(Photo Credit: WVU Athletics)
The phrase ‘bittersweet’ is often overused in sports media.
There is not a more apropos phrase, however, to describe 2019 for Mount Sinai-native Sam Kessler.
Let’s start with the bad.
With his team hosting the NCAA Regional against Texas A & M, he was on the mound and yielded a walk-off grand slam with two outs in the 9th inning on a full count to turn a 10-7 lead by West Virginia into an 11-10 victory for Texas A & M.
The loss eliminated the Mountaineers and with social media’s ubiquity, the clip has been played 2.5 million times on Twitter.
Kessler noted that he thinks about it every day. What made matters worse, he stated was that his West Virginia squad was hosting the regional and that they led 9-1 in the fifth inning before a rain delay completely shifted the momentum of the game.
Now the good.
Kessler was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 34th round of the 2019 MLB Draft just two days after the game.
“It was a crazy week,” he said. “I was just two days removed from feeling like I was at rock-bottom and then the draft happens,” he added.
But let’s take it back. Way before the craziest week of his life and pitching in front of 7,000 fans in an emotionally-charged atmosphere.
Sam was born and raised in Mount Sinai as a die-hard Yankees fan. Like many 22-year-olds, he grew up admiring the greatness of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. He noted that not only did he respect them for being winners but also for the way they carried themselves off-the-field.
In his youth, he would go to All Pro Sports Academy in Bellport and get hitting and pitching lessons. Once he became serious, he started taking pitching lessons with former Major Leaguer Joe Valentine.
“He played a big part in my career–it was really like a big brother, little brother relationship,” he said in regards to Valentine.
College Recruiting
As he continued to grow and add velocity and bite to his slider, Kessler became a coveted pitcher at the Division-I level. He noted that he played on the Bayside Yankees on the summer entering his junior year. He received interest from St. John’s and Stony Brook, but his priority was to go away to school. He wanted the classic college experience with a big school and a big-time college football program.
He received a call from West Virginia University pitching coach.
“I didn’t know much about the baseball program–I remembered the football program from their days of Pat White and Tavon Austin. With the way he was describing their tradition and that they’re a Big 12 school so they face TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and they had just built a new stadium–I wanted that.”
Once he visited the school, one moment stood out to him.
The Head Coach took him on the baseball field and they stood on the mound. He looked at Sam and asked, “could you picture yourself on this mound pitching against Texas?”
Sam looked him in his eyes and replied emphatically, “yes I can.”
“The one bit of advice I can tell kids that are going through the recruiting process, is to go where you feel needs and wanted. They can give you a whole sales pitch but they genuinely need you, you will feel it.”
After the visit, Sam felt comfortable with spending his future there and committed to West Virginia University. But first, he had history to make.
History for the Mustangs
In the history of Mount Sinai High School, they had never captured a County Championship. Thanks to an overwhelming pitching staff led by Kessler and Stony Brook-commit Brandon Bonanno, things changed in 2016. Together, they would dominate Suffolk County Class A hitters like few teams have done before.
Just as important to their presence was sophomore catcher George Rainer.
“What he did was really impressive because we basically said get back there and catch 90 MPH and he handled it,” said Kessler.
Also contributing to that team was 3B DJ Gatz, who Kessler called “a rock” due to his defensive prowess and he made a couple diving plays in the County Championship. He also pointed out James Sarno, an “unsung hero” who robbed a game-winning HR in the 9th inning against Sayville in the playoffs.
“Winning the County Championship was definitely my best memory–it was a euphoric feeling. To win it with Coach Reichenbach and Coach Pembroke and all my friends in the stands–it all came full circle,” he said.
After capturing the Suffolk County title, they advanced to the Long Island Championship against Nassau’s representative–Wantagh.
Unbeknownst to everyone outside of Wantagh, this was a dynasty in the making.
Led by four current of future All-State players, Wantagh was able to defeat the hard-throwing Kessler, 3-1, in front of a packed house at the PAL Stadium.
“That was the most amount of people I’ve ever played in front of,” he said. “I think it really prepared me for the next level–especially with the other fans screaming at me. But it was important for my future because the past makes you who you are,” he added.
