Scott Morton
Journalism Capstone
Word Count: 3,711
From Jumpshots to Strikeouts:
Stephen Lumpkins’ Journey from College
Basketball to Professional Baseball and What It Means for Sport
As cars take the off ramp on Highway
280 and speed past High Road, by the luxurious entrance to Menlo Country Club,
and move closer to the residential housing of Redwood City, California, they
pass the baseball field at Woodside High School. Usually packed with fans of Woodside Wildcat
baseball, the seats and field are empty.
On this breezy afternoon in July, summer of 2010, only Stephen Lumpkins
pitches to his father, Larry, in a catcher’s stance behind the mound 60 feet, 6
inches away. This was the first chance I
had to see his motion since senior year of high school in 2008.
Lumpkins’ 6’8” and 225 lb. stature is
intimidation on the mound that cannot be taught. Lumpkins settles, places his left foot
parallel to the white rubber, kicks his right knee up past his waist, turns his
shoulders slightly, positions his left arm behind him, and rifles a 90 mile per
hour fast ball to his father. 60 more pitches,
quick two-mile run, and appropriate stretching techniques follow.
Baseball workouts multiplied for the 20 year
old that 2010 summer because the Pittsburgh Pirates took Lumpkins in the 42nd
round of the Major League Baseball draft.
Throwing for various scouts, pitching at different major league
showcases, and hiring, in effect, a baseball organization headhunter over the
summers, allowed Lumpkins to garner recognition from the Pirates, Kansas City
Royals, and San Francisco Giants. Still
a sophomore in college, scouts wanted Lumpkins to forgo his remaining college
days, but he opted to stay for his junior year at American University.
The Kansas City Royals selected
Lumpkins in the 13th round of the following year’s draft and, faced with
a hefty signing bonus of $150,000, it was hard for the big lefty to turn down
the offer. Lumpkins decided to forgo his
senior year at AU and enter into the farms system of Major League
Baseball. However, Lumpkins was not
leaving behind a college baseball team; he was leaving the American University
Eagles Men’s Basketball Program.
After a wonderful two-sport career
in high school, Lumpkins took the best offer that was placed in front of him –
a full ride scholarship to American University.
Rather than letting the full ride define him, Lumpkins never gave up on
his dream and is now pursuing a career as a major league pitcher. His college basketball career saved a healthy
arm, something young athletes who specialize in one sport can learn from and even
though he deals with the highs and lows of minor league baseball, Lumpkins is
chasing his dreams and has already garnered acclaim, redefining what it means
to “succeed” as a professional.
A Leg Up On the Competition (Well, In This Case,
an Arm)
It is a hot day in Surprise,
Arizona. Only 10:00 am, and the
thermometer in the rental car reads 92 degrees.
On this day, Surprise Stadium hosts the Royals and the Seattle Mariners
instructional teams. While Spring
Training ends on April 4, players who are still in the lowest levels of the
minor leagues, as Lumpkins is, spend an additional two months in “extended
spring,” or minor league purgatory as one player called it. Sports fans assume there are only three
levels of minor league ball – Single A, Double A, and Triple A. In fact, teams like the Mariners and Royals
have six levels of minor league play – Rookie Ball, Instructional League, Low
Single A, High Single A, Double A, and Triple A. It takes minor leaguers as many as four years
to even touch MLB grass.
Due to rules put in place by
Commissioner Bud Selig and Major League Baseball, unless a baseball player is
drafted directly out of high school he must spend at least three years in college
before entering the draft. Because
Lumpkins was a college basketball player, the MLB’s draft age rule did not
apply and teams were able to scout him. Through
the combination of not pitching in college, pitching only 3 years of high
school ball, and playing primarily two sports his entire life, Lumpkins’ arm is
simply healthier than the other pitchers in the Royals organization.
Laurie Rossi, Certified Athletic
Trainer and Lumpkins’ high school trainer, attributes his healthy arm to not
specializing in sport too early in life.
“You’re seeing a downtrend in (kids playing multiple sports) because
kids are starting to specialize early,” Rossi says. “You’re basketball players play basketball
all year long, you’re football players play football and do strength and
conditioning all year long; what athletes forget sometimes is they need to
rest.” Rossi commented on how she no
longer sees two or three sport athletes as commonly as she once did. In fact, muscle over usage is what Lumpkins
has avoided and therefore has a leg up (well, in this case an arm) on the
competition. “There’s no doubt my arm is
more fresh than almost everyone out here in Arizona,” Lumpkins admits. “Sure, I might not throw as hard as some of
them now, but I have a lot more mileage left to make improvements than some of
the other kids out here who already have had ‘tommy john’ surgeries and stuff
like that.”
