The Jon Secrist Diary: Entry 2: "I'm in a curious spot"
Jon Secrist, the 53-year-old knuckleball pitcher out of Westlake Village trying to catch on with the minor league St. Paul Saints, left home on Friday morning and took five days to get to Minnesota by rental car to start trying to impress team personnel with his fabled flutterpitch.
The team had an open tryout scheduled for Thursday, but it was rained out, and more wet weather -- including possibly snow -- is forcast for Friday, meaning Secrist may only get one more chance to impress manager George Tsamis , a former big-league pitcher himself, during an indoor workout at a local college. That could either lead to an invite to full training camp, or a sorry-but-thanks slap on the back, since the team's roster already seems to have nine pitchers with several candidates to make the No. 10 and (maybe) No. 11 spots.
By showing up, Secrist has drawn enough attention to have the local NBC affiliate, KARE Channel 11, do a piece on him where he said after Thursday's workout: "I'm facing guys; I'm not quite their granddad, maybe their dad."
Here's Secrist's latest diary entry:
"The drive here went fine. That game we saw in Arizona was funny -- the Diamondbacks gave up six runs in the first inning. If you've never been to their home park, you've got to go. It's a gorgeous field, especially when the roof is open. From there, the trip was so smooth. Kansas, Nebraska, Texas .. the roads are nice and smooth as glass. I kind of veered off from Highway 40 and went down Highway 54 through a bunch of little towns in Kansas, including Dodge City where the Daulton Gang once got held up. The weather was fine the entire trip.
"I arrived here Tuesday and checked out the field a bit. Wednesday I went to the Mall of America. That place is humongous. It's three times the size of the Prominade or Topanga Plaza. It started raining Wednesday night, let up a bit Thursday and then just came down and hasn't stopped.
"I got a chance to throw Wednesday at the field and Thursday in a gym, and the manager was there. I felt good about what I did, but to be honest, I was getting a weird vibe from the manager. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. He's just a quiet guy. The first time he saw me throw, the second or third pitch hit the catcher in the stomach. But the catcher said the ball was moving well. I threw some more today and was kind of so-so until the first 10 pitches, and then it started to click. I threw 45 pitches yesterday, and 30 pitches the day before to the team's pitching coach.
"I don't think there'll be at tryout tomorrow. It's going to rain more, and maybe even snow. Imagine that. It's May! The field isn't even covered. It's drenched. There's a university (Hamline) field nearby with an indoor facility that I'll probably throw at tomorrow. That might be the only time I get to impress them. They're almost at their limit right now. I'm hoping I can at least get some spring training in. That's when my pitches do best, when I'm facing live hitting. I think the knuckleball will work OK indoors. You wouldn't think it would dance much, but you see how Boston's Tim Wakefield does well when he's at Tampa Bay or Minnesota. It must be something about the still air. I've just never thrown off a mound that's made out of rubber. You don't wear spikes, just tennis shoes.
"Overall I feel good about everything, except the manager. I'm just trying to read him. I think I'm in a curious spot being the oldest guy and other players looking at me. I'm older than everyone, even the manager. I hope to hear soon from Mike Veeck (the team owner) and give him my best pitch again for keeping me. I know the GM feels good about me being here. But the manager, he wants to win and put the players out there he feels can do it. Maybe I'll be able to pitch in the exhibition game against the Japanese team on Tuesday, but they're expecting snow fluries that day as well.
"Anyway, I'll check in again Friday night after the workout and let you know how it goes."
==April 17: Diary Entry 1: "It could be five days or five months"
Comments
Definitely want to see him throwing the knuckleball in a game!
Posted by: colt22 | April 24, 2008 11:34 PM