Tito and Barry Live! #14

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Tito and Barry Live! #15 (Don't remember the date)

Here is another podcast we did with the Crackling Oats Band. These dudes are some jamming animals and laid down brand new tracks that have yet to be recorded, enjoy!

Senior Capstone 2012

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 42^nd 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 13^th 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 9^th round pick and received $3,000.  Lumpkins, who was a 13^th 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.” 

Podcast: Lucky Number 13!

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