According to baseball-reference.com,
Tommy John surgery, more properly known as ulnar collateral ligament
reconstruction (or UCL), is a surgical operation in which a ligament in the
medial elbow is replaced with a tendon from elsewhere in the body (often from
the forearm, hamstring, or foot of the patient). Dr. Frank Jobe first developed the procedure
in 1974 for pitcher Tommy John. Although
John’s chances of a full recovery were set at 1 in 100, a rigorous 18-month
rehabilitation schedule was created and John returned the following year and
pitched until he was 46. Although the
modern recovery is around 85 to 90 percent, the surgery was created for veteran
ballplayers, not young athletes. I
talked to five pitchers in Surprise and, with the exception of Lumpkins, four
of them already had “Tommy John” surgery before the age of 25.
Lumpkins is doing away with the
notion that you have to specialize in one sport in order to garner success. Essentially skipping baseball for three years
of his college career, Stephen is less likely to join the list of 192 pitchers
who have received “Tommy John.” “When an
athlete does have an injury, if they have not rested, it does take longer to
heal,” adds Rossi. “What he really needs
to do is just shut down and rest.”
Lumpkins has what baseball coaches
refer to as a “live arm.” It is healthy,
it has a lot of mileage left, and these are due to Lumpkins’ lack of sports
specialization throughout his entire athletic career. However, the knowledge of professional
baseball and the minor league system were not taught to Lumpkins in a college
classroom. This vertical learning curve
on the mound, Lumpkins says, is the toughest challenge of all.
The Blank Slate Perspective
As we sit in his apartment room playing our
third round of Tigers Woods 2012 on the Xbox, Lumpkins recalls his first ever
start as a member of the Royals.
Lumpkins, a man of direct dialogue, reflected, “It was wild.” According to Tom Schad of The Washington
Post, “(Lumpkins) was rattled…walking one batter, allowing another to score on
a wild pitch and even balking on a pickoff move.” All in all, it was a terrible first
impression. “What do people expect
though?” Lumpkins retorted. “I went from
being the center of attention to a minor leaguer. I don’t care who you are – coach, reporter,
parent, fan; you can’t expect me to pitch lights out in my first organized
inning since high school.”
Lumpkins makes an excellent point,
but he knows his insight will not be allowed as an excuse in the eyes of his
manager and coaches. The Royals are
monitoring Lumpkins day in and day out.
Tony Siegle, Senior Advisor of Baseball Operations for the San Francisco
Giants, knows there are coaches everywhere watching Lumpkins such as managers,
two coaches, trainers, physical fitness specialist; all on each of the minor
league clubs. “These players are
constantly under supervision,” says Siegle.
“You sign a young boy, the instructions are a lot, but it is all helpful
and it is all up to the kid. He has to
want to do it.”
It is easy for people to assume the changes
Lumpkins must make to his motion are major.
In the long run, the changes made will be major improvements, but in
Surprise, Arizona, his actual motion is changed very little. Trevor Wilson, the pitching coach for the Los
Angeles Angels AA team, knows that Lumpkins needs to master particular pitching
techniques in order to move up the minor league ranks. Wilson, a former major leaguer, said, “What
he needs to do is learn to repeat his delivery, repeat his strike release
point, and throw at least two different pitches.” A strike release point, in layman’s terms, is
a consecutive, consistent release point in your arm stroke that will allow one
to throw the ball over the plate.
Wilson, having been told Lumpkins is a 6’8” lefty, added Lumpkins need
to pitch “down-hill,” be able to pitch inside to left handed hitters, and throw
his breaking ball for strikes.
As a tall, lengthy, left-handed pitcher,
Stephen Lumpkins resembles the athletic build of a young Randy Johnson. However, whereas Randy Johnson learned proper
throwing mechanics while attending the University of Southern California,
Lumpkins is learning what he must fix on the fly in extended spring. “I am
definitely behind on some things, no doubt,” says Lumpkins. “The upside to being behind and having a
tough learning curve, though, is I do not have a lot of bad habits.”
These bad habits are mostly caused
by throwing one way for an entire career.
Given that, due to Lumpkins’ stint with college basketball, poor arm
release or misplacement of foot-on-rubber formed in high school have been
forgotten. Pitching while in college
only happened 3 months out of the year, such that Lumpkins is a blank slate
which the Royals organization gets to draw all over. As Wilson said, the big lefty is similar to a
clean portrait, a sponge waiting to soak up all sorts of information. His lack of pitching experience in recent
years has actually helped Stephen forget, or never even develop, the bad habits
he may have formed if he been an athlete who played baseball nonstop; an
athlete like John Karcich.