West Virginia Mountaineers
The experience certainly helped him handle the pressure. As a freshman, he was able to get thrown right into the fire and handle himself well. He compiled an ERA of 2.61 over 17 appearances (38.0 IP, .203 AVG) with a save. On May 10, he got the start at PNC Park in Pittsburgh against Penn State.
During his sophomore season, he played even more of a role on the Mountaineers. He appeared in 25 games, compiling an ERA of 2.86 with a unblemished record of 4-0 with 4 saves. That summer, he performed well in the Cape Cod League with Yarmouth-Dennis.
With two successful seasons under his belt, he was firmly on the draft radar. Playing for a team with the talent of WVU, he was going to have plenty of opportunities to impress the scouts.
Fast forward to April 26, Kessler is throwing very well and West Virginia is entering a three-game set against perennial powerhouse University of Texas. With a crucial weekend Big-12 matchup, the stands were packed at UT with a capacity crowd of 7,000.
Recalling that conversation on the mound with WVU Head Coach, Kessler found himself pitching not just against Texas but on their mound.
Kessler noted that many of his teammates came from Texas and were written off by Texas during their recruitment–so they were extra fired up for this series.
As fate would have it, Kessler came in to protect a one-run lead with no outs in the eighth inning. After retiring the first two batters, he allowed the game-tying run to score on a single. Undeterred, WVU took the lead in the top of the 9th on a HR and Kessler retired the side in order to capture his 4th win of the season.
His work wasn’t done yet, though.
The next day, West Virginia overcame an 8-6 deficit in the 7th inning to take a 9-8 lead in the 9th and handed the ball over to Kessler. The fireman was able to lock down his 7th save of the season, allowing WVU to capture the impressive series win over a conference rival and national powerhouse.
“That was an awesome feeling,” he said. “Those fans really let you hear it. They have this cannon in left field that goes off every time they score a run,” he added.
They finished fourth in the Big-12 during the regular season and prepared for the gauntlet of the Big-12 Conference Tournament which began on May 22 and was hosted by Oklahoma City. He stated it was another crazy atmosphere as the entire crowd was wearing orange and it felt like a Yankee-Red Sox atmosphere with fans screaming the whole game.
In the first two games, they defeated Kansas and Texas Tech but lost to Texas Tech to go into the loser’s bracket. Having to play Texas Tech for the third straight time, they staved off elimination with a 2-0 victory to get to the Conference Championship against Oklahoma State. They lost 5-2, but qualified for the NCAA Regional thanks to their strong resume.
NCAA Regional
On their flight back to Morganton, they were informed that they would host the Regional–certainly great news for any team as it would provide a home-field and crowd advantage.
They took advantage of that with a 6-2 victory over Atlantic-10 Champion Fordham University. They defeated Rams ace John Stankiewicz, who had an outstanding sophomore season. In a strange twist of fate, he matched up against fellow New Jersey native Nick Snyder.
With the wind at their backs now, they moved on to the winner’s bracket but ran into a buzzsaw. Duke threw phenom Bryce Jarvis, who fired eight shutout innings with 11 strikeouts.
“Jarvis was incredible. He was on cruise control–he had probably the best changeup I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Now facing elimination, they had to face No. 17 ranked Texas A & M, one of the best programs in the nation.
Playing in their home stadium as the road team, the Mountaineers’ bats were rejuvenated. They put up two runs in the second. And again in the fourth. And yet again in the fifth. They led 6-0 in the fifth and 9-1 in the 7th.
And then the rains came.
The game had to be played to completion, and that was just what the Aggies needed to wake up.
A two-run single made it 9-3 in the 7th and then an opposite-field grand slam made it 9-7 in the 7th.
Kessler, who was preparing for the next game, suddenly was needed if the Mountaineers were to survive this game. He came on in the 7th and retired both batters to temporarily put out the fire.
WVU actually added a run in the 8th inning to extend their lead to 10-7, and Kessler had some breathing room.
After allowing the first two runners to reach in the 8th inning, he was able to settle down and retire the next two batters, highlighted by back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. It appeared they were out of the woods, but the 9th inning proved to be the undoing.
