfield if they keep sliding me out there. I gotta see more fly balls, which I’m gonna be doing. So I would say most comfortable, probably first and third, out of all the positions I’ve played. But I’m gonna keep getting work at all of them, just in case whatever happens. I joke around with Sal, I go back there and catch in between innings when our catcher’s getting ready, and he’s like, “Don’t think I won’t put you back there in an emergency.” And I’m like, “Matters.” But it’s been good. I’ve really had a lot of fun on this team. I really have.

CF: Couple more personal questions. First is regarding the upcoming trial for your father. You’ve been dealing with all this stuff, all these allegations, for the past couple years. How tough has that been for you and your family and how closely do you try to keep tabs on things like that?

I talk to my family – my mom, my dad, my brothers – pretty much every day, if not every other day, maybe with my younger brothers. But my mom and dad I pretty much talk to every day, and I talk to them about how everything’s going out there. I mean, we can’t really talk about it, but he gives me the ins and outs and how it’s all going. Like we’ve been saying all along, we’re gonna have our day in court and let the proceedings go on and tell our side of the story. Not that we were not close before, but we’ve become even closer now and really have a great unit of family and friends at home. You see all the stuff on the TV and you just think, “Oh, it’s gotta be miserable.” We’re at home being ourselves still. We’re just living our lives. My dad comes and sees me in spring training, my pops goes back home to watch my other brothers play. [laughs] In our Mid-Life Crisis Room at my dad’s house, it’s a garage-turned-karaoke room, basically, and we’ll go out there and sing some songs some free nights, some weekends and have some good times. But like I said, we’ll have our day, and we’re gonna get through this and we’re gonna be fine.

CF: The second question is regarding last winter, the Puerto Rican league that you were in and you had left the team. I was reading up on that and there doesn’t seem to be anything from your side of it. Do you care to give any information about what happened?

I talked to a reporter this spring about it and I just said it had nothing to do with the league, had nothing to do with my team, my manager or anything. I was in a great situation. Had to do with something personal, and just was uncomfortable and that’s basically the best I can put it. Talked to my family about it, came home, and I apologized to the team. I didn’t get paid for whatever I was out there for. I enjoyed myself while I was out there, just something personal happened and I had to go home. That’s pretty much all I can say.

BM: You’re the oldest of the four boys. I was wondering what your brothers are up to. Are they involved in baseball? Are they looking to get involved in baseball?

Yeah, my two younger brothers are involved in sports at the high school. Youngest brother’s a freshman, my other brother’s a junior who’s starting to get really competitive, really looked at hard, pitching and I don’t know what he’s gonna play defensively. Hits lefty, throws righty. He’s been working third and first, mostly, the last couple years, but I don’t particularly know what he’s gonna play on defense. They’re really looking at him more so as a pitcher. Kody, he’s my youngest [brother], he’s gonna be fine. Whatever he chooses to play he’s gonna be good at. That’s the kind of athlete he is. Nothing fazes that kid. He’s tough as nails.

My brother Kory had some injuries in high school, blew out both of his knees playing football. Just a run of bad luck of injuries. He’s a big boy, almost 6-foot-3, almost 300 pounds. Little top-heavy now but he was a big D tackle when he was in high school. He wasn’t bad at baseball, he was like your classic lefty that can get guys out throwing. He went to culinary school in Austin and he’s working at a restaurant in Houston called Ragin’ Cajun. He learned how to cook at culinary school, now he’s at a family friend’s restaurant kind of learning the managerial side, the business side. Eventually down the road he wants to start a restaurant in Houston, see where he can go with that. But he loves to cook, and he does a lot of baking cake stuff. He loves all that stuff. His food’s really good. I don’t know how healthy it is, but it’s really good.

CF: Did you guys all go to the same high school?

Yeah, we all went to Memorial High School, and my mom’s got a new website, I think it actually came out today. She’s doing the stuff on her website, JacketHappy, all for the foundation. It goes to charities and stuff, raises money. She’s getting into that, she loves it. Not to mention she’s really into golf. She’s been winning like the women’s trophies you win at your club, she’s been killing at all those. She just golfs and goes into work at the office, back and forth.

CF: Is she taking down some of your trophies to make room for hers?

Yeah. She’s not afraid. I’m not kidding, she’s got a lot now. It’s getting kinda out of control. We were like, “Eh, she’s kinda good.” No, she’s getting really good.

CF: Have you golfed against her? Do you golf?

I’m one of the guys that I’ll go golf, but as soon as I make it competitive, I just bleep the bed bad. Because I’m one of the guys like, “Yeah, I’ll go play golf. Let’s play scramble, you know, whoever’s the best ball in the middle we’ll all hit from there.” Because I can’t hit it straight every time. But I like to go out and have a couple beers on the golf course. My dad, he gets, “Alright, I’m gonna give you a certain amount of strokes,” because my dad’s like a five handicap. Then I actually try to play to his level and I just fall apart.

