The University of Oregon was playing an intrasquad scrimmage in 2015 and had run out of pitchers when a coach asked burly catcher Josh Graham, who pitched some in high school, if he wanted to throw an inning just to keep the game going.
“What’s kind of when it all began,” Graham said. “And then eventually I became a starter and got drafted as a starter and ended up in the bullpen.”
Three years later, the right-hander is in Braves camp competing. Even though he always faced long odds of making the club as a non-roster invitee with so little experience, and could get sent down soon, the muscular Oregon native has shown he can be a factor before too much longer at the big-league level.
“I really like that kid,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “ I think he’s got a chance of being a really good one.”
Graham, 24, has major-league stuff, topping out at 98 mph with his fastball and complementing it with a change-up and slider. All that he lacks is experience, after pitching for part of one season at Oregon and for 2-1/2 seasons in the minors since the Braves drafted him in the fourth round in 2015 and signed him for $500,000.
“He threw harder than I expected,” Snitker after the right-hander’s first appearance, which came in the second Grapefruit League game against the Astros.
Since then, Snitker has given Graham four more appearances, all scoreless until he allowed a three-run homer Tuesday against the Blue Jays. “Today you saw a kid that still needs some time; just kind of unraveled a little bit,” Snitker said. “But I really love the kid. He’s got three really good pitches. That change-up is a weapon, his slider’s good, his fastball can get up on top of you. That’s what the experience of pitching will do, he’ll be able to kind of right the ship a little quicker. Today it kind of got out of hand when he missed his spots and his location, but overall I like everything about that young kid.”
Graham gave five hits, no runs and one walk with five strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings over his first four appearances before Tuesday, when the Blue Jays touched him up for three runs on a two-out single followed by a walk and Luke Maile’s three-run homer.
Spring training has been a learning experience for him, but Graham said he didn’t come to camp just content to look around and develop.
“I tried not to come here and just think, well, I’m trying to learn what I can,” he said Tuesday morning. “I came here kind of with the attitude of, well, I’m going to learn as much as I can, but I’m also going to try to make the team. So it’s all up to them (team officials).
“I try not to think about it; the more I think about it the more it just flusters in my head. So I try to just keep my nose down and working and doing anything that I can to where I feel like if I’m up to my standards, I should be where I’m at – like I said, just feel like you belong.”
Graham hasn’t caught since the 2015 season at Oregon, but still has the body of a catcher -- 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds, with shoulders like boulders and the arms of a power hitter and not a power pitcher.
He said he avoids heavy lifting in the weight room, particularly during the season, but he does plenty to maintain the strength that he sees as a big component that’s helped him get this far.
“A lot of mobility work and just trying to get with the strength coaches as much as I can to do anything to stay between mobile and also being bigger and stronger. That’s kind of been one of the things that’s helped me, just being strong. And then also maintaining it and not doing too much to where I’m just going in there to get huge, I’m going in there just to get strong so I can maintain – especially now, during the season – to maintain being healthy.”
He had a 4.28 ERA in a combined 41 appearances last season in high Single-A and Double-A, with 66 strikeouts and no homers allowed in 61 innings. His stock climbed sharply after the promotion to Double-A Mississippi, where he made 10 appearances and posted a 1.38 ERA in 13 innings.
That helped him land a spot among the Braves’ Arizona Fall League selections and led to his invitation to big-league spring training.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Graham said. “Still pretty thankful each time you come to the ballpark, being around these guys. Socializing with these guys. It’s a lot of fun, especially being up here and just figuring out that you belong up here as well. ...
“Yeah, I think for sure I can do this, it’s just a matter of opportunities and succeeding in opportunities and taking advantage of them.”
