Between his senior season of college ball in 2012 and first year in the Braves organization in 2014, left-hander Brady Feigl pitched in Baltimore.
Not for the Orioles. Far, far from that.
Feigl pitched in the Baltimore Baseball League.
If that sounds a little Parks & Rec, well, “Pretty much,” he said, smiling. “It’s just a bunch of guys who want to keep playing baseball, just go out and have fun kind of thing. My team actually won the championship two years ago.”
Did they play in public parks around Baltimore? “Yeah, pretty much,” Feigl said. “No big fields. Smaller fields.”
Just wives and girlfriends watching? “Yeah, pretty much.”
Flash forward 19 months. Feigl is competing for a spot in the Braves’ bullpen.
This kind of thing doesn’t happen, but it’s happening. The lanky lefty with the 93-mph fastball and good location hasn’t pitched above the Single-A level in the minors, but he’s vying for one of the last spots on the Braves’ opening-day roster.
Surprised?
“A little bit,” said Feigl, 24, who has pitched 65 2/3 innings in 38 professional baseball games, all last season. “Just going to keep working hard. Whatever happens, happens. If I’m down in the minors I’m going to work just as hard.”
A non-roster invitee, Feigl was among the early spring roster cuts, but the Braves keep bringing him back from minor league camp to pitch in Grapefruit League games. He had a 1.29 ERA in eight appearances, with seven hits, one run and no walks allowed in 6 2/3 innings, and seven strikeouts.
“He’s an interesting guy,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “We’ll see.”
“Real good stuff,” said legendary former Braves manager Bobby Cox, whose attention Feigl caught in the first week of spring training, when the Hall of Famer saw him throw batting practice on a back field. He was the first guy Cox mentioned when a reporter asked for a dark-horse roster candidate.
Feigl entered Tuesday night’s game with two out and a runner at third in the ninth inning and promptly struck out left-handed hitter Colby Rasmus, who had homered and doubled.
He might still start the season in the minor leagues, but the Braves have not ruled out naming him to the opening day roster despite the jump it would be from high Class-A Lynchburg to facing the Marlins next week.
“I think I’ve proven that I can pitch up here,” Feigl said, “and I’ve also proved to myself that I can do it. I have the stuff to compete.”
Feigl pitched well early, but was sent down because the Braves had so many experienced relievers competing for spots and wanted to make sure they got a look at all of them.
But after the herd was thinned, after a lot of pitchers issued too many walks or displayed diminished velocity and were either released, optioned or reassigned to minor league camp, the Braves decided to take another look at a couple of pitchers sent out earlier, including Feigl.
Now, about that Baltimore Baseball League. It wasn’t some beer-league circuit of potbellied has-beens. But it was a low-key summer league well below even the independent-league pro ball level.
“We had some college players, guys who didn’t want to play in the big summer leagues,” Feigl said. “Guys who wanted to just go back home and have some fun.”
Feigl had once drawn attention from major league scouts in his freshman season at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland, before shoulder surgery for a torn labrum wiped out all or parts of his remaining three seasons.
After being out of organized baseball for a year but keeping his arm in shape, Feigl attended a Braves open tryout in Danville, Va.
“(Braves scout) Billy Best saw me there, wanted to sign me, but they thought I had arm issues still,” Feigl said. “And about a month later, mid- to late October, my college coach said why don’t you come up for our scout day? And I was already up there for an alumni golf tournament, so I went up there.”
Braves scout Gene Kerns, the guy who signed pitcher Brandon Beachy out of an independent league, saw Feigl that October 2013 day at Mount St. Mary’s and was impressed. At least enough to offer a spring-training contract.
Feigl needed to show in 2014 minor league camp that he was worthy of a spot on one of the Braves’ farm teams. He did, going on to post a 3.02 ERA and 60 strikeouts with only 13 walks last season, including a 2.05 ERA with 23 strikeouts in 22 innings after a promotion from Class A Rome to high-A Lynchburg.
A year later, Feigl has allowed himself to consider the possibility of making the Braves’ roster.
“But you can’t really get stuck on it,” he said. “Whatever happens, happens.”