I think golf will be a sport I pick up after I’m done playing baseball. I gotta worry about hitting a baseball rather than – I don’t wanna worry about hitting both.

CF: Any state titles for you in high school, in either football or baseball?

No, no state titles. My senior year was the first team to go undefeated in district, we went 14-0. It was the first Memorial team to do that, and we went the furthest at the time in the high school’s history. We went to the regional semifinals, that was like the greatest at the time. Now the classes afterwards, it’s been amazing how many guys have been coming out of Memorial the last four or five years. Kevin Ahrens was on our team, he was a first-rounder in ’07. He was a sophomore when I was a senior. There’s been a lot of guys from ’05 to now. There’s been a lot of D-I guys coming out of there, lot of high school signees. They’ve been producing quite a bit so the baseball program’s really on the up-and-up. They blew by my records. All the stuff I had, it’s [gone].

Craig Forde of Beyond Fenway and I recently had an opportunity to speak with Clemens prior to a recent game against the Reading Phillies. In Part 1 of a two-part interview, we talked about growing up with a famous father; what it was like to live in Boston, Toronto, and New York; and the decision to begin his professional career instead of attending the University of Texas.

CF: Life growing up with one of the greatest pitchers of all-time – what was that like for you?

For me it was all I ever knew. My dad was in the big leagues as soon as I was born, so I was used to it. I’ve had a very blessed life, everything that he’s been able to do for me. He’s just Dad to me. On the field it’s a different animal, but when he comes home and was around, and now, he’s just a big three-year-old like any other dad is, likes to just be a goofball.

It’s been fun, travelling, watching him do all the things he’s accomplished. It’s been amazing to be a part of, and to actually have the chance to play with him in 2006 was a pretty awesome day too, so it’s been a very fun ride.

CF: What about growing up, did you spend a lot of time up here? I know you were born in 1986, so ten years of his career…

Yeah, I grew up in Framingham. We had a house up there. Because I wasn’t really in competitive sports in the summertime, at a younger age, so half the year we’d spend in Boston, in Framingham and half the year back home in Houston where my school was and stuff. But in the summertime we were always up there and I loved it. I loved living in Framingham. We had a house with a big backyard. As I got older I was able to ride four-wheelers and stuff, we had a blast back there.

Going to the ballpark and spending time in Boston, I don’t know what it is, but walking into Fenway you just smell this smell. It’s just a different, awesome feel when you walk into that ballpark, and I’ll never forget it since the day I first spent time there or when I went back there as a Yankees fan and got my hat taken from me. But it’s what comes with it and it was a lot of great memories.

CF: Coming back here with the Fisher Cats, is this your first time coming back to the area to live?

Yeah, this is my first time.

CF: What’s it been like for you to come back here at this point in your life?

It’s been good. Being a Houston kid I forgot about how cold every day is up here. Like two days ago, you come outside and it’s nice and sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and it’s like forty degrees with ten degree wind chill and you’re just freezing. But it’s something to get used to. The fans have been great here. When you hear those accents, the Boston accent, it brings back those old memories. The best example was when we did the signing at the weight room, the workout place that we have, we did that signing and everybody was talking about, “Oh, I remember when I saw your dad pitch,” and so-and-so and what year, you know, it’s awesome. It’s been a lot of fun.

BM: You were pretty young, still, when your dad went up to Toronto. Moving to Toronto, then to New York, what effect did that have on you?

It was a little bit different because my younger brothers, me and my brother Kory, we were starting to get a little bit more into competitive baseball, which is summertime, so we had to pick and choose our spots. But Toronto was fun because we just lived in the SkyDome. They set us up with two rooms that were connected and knocked out one of the walls so it was just this giant room with a couple bedrooms, and we loved it.

It was cool. We’d stay there for a couple weeks and even when they’d go on the road we’d stay home and watch basketball games, like watch the Raptors play there. Heck, after games we’d sneak down through the room service elevator, we’d sneak down about 11:30, 12 o’clock at night and my dad would have a bucket of balls and we’d go into centerfield and play homerun derby. I mean, it was a blast. Awesome. Everything about Ontario growing up was fun.

The transition to New York was a little bit different because we were in the city. I was the oldest out of my four brothers, I was fifteen. There’s not a lot a fifteen-year-old can do, then you’ve got my thirteen-year-old brother, at the time, then eight and six, so we’re kind of going nuts in the room after a few days in a row. There’s only so many times you can go to ESPN Zone or see a movie before you go stir crazy. But going to the ballpark was fun. Had a lot of great memories. The parades in New York, that was awesome, I’ve never experienced anything like that, with toilet paper flying over your head.

Even when he came to Houston, that was maybe the coolest thing because I always grew up rooting for Bagwell, Biggio, and Berkman, kind of family friends, being from Houston, and when he decided to come and pitch with them it was different because I always kind of rooted for the Astros but rooted for my dad’s team, and now it’s together and it’s just like a whole different thing. And then we went to the playoffs, those two playoff runs were unbelievable, the stadium was rocking. But it was kind of weird having him home so much because we weren’t use to that.