A leadoff double made things a little more uncomfortable. A flyout for the first out. Then a walk. Then a strikeout.
Up steps Braden Shewmake. One of the best hitters in the country and the eventual 21st overall pick in the MLB Draft by Atlanta. Coach walks to the mound to ask Kessler how he’s feeling.
“Does it matter?” he said. This game was Kessler’s to win or lose at this point.
Knowing the danger of facing the left-handed hitting Shewmake as a right-handed pitcher that relies on sliders was dangerous, so they chose to walk him to send up the next batter, Bryce Blaum.
Here’s how it was announced on the ESPN broadcast:
“The 3-2 pitch….And a high drive deep to left, back goes Lake at the fence…AND TEXAS A & M MIRACULOUSLY HAS COME ALL THE WAY BACK AND BEATEN WEST VIRGINIA!”
Texas A&M’s Bryce Blaum crushes a walk-off grand slam to beat West Virginia pic.twitter.com/HLM9zRW09L
— Baseball Bros (@BaseballBros) June 3, 2019
To be fair, Kessler had already thrown 65 pitches, more than he had since high school and was working on fumes against one of the top teams in the nation.
MLB Draft
After that experience, he had to pick himself up and wait to see how the draft would play out.
“I had no agent so I was talking to teams myself,” he said. He knew Day 1 was out of the question, and probably Day 2 (Round 3-9) as well. On Day 3, he chose to follow along online in his basemen, preferring not to risk the possibility of being with friends and not hearing his name selected.
“People told me not to watch but that was all I was thinking about,” he said. “I had only spoke to the Tigers and Orioles that day so I didn’t know what would happen. I was FaceTiming with my boy Manoah and he goes ‘don’t worry you still have next year, just graduate and you’ll get drafted.’ Right at that time he goes, ‘yo did you just get drafted?!’ and I said ‘I don’t know I’m on the phone with you I didn’t hear anything’ and at that moment my GroupMe starts going off and my phone was glitching from all the messages.’
He finally got the call.
The Detroit Tigers selected Sam Kessler in the 34th round of the MLB Draft. Still a junior, he had a decision to make.
His Head Coach called him up congratulating him and telling him to take his time with his decision. After conferring with his parents, he decided pro ball was the move. Making the decision easier was the fact that MLB will pay for the remaining year of college should he decide to go back.
“Playing in pro ball has always been a dream of mine. It was a terrible way to finish my career at West Virginia but I owe everything to them. Getting the call from my coach to congratulate me meant the world to me. I didn’t want any bad blood with them,” he said.
He signed his contract and started the next phase of his career.
Pro Ball
In rookie ball, with the GCL Tigers he performed well. He compiled a 3.48 ERA over 20.2 IP with 20 strikeouts against 10 walks. He noted that in college, he was basically an 80 percent slider pitcher. He flipped that around and threw 70 percent fastballs in pro ball.
“I think I did very well,” he said. “I got accustomed to it quick. The difference is that there is no baby sitting–nobody to look after you to make sure you get your work in. You have a lot of responsibility which I love. In college, you have to make sure your teammates are getting in the gym but that’s not the case here.”
Sitting 90-92 MPH with his fastball and 83-87 MPH with his slider meant that he already had a great baseline of an arsenal to succeed in pro ball but with all the resources available to him now, he is excited to get to work this Spring Training.
“I like the style of coaching,” he said. “Also we have six video guys here so you can analyze yourself on Rapsodo, Trackman and Edgertronic. It’s crazy to think you can just change your grip or one little thing and improve a lot. Also, every time you move up in the system, you’re with better players so it’s nice to be around driven guys, like-minded people that are motivated.”
Using the Rapsodo he was able to see that the spin rate on his slider has peaked at 2950 and sits around 2700, above-average for a pitcher.
This off-season, he has been working on developing a changeup so that he has a pitch that “moves the other way against lefties”, also he is working on his fastball command and “everyone is always working on adding velocity.”
After experiencing the ups-and-downs of 2019, Kessler is ready for his first full season of pro ball.
“I already started throwing and I’m feeling good.”