Karcich, a former Los Angeles Angels
of Anaheim prospect, likened Lumpkins’ mental learning curve to that of a high
school athlete skipping college, going straight to the professional level. Karcich, a five-year minor league veteran, was
recently cut by the Angels organization. Unlike Karcich, Lumpkins was thrown
into the world of professional baseball without the help of a college baseball
coach who could prepare him for what he would face – early mornings, stiff
competition, and physically demanding mechanical critics. Even though Lumpkins experienced the
pressures of a college sport, Karcich says because it was a different sport that
the experience goes out the window.
“Lumpkins was fortunate to go to school at American, out of his hometown
state,” says Karcich. “He learned a lot
about life. Although, not playing
baseball could hurt him because when the Royals drafted him in 2011, he was not
part of the system of playing baseball everyday. It probably took him about a year to get used
to.”
All that Was Left Behind…
It is 5:00 ET on March 26, 2011 in Washington
D.C. Stephen Lumpkins and his American
Eagles are squaring off against the Lafayette Leopards in the semifinal round
of the Patriot League Tournament. Bender
Arena, American’s home court, is packed to capacity with students, alumni,
faculty, and ESPN commentators. Signs
read “The Lumpkin Patch” and cheerleaders ascend into the air, flipping and
twirling about. As soon as the ball is
tipped off at center court, the game is an all out war. Lafayette went into the half up by two, but
regulation ended in a 53-53 tie. As the
final seconds in the second overtime were counting down, Lafayette hit a
3-point shot to win, 73-71. As the arena
went deathly silent, the American players and fans stood in shock. Fans knew it was American’s final game of the
year, but little did Lumpkins know it was the final game of his basketball
career.
When Lumpkins committed to AU, Lumpkins was
given a “full ride,” a luxury that would be foolish to pass up. After joining the Royals, American took away
Lumpkins’ scholarship, but the Royals Organization agreed to pay for his senior
year, as long as he finished all classes within ten years. Joe Hill, Lumpkins’ teammate at AU, was upset
when his best friend left early, but accepted the decision because it was what
Lumpkins wanted. “Lump was one of the
centerpieces of our team. He was a very skilled offensive player and a great
rebounder,” said Hill. Aside from the
basketball aspect, Hill also knows Lumpkins missed out on his final year at AU,
a special time for any college student.
Friday nights at Santa Clara University consist
of keg parties and beautiful women.
Friday nights in Surprise, Arizona consist of casino gambling and a rare
trip to Tempe, which is an hour away.
Lumpkins is up at 5:30 am and on the field early everyday. If a team is out there past 2:00 pm the heat
becomes unbearable. Hill started at AU
the same year Lumpkins did, so knows how his friend felt leaving his fellow
teammates a year early. “Senior year of
college is a special experience,” said Hill.
“It's
hard to beat playing on an athletics team with all of your best friends in
college, so I think that's what he misses.”
Lumpkins could have played
his senior year at American. He could
have received his education in the traditional four years of higher
education. John Bryant, a former Santa
Clara basketball star, completed his degree in four years and represents, in
effect, the road Lumpkins could have taken.
“I did not want to become one of those athletes who does not earn a
degree and my professional career runs it’s course,” said Bryant. John Bryant, a 7’0” center was a dominant
force as a Santa Clara Bronco. Even
though NBA teams scouted him, Bryant stayed for his senior year, enjoyed the
social scene, received his degree, and is now enjoying a productive career
overseas. While Lumpkins is completing
his Business degree on-line, there is no denying he knows on what he passed.
“When I
have a bad outing or if I am bored to hell on a weekend night, I think, ‘Man, I
wish I was just playing basketball again.’
Those thoughts come and go, though,” says Lumpkins. “You can’t think like that out here. You do not get given what you want; you have
to work for it. I want to pitch in the
primetime spotlight. I have to work for
it.”
…For Love of the Game
Despite the legacy and wonderful
accomplishments, Lumpkins never played basketball for the celebrity status; he
played because he loved the game. It is
the same reason he wakes up at 5:30 am every day in Surprise, Arizona. Professional baseball is Lumpkins’ dream. “I did not wake up in the morning with the
dream to play for a German club basketball team. I woke up and went to bed dreaming of
pitching in the majors. There’s nothing
wrong with European ball or basketball in general. Baseball was my dream.”
Charlie Bertucio, a former
minor league ballplayer in the Baltimore Orioles organization, knows that the
transition from a normal young adult’s life to the everyday grind of a minor
leaguer is a difficult one. Whereas
Lumpkins is stationed in Surprise, AZ, Bertucio was sent to Blue Field, West
Virginia. There are no keg parties,
players do not room down the hall from fun loving co-eds, and time moves much
more slowly when a player first starts out.