Like I said, I’ve had a lot of crazy moments and memories watching him play or just all the different areas I’ve been in. Even now in minor league ball, I’ve experienced a lot of great memories of places I probably would’ve never seen before if I didn’t start this crazy journey that I’ve been on. It’s been a blast of a ride.

BM: At what point did you start getting into playing a more competitive level of baseball?

I would say about ten or eleven is when I was really starting to get into it, like knowing that if I keep at this I could be pretty good at the level. Because I first started off, I think I was ten and I was playing on a twelve-year-old team and I was playing pretty well. And then I got to thirteen and I think my pops held me back, or got me back to my own age group, and then I kept sliding up through there. I was always competitive in football and baseball, those are my two favorite sports.

BM: You say he was trying to hold you back. Was it just so you didn’t get too far ahead of yourself?

I didn’t really mature early enough. At first I was like the same height as everybody and then thirteen-fourteen-fifteen the age groups start to get a little bit different and I just didn’t hit a growth spurt or something. My dad was like, “Okay, we’re gonna hold you back, get you back with your own age group again.” And then I got to high school, freshman year playing on the sophomore team and then sophomore year played on varsity, so it took off from there. I think my biggest year was my junior year, was when I really got a different animal of like summer ball playing really well, really training my butt off, and then I got to sign with Texas, had a huge senior season, and then history’s from there.

CF: How hard was that, when you got drafted, to make the decision? Your dad went to UT, was that your favorite college growing up?

Yeah you know, our household bleeds orange, burnt orange. We love watching the ‘Horns – football, baseball, basketball, we go up and do all of their events. A few of my buddies in high school were walk-ons at Texas, either baseball or football, so a lot of connections, different ways, and obviously I was just in awe when I went on my recruiting visit. It was pretty much sold as soon as I got there that I wanted to go there. Because I didn’t really think I was gonna get drafted until the Astros had kind of an inside look at me, I guess, because I’d go up and take BP at the field lot. And hitting with that wood bat and spraying it around the ballpark, they had a little inside track. Did a couple scouting things and really didn’t look too much into it until like a week before they invited me to do a pre-draft workout up there, so I went up there and I did pretty well. Did the tests, you know, “What do you like better: a dog or a cat?” All those weird questions that I’m like, “What does this pertain to baseball?”

And then they asked me what I was looking for, I was like, “I’m not really concerned about where I get drafted. It’s just gonna take something really enticing for me to turn down education and playing baseball at Texas.” And he just said, “Okay, be ready anywhere from the fourth to the eighth [round].” Phone call comes in about the eighth round. I was about to walk outside because I was like, “I’m probably not gonna get drafted. They said listen from the fourth to the eighth.” The eighth was just starting, I was like, “I don’t care, I’m gonna go to Texas, I’ll be fine.” And then as soon as I walked outside with my dad to go take BP, my mom comes screaming, running out of the house and then it all happened and I signed.

I don’t think I’d change it for anything because like I said, all these memories and all these great teammates and all the things I’ve learned to make myself a better player to this point, I don’t know if I would’ve done that. You never know what could’ve happened if I went to Texas. But I’m very happy with everything that I’ve done to here.

I sat down with Gronauer when Binghamton visited New Hampshire recently. We talked about how he learned English, the other German-born players currently in the United States, and his hopes for the future of baseball in his home country.

How did you become first interested in baseball?

I just went to the local baseball team in my city where I grew up, with my best friend. He asked me if I wanted to go to baseball practice with him because he heard that there’s a team and we always did everything together. We played soccer together, tennis together, everything. So I was like, “Well, absolutely, we’ll go.” And I liked it and stayed with it.

Looking back on the past few years, coming from Germany, coming to the U.S. – do you look back and kind of say, “Wow, this is where I’ve been and what I’ve done?”

Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, especially when you look at the baseball that is played in Germany, it’s not the highest level, but we’re developing real well. So when I look at how I developed, how I grew up with the baseball in Germany, it’s always very interesting for me to just look back at how it was back in the days, and then when I came over here how much everything kind of changed. German baseball for me is still a passion. I always look back because we had some great times. Won a German championship with my team and it was kind of on the rise when I came up as well. It was great being over there, but it’s even better – I took it to the next level when I got over here.

How often are you able to go back? Do you live there in the offseason?

I live there in the offseason, yeah. I always go back in the offseason.

Your English is really good. When did you start learning that?

Well, when I went to the next school level after elementary school, so I was 10-11 years old, I learned to speak a little bit of English. But what really helped me, what I keep telling everybody, is actually speaking it away from school. What happened was, our team that I played for in Germany always had two or three American players that were on the team. Obviously they didn’t speak German, so every time we went to practice or the games we always spoke English. Away from school, pretty much, and that’s what helped me develop.

How long did it take you to really get comfortable with it?

Oh, it took me awhile, until I was 16, 17. I was a little scared, obviously, had to learn a lot of vocabulary and all that, but a lot of times we had American coaches. The national team coaches were mostly American, so we always had to speak English with those guys. It’s a learning process.

Do you speak anything else besides English and German?

I’m picking up a little Spanish here and there. Of course, you’ve gotta talk to the Latin pitchers, Latin players as well. I had Latin in school, that kind of helps me out with Spanish, so I’ve got a little bit of Spanish.

When you first came over here to play, what was the hardest thing to get used to?

Probably the coaches and managers, [laughs] because in Germany they’re really trying to help you, usually in a nice way. My coach I had was kind of hard knocks, he was getting on me a lot, and it was tough playing for him because he was kind of like a college coach. He was German, but he went to the States and played a little bit, and he was kind of rough on me at times, but it was good learning. But then when I came to the States, you had to do your job, and if you didn’t do your job, guys get really mad. I had to learn how to deal with that.

How many German-born players are there over here in America right now?

Besides me, Donald Lutz, he’s with the Reds. He’s actually on the 40-man roster. He was born in Germany. Max Kepler, with the Twins, he signed for the highest European signing bonus ever. There’s Daniel Thieben, he’s with the Mariners. Another pitcher, who’s with the Red Sox, his name is Markus Solbach [Ed. Note: Solbach actually plays for the Twins. Either Gronauer had him confused with Jennell Hudson, a pitcher in the Red Sox system until last season, or I misheard the name.] And that’s it, I believe.

Are those guys that you know, that you came up with?

I didn’t really come up with them because they’re a little younger than me, but we played together last year on the national team, and I played with Donald Lutz for a couple years now on the national team.

Is that a situation where you guys might go out of your way to talk to each other while you’re here, or is it maybe if you happen to be playing against each other you may get together?

I haven’t played against anybody from Germany yet, because I signed before the other guys and moved up fairly quick in comparison to the other ones, but I keep talking to Donald a lot because he went through what I did the last few years. He was invited to big league spring training and all that. He had a great time over there, he did really well, and we talked a lot. It’s just good, especially when you’re in the States pretty much by yourself, to speak a little German. And it’s not only speaking German to your family when I call home, but also speaking German about baseball.

When you go back to Germany, what kind of questions do people ask you about life over here? Or do they ask you questions about life over here?

The baseball people always ask me what the baseball is like, and all that obviously. My family, especially, asks about the life over here away from baseball. It is different in many ways, [laughs] but it’s tough to explain because it’s actually not that much different. You really have to look into special things to see what the differences are. Like a lot of American guys always tell me, “It’s so much different over there, isn’t it?” and I’m like, “No, it’s not really that much different.” I mean, you go over there, you wouldn’t be lost or anything.

We all want to think of it as this crazy, exotic place across the Atlantic Ocean.

[laughs] It’s not really exotic over there.

Do most people there have an understanding of baseball?

No. [laughs] I wish I could say something else, but no. My parents still have problems understanding the game. They still go to watch games for the team I used to play with, but when it comes down to, say, an infield fly or something like that, or two runners on the same base, they wouldn’t understand. They don’t know. But the baseball players, they understand the game real well.

And that’s kind of where I wanted to end up. You had mentioned the future of baseball in Germany, I guess. What are your hopes for it, as far as the future of it there?

We’ve got a big tournament coming up in September. We play in the qualifier for the World Baseball Classic. And to be honest, German baseball is on the verge of going dramatically downhill because since baseball’s not an Olympic sport anymore, the funds were cut. We had problems just paying people that worked for the organization, keeping them around, keeping the coach around who’s done a terrific job with the team. He’s the head coach at Georgia State and we always have to fly him over to Germany and it’s quite expensive for German baseball to pay for all the guys.

I really hope that when we do well in the qualifier for the World Baseball Classic that we get a little more support in Germany, but also maybe from Major League Baseball when they recognize that Europe does have talented baseball programs. Baseball is growing in Germany. Right now it’s one Major League Baseball Academy in Germany and they’re building up new academies as well that are specifically programmed for baseball players to learn the game of baseball and to go to school, kinda combine it. I really hope that the program stays alive by performing well on a bigger stage.

What are you and the other guys that are here able to do to help promote it and try to drive it, aside from playing for the national team?

It’s hard to promote it because we’re not getting a whole lot of attention, and unfortunately it’s kind of branded by the steroid era. Whenever baseball’s in the newspapers, it’s usually because somebody was popped for PEDs again or something like that. Those are the only news stories that come over from the States, pretty much, and it’s a shame that we look at baseball in that kind of way. But like I said: by performing well in international tournaments – European Cups, World Cups, World Baseball Classic – and through guys like Donald, who’s on the 40-man roster now, through guys like Max Kepler, who got the highest European signing bonus ever, and maybe somebody who actually makes it to the major leagues one day, that’s how we want to make baseball a little bit more popular in Germany and help German baseball out.