Bertucio cited feelings of anxiety when he first arrived in Blue Field,
because practices and games started the day after he arrived. A player truly has to look after himself in
order to chase the dream and battle what lies ahead.
When American took that painful loss
to Lafayette in 2011, the coaches and team knew they would be even better the
following year with Lumpkins as a senior.
Lumpkins was aware the entire offense was going to be built around him;
in reality, Lumpkins was American’s only major scoring threat with true game
experience. Lumpkins knows, though, that
you do not play a sport because other people depend on you, which is what
“team” means. An athlete plays a sport
because it makes him or her personally satisfied. Fred Smith, Associate Athletic Director at
Santa Clara University, sees decisions like the one Lumpkins made as simply
having another goal set. Smith has spent
a great deal of time with athletes who only have played one sport their entire
life. Smith spoke on those athletes who
seem to define themselves by their sport, “It’s sad. How do you know at 12 years old that soccer
is my path or baseball is my path? Okay,
I want a college scholarship; I’ve got my college scholarship. Now what?
You don’t have that next goal set.”
Lumpkins continues to set
goals. It would be naïve of an athlete
to think it is easy to become a professional.
However, that is not why athletes should play the game. Lumpkins cannot and will not beat himself up
if he does not make it to “The Show.” Lumpkins
has already achieved success in two sports because he did not let either one
define him; he just followed his dreams, even though one of those dreams came
with a signing bonus.
Find Success in the Little Things
As I sat behind the fence at the Surprise
Stadium complex in Arizona, the triple digit temperatures made each inning feel
like a daylong. The sweat from my
baseball cap began to drip down on my notepad as I listened to pitcher Dusty
Odenbach and first baseman Ryan Mead drone on about which superheroes from the
new Avengers movie they would want to
be and why. I thought, “Who in the hell
would want to do this?”
Aside from the literal heat, competition gets
hot with little teammate support at this game.
These ball players are not playing to win games, they’re playing to move
up the minor league ranks. Until
recently, every single pitcher or position player has competed to win, for the
team. This concept is turned on its head
when they arrive in Surprise. Matt
Murray signed a $75,000 contract bonus out of college two years ago, and promises
there is more pressure in the instructional league than there is at higher
levels. Murray, a “Tommy John” victim,
has a cynical view of instructional ball because he cannot go out and show any
signs of improvement when injured. A
pitcher by the name of “Crawford” signed for $1,000,000 at the age of 18, but
he had “Tommy John” and has been sidelined, as well. Just as a reference, Charlie Bertuccio,
drafted in 1981, was a 9th round pick and received $3,000. Lumpkins, who was a 13th rounder
and signed for $150,000, agrees with Murray and knows his coaches care more
about the development of an individual than anything else. “It is definitely something to get used to,”
Murray added.
Although these signing bonuses translate to
potential successes, it would seem wiser for a player to find success in the
fact they are playing America’s pastime of baseball. Matt Oye, a pitcher for the Angles’ AA team
in Little Rock, knows his profession is not just a dream for young kids; it is
still a dream for adults, as well. Oye,
in his second year with the Angels, was not drafted out of college and knows
how fortunate he is to be given the great opportunity of playing baseball
professionally. “I am very passionate about
this game and feel very blessed to play it,” says Oye. “Even having the chance to be signed is a
success. I am one of the very few who
gets to say they played professional baseball; at any level.” Lumpkins shares Oye’s view, because his dream
to play is being realized daily.
So What?
It has been written about several
times in sport: the multisport professional athlete. There are athletes who played two sports in
college, but only one sport professionally, such as San Diego Chargers Tight
End Antonio Gates. He played basketball
and football while attending Kent State, but only plays football now. There is Julius Peppers, who was an
All-League Defensive End and athletic power forward at the University of North
Carolina, but like Gates, only plays football currently. There is “Primetime” Deion Sanders, who started
out as a lock down cornerback in the NFL and eventually played centerfield for
10 MLB seasons. And, nobody should forget
the great Bo Jackson, a powerful NFL running back and also an MLB All-Star in
1989. However, has there been an athlete
like Stephen Lumpkins, who played one sport in college and then transitioned to
an entirely different sport professionally?
It would appear not since Kenny Lofton in 1996. Lofton played three years of basketball at
the University of Arizona before trying out for the baseball team his senior
year. Lofton went on to play 16 years of
Major League Baseball. And, while
Lumpkins still has a chance to join that group of 1% to play professional
baseball, he is presently redefining what it means to succeed.
As Lumpkins sits at the Pai Gow poker table at
Casino Arizona, he places his full house down on the table, busting the
dealer’s three of a kind. He smiles at
the $50 dollars he had already thrown into the pot and says, “This is exactly
where I want to be.”