Photo: Mack’s Mets

The starting pitchers were two guys you might’ve heard of: Deck McGuire, Toronto’s first-round pick in the 2010 draft (11th overall) and 8th-ranked prospect according to Baseball America, for New Hampshire; for Reading, Trevor May, Philadephia’s fourth-round pick in 2008 and the team’s number one prospect. May was also 69th on Baseball America’s 2012 Top 100 list this spring, his first such appearance.

When: 6:35 PM, Monday, April 30

Where: Northeast Delta Dental Stadium (affectionately known as Nedd’s)

Why: My original intent was to head up to Manchester and speak with Koby Clemens, Brian Jeroloman, and Trevor May. I didn’t realize May was pitching tonight, though, which put him off-limits, and I wasn’t able to get together with Jeroloman, so tonight’s conversations were with Koby Clemens and Sebastian Valle. The Clemens interview was conducted jointly with Craig Forde of Beyond Fenway – still not sure if I’ll just pull my questions and answers from the finished transcript or if we’ll run the whole thing. I should probably transcribe it first and then we’ll see how it goes.

The interview with Valle was short but interesting, with Phillies hitting coach Frank Cacciatore serving as our interpreter.

What: McGuire and May engaged in a solid pitcher’s duel. The former pitched into the seventh and allowed three runs before being relieved by Danny Farquhar, while the latter completed seven, striking out seven and allowing two runs on eight hits. Neither starting pitcher walked a batter.

The Fisher Cats took a 2-0 lead in the fifth, only to watch Reading tie it with two in the sixth and go ahead with a single run in the seventh. May made it hold up, and Jordan Whatcott came on in the eighth for the two-inning save.

I didn’t get a chance to ask McGuire about it after the game, but this is the second time in less than two weeks that he has been matched up against a team’s top pitching prospect: on April 18, he allowed just one hit in 6.2 innings to Zack Wheeler and the Binghamton Mets. In that outing, the two runs his offense put on the board were enough for a 2-0 win.

May improved to 5-0 with the win. McGuire fell to 1-4. The save for Whatcott was his first of the season (he had 11 last year for the Clearwater Threshers).

Pictures from this game can be seen here. YouTube videos will be added to my channel once they are uploaded.

Last year, you came in late, but I feel like you were one of the feel-good stories of the year, bouncing back from independent ball to be the MVP of the finals. In some ways, was last season one of the most difficult seasons you’ve had as a professional?

Yeah, it definitely was probably the most difficult start because I didn’t get a spring training invite. I didn’t know what that felt like. After nine years, it was a pretty tough thing to deal with. But at the same time, getting signed after you’ve gone to independent ball and basically worked your butt off in the hopes that you would get signed, so once I did get signed it was a really good feeling, and it kind of made you appreciate playing for an organization a little.

You said you didn’t get an invite. I was gonna ask what the circumstances were that took you to Lancaster. Going into the season, what were you expecting?

I was expecting to get a call from some team and get a spring training invite. A couple teams called and showed interest, but nobody invited me to one. So just for a backup plan in case I didn’t get a spring training invite from a team, I had called a buddy that I heard got offered an independent ball job, and I asked him who he talked to. He told me about the Lancaster Barnstormers and that they needed an infielder. So I actually called them and I said, “This is my resume; I heard you guys needed an infielder,” and he asked around about me a little bit and he offered me a job. So in case I didn’t get picked up, that was going to be my plan. And it turned out I didn’t, so I went there and I played there every day and I loved it.

And you played for Butch Hobson there, right?

Yeah.

I worked with Butch years ago, when he was in Nashua, and he’s always had that reputation as a guy who’s great with veteran players, knows how to talk to the older guys. What were your impressions of him, playing for him?

Oh, he’s a great guy. He’s the kind of manager you want to play for. He’s the kind of guy that knows what it’s like to be a player, has always been around the game, he loves baseball, and he cares about helping you achieve your personal goals before he cares about himself looking good, which is really tough, I’m sure, even in independent ball. So that’s one thing I liked about him a lot, is he was really motivated to help us get better and help us get signed with a team.

Did he yell at any umpires while you were there?

[laughs] No, he stayed off the umpires. He’s a little bit more laid back, probably, than he used to be.

You hit .381 there in about a month, just over a month. Going into the Atlantic League, did you kind of go in with a little bit of a chip on your shoulder, like you felt like you had something to prove to all the organizations that didn’t sign you?

I went in more with the mindset of, “I need to get better. How can I become the best hitter I can be? What can I work on?” And I just kind of went in there more motivated to show that I do belong with a team and to dominate that league like I don’t belong there. And that’s what I went in there to prove.

Did starting out there last year, not getting the invite, did that change anything about the way you prepared for this season?

I always take every offseason to get as good as I can get. I’ve never really slacked. So I took this offseason like I’ve taken every offseason. I worked as hard as I could in the weight room, I tried to work on the things defensively and offensively that I thought I need to work on, so it didn’t really change much for me in the offseason. I think my philosophy behind hitting changed a little bit, so I did different types of things, but the motivation factor wasn’t any different.

Was it a little easier mentally with this offseason? Did you know you were coming back to the Blue Jays organization?

Yeah, I signed back with the Blue Jays right away, and it WAS a lot easier. It’s a load off, and it really lets you concentrate on getting better as a player, not having to call teams and deal with other teams that don’t have to do with that. So it was a load off my mind and I was really thankful for the Blue Jays opportunity, and hopefully I’ll have a chance to sign back with them right away next year.

When I counted up, and you can correct me if I’m wrong, I counted fifteen different teams you’ve played for in eight organizations. Is there a place that you liked playing better than others, and a place that you’d be happy if you never saw again?

It’s actually nine organizations.

Okay, nine. I counted wrong.

You have good experiences and bad experiences. I wouldn’t blame it on an organization as much as sometimes you’re with coaches you don’t get along with for whatever reason, and players that maybe you don’t like. So I’ve had some rough years, but there wasn’t a particular organization that I didn’t like or really liked. I think if there’s any organization that separated themselves at all it’d be Toronto. They make it a point to hire staff and sign players that are good in the locker room and just cool people to hang around, not people that you don’t want to be around. Because you’re here every day with all these guys, and if you have one miserable guy in the locker room it’s making everybody miserable. I think they do a good job with that. Especially with the staff. I’ve pretty much liked every single person, staff-wise, I’ve worked with with the Blue Jays so far.

Was there any ballpark or city that you particularly enjoyed playing in?

I really like playing in Dayton, my first year with the Cincinnati Reds.

I hear a lot of good things about Dayton.

Yeah, it’s amazing. Other than that, I like the cities a lot in the PCL. Reno is real fun, Sacramento, good atmosphere in those. I liked playing in Jacksonville. I played there in 2007 for a little bit. I had a really, really cool manager there. Other than that, I’d say – what is that place in the Carolina League? In South Carolina? What’s that place – the Pelicans?

Oh, Myrtle Beach?

Myrtle Beach. That place is pretty cool. So those would be the top spots, I’d say.

And obviously Manchester.

[laughs] Oh yeah. Manchester is actually a really, really nice place too.

You’re thirty – again, correct me if I’m wrong – you’re thirty, you’ve got close to a thousand minor league games under your belt. Do you feel like that almost requires you to take more of a leadership role on any team that you’re on, especially a team like this where you’ve got a lot of younger guys?

I feel like I’ll be a leader if needed. If the guys seems like they’re on the right path – a lot of these guys have played, it’s not like it’s the first or second year for these guys – but if guys are asking questions or don’t know what stuff is like, I’m definitely not shy about giving my opinion and telling people what I think.

You played for the Thousand Oaks team, and you guys won the Little League Junior World Series in 1994? This may be a dumb question, but how does a title like that compare to an Eastern League championship, or a minor league championship?

[laughs] Well I think when you’re that age, everything is a little bit more fun and better. There’s just no kind of excitement like the excitement when you’re 13 years-old. I had the time of my life doing that, so not even a World Series title, I don’t think, could compare to when you’re 13 years-old. It’s just a lot of fun, being a kid, not having anything else to worry about but that. But I definitely think it prepared me a little bit more to deal with the pressures of what I had to deal with coming up through the baseball system.

When I was looking stuff up, after the clincher you told a writer for the LA Times that the goal of your life was a professional career. If you could go back and talk to yourself, the 13 year-old you now, what kind of advice would you give yourself? Or things to watch out for, or anything like that?

I have had a pretty good heads-up on what I was going to go through and the people that were advising me and giving advice. My parents, and my brother had a couple friends that went through the minor leagues. Everybody was pretty much right on. I don’t think I’ve gotten surprised with anything. I just think sometimes, when opportunities come, some people are playing well at the right time, and I think sometimes when my opportunities have come I haven’t been playing my best. So if that’s something you can change then I would definitely want to change that, but I don’t think it had to do with anything sneaking up on me or not being prepared. I just think sometimes you get hot at the right or wrong time.

So just put your best out there every day and be ready?

Yeah, I think I’ve gone about things the way I’ve wanted to go about them. Prepare as hard as you can and go out there and play as hard as you can, and I feel like I’ve done that and I’ll continue to do it.

“I think when you’re that age, everything is a little bit more fun and better,” Howard said with a laugh last week in the Media Room at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, home of his current team, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. “It’s just a lot of fun, being a kid, not having anything else to worry about but that. But I definitely think it prepared me a little more to deal with the pressures of what I had to deal with coming up through the baseball system.”

The fifth-round selection by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2002 Draft, Howard certainly knows the pressures of which he speaks: in the decade since the start of his professional career, the 30-year-old infielder has done his share of bouncing around, appearing in games for fifteen teams in nine different organizations.

None of those years featured a beginning as difficult as the one he faced last season: after nine years of relative certainty, no organization offered an invite to spring training.

“I was expecting to get a call from some team and get a spring training invite,” said Howard. “A couple teams called and showed interest, but nobody invited me to one.”

As the days passed and nothing materialized, Howard worked on a backup plan. He called a friend who had landed a job in independent ball and asked for assistance. The friend directed him to the Lancaster Barnstormers, an Atlantic League team managed by former major league player and manager Butch Hobson. Rumor had it that they were in need of an infielder.

The Barnstormers were his backup plan; when that spring training invite continued to elude him, however, they became his team.

“I went in with the mindset of, “I need to get better. How can I become the best hitter I can be? What can I work on?” said Howard. “And I just kind of went in there more motivated to show that I do belong with a team and to dominate that league like I don’t belong there. And that’s what I went in there to prove.”

Howard did exactly that during the month he spent in Lancaster, playing shortstop and hitting .381 with four homeruns and 17 RBI in 31 games. In mid-June the Blue Jays came calling and he was back in affiliated ball, assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas. After two months with the 51s, he arrived in New Hampshire in time for the final month of the season and the team’s playoff run.

In seven playoff games for the eventual Eastern League champion Fisher Cats, Howard hit .348 with a homerun and six RBI. His performance earned him the league’s postseason Most Valuable Player award.

Howard’s 2011 season ran the gamut of human emotion, from early disappointment to the eventual elation of a league championship, but 2012 got off to a much better start. He re-signed with the Blue Jays quickly in the offseason, a convenience that allowed him to focus his attention on working out and improving as a player instead of scrambling around trying to find a job. It also allowed him to return to an organization that he feels has separated itself from many of the others with which he has been involved.

“[The Blue Jays] make it a point to hire staff and sign players that are good in the locker room and just cool people to hang around, not people that you don’t want to be around,” said Howard. “Because you’re here every day with all these guys, and if you have one miserable guy in the locker room it’s making everybody miserable. I think they do a good job with that, especially with the staff.”

So far this season, Howard is hitting .316 with one homerun, eight RBI, and three stolen bases in ten games. He’s bounced back from the most difficult time of his professional career, but he refuses to become complacent.

“I think I’ve gone about things the way I’ve wanted to go about them,” he said. “Prepare as hard as you can and go out there and play as hard as you can, and I feel like I’ve done that and I’ll continue to do it.”

We spoke late last week about his lost 2010 season, playing in Australia, and falling victim to the organizational numbers game.

Back in 2009 you had the long hitting streak, which everybody knows about and I’m sure you hear about constantly, but in 2008 I had seen that you put together a bunch of shorter streaks. Little five or seven game streaks, I think it was. Did that give you any sort of idea at the time that the long streak like 2009’s was possible?

You show up to the ballpark every day thinking you’re going to do something special, or start something special. You never want to rule anything out of possibility. You’re always thinking something special could happen, so you never want to limit yourself and say, “That’s impossible.”

When you’re hitting in however many straight, at what point did you realize that you were working on something that was becoming special?

Probably around 20 games.

Another guy who writes for us had done some writing on guys who played at High Desert who had one great year there and then never duplicated it. You fall into that category, but it also seems a little unfair to say you’re in that category because you had a pretty bad shoulder injury in 2010, right?

Yeah, that’s what happens. I was playing good baseball, I was cruising there, and the shoulder injury kinda messed me up a little bit, set me back a year because of what happened. I would‘ve been able to be in Double-A at 24-years-old. I think I would’ve got more of a chance than just one year in Double-A like I got. This past year, with the Mariners, I got one shot at Double-A and I hit .260 through three months, with four homeruns, and they deemed it wasn’t good enough to come back and give it another shot at 26-years-old.

I know you ran into a wall and separated your shoulder. I’m curious why it kept you out for the full season – was it just surgery and everything afterwards?

I needed surgery. I had shoulder surgery to repair my whole shoulder, cause it was bothering me. It subluxed or separated a few times before that and I wanted to get it fixed. I was thinking about life after baseball, of course. I want to be able to swim and do that kind of stuff and I figured it was the best time to do it, with the rehab and the facilities I had access to, and the health insurance and doctors I had at that point. It was the best time I could take care of myself, and you never know how well or how long your body’s gonna serve you for baseball, but I at least wanted to have it so I get done when I’m 30, 35-years-old I can still play basketball with my friends, go swimming, surfing, that kind of stuff. I couldn’t even do that stuff. I couldn’t play basketball with my buddies. I couldn’t swim and go surfing in the ocean and stuff because my left shoulder was messed up. So when I ran into that wall and dislocated it, I wanted to get it fixed. So I had to sit out for five months. That was rehab.

Do you still have problems with it today?

No, I’m really happy with it.

After you missed that season, then you went over to Australia. What were your experiences like there, on and off the field?

I loved it. I love Australia. I love getting around, meeting new people. I’ve been back there two years now. I went there in 2010 and I went there again this past year, 2011-12 year, and I just have a blast over there. They really love the game. Sure, it’s not the most competitive compared to the Dominican Winter League or Venezuelan Winter League, but maybe one day it can be, and those people really love baseball, and sports in general. I’d really have a blast over there, on and off the field. Off the field, same thing – great weather, the people are enthusiastic about life in general, sports especially. I love it over there.

You mentioned you came back and started last season in Double-A. And then correct me if I’m wrong, but they sent you back to High Desert partway through the season?

Like the last month of the season, at the [trade] deadline.

Okay, what was the reason for sending you back there?

They traded for that guy, Chih-Hsien Chiang, Trayvon Robinson, so they got two outfielders who were putting up All-Universe numbers in Double-A and Triple-A. And the Taiwanese kid came to Double-A with us, I got brought down to High-A. Probably would’ve got released then but James Jones got hurt, another Mariner prospect, so there was room for me in High-A and they sent me back there for the last month of the season. And they played me every day too, which was a surprise. I don’t know why they did that, especially if they were gonna release me. I did pretty well there too. I hit like six homeruns in the month and we had a good time with that team.

Was it frustrating then to feel like you came back from a shoulder injury and you were starting to make some progress, then they kinda pushed you backwards?

It was pretty disheartening, cause once you start getting sent back at that age (25), you’re not moving up you’re moving down, you know you’re not in their vision for the future of the organization. So it was really frustrating and I think, hitting .260 in Double-A you’re a week or two away from hitting .280, with seven or eight homeruns instead of four. I was hitting .260 with four homeruns and I could’ve been a hot week away, you know? A 10-for-25 week with a couple bombs and you’re right back in it, you’re right back on the hot list. But they didn’t give me that chance, that opportunity, so…

You said last year you felt like you were one player away from being released. Did you have an idea coming into this year that it was gonna be a battle to get onto a roster?

I was pretty positive I was getting released, but you always have to give it a shot. If you’re playing affiliated ball, you’ve gotta play with them until they take the jersey away. I was thinking about asking for the release but then they did play me every day in High-A, so that confused me, but I went in there knowing. You see the numbers. Even the Double-A team they have now, those prospects – the Almontes, the Carrolls, those guys – they’re not even playing every day in Double-A. They released Jake Shaffer, the best player on that team last year, besides [Kyle] Seager, maybe. They released him too, to make room for those kids. Shaffer luckily got picked up by the Cardinals right away. But it’s just how it is. You could tell, there just wasn’t enough room there. Even for the guys that were better than me there wasn’t enough room for them.

After you got released it seemed like you signed on with the Ducks pretty fast. How quickly did you make that decision that you were going to continue your career in independent ball?

I knew I was going to continue my baseball career. Independent ball is the last thing I was thinking about, just because I had some other goals in mind. I wanted to go see Europe and play over there, in the Dutch or the Italian League, but those leagues didn’t have a spot for me because their seasons were already underway and they’ve called over a bunch of dudes, flew them over there, paying $4,000 for a flight to get them over there already, and have them all housed up. They’re not just gonna release them. So I wasn’t gonna be able to play over in Europe, in those competitive leagues there, and I talked to my family and my agent and they were like, “Once you go to Europe, you’re not gonna come back and have a chance at playing high level in the States.” So I said I might as well play at the highest level I can here.

The Long Island Ducks came up, and I’ve heard of the team before, I’ve heard of the Atlantic League. I know it’s a super competitive league. It’s probably gonna be the most competitive league I’ve played in to date, I think, with the players I’ve seen on the team so far. It’s gonna be tough to get playing time on this team. They’ve got two guys that have played in the big leagues, Lew Ford and Reid Gorecki, and then they’ve got a guy who I’ve watched and he really goes about his business the right way. His name’s Kraig Binick. He led this league in batting last year. Those three guys right there are good players. Hopefully I can help out and be a part of that puzzle to help the Ducks win.

But that’s what it came down to, and seeing that, that’s something that’s gonna push me. I can’t be comfortable on this team for sure. And you wanna be pushed. That’s gonna be good for me.

Is it a situation where you might play independent ball for a year or two and then try to go overseas to experience that?

Yeah, definitely, but we’ll see. Hopefully independent ball goes well. So far it’s been a great experience up here in Long Island. The team really goes about their business the right way, really professional. Coaches seem pretty cool so far. So you know, I might end up liking it. We’ve got a guy on our team, Ray Navarrete, who’s played on this team for like six years in a row. He just loves it. You never know. I don’t think too far ahead as far as the baseball stuff goes. There’s so many opportunities in this game, you never know where they’re gonna come from or where they’re gonna take you, so I don’t think that far ahead. But I definitely do want to go over and play in Europe. I’ll definitely want to go back to Australia and play in the winters, and see what happens.

Thank you to James for his time and to Long Island’s Michael Polak for coordinating the interview.

Photo: Long Island Ducks