Former Gov Kelley created his own baseball destiny three years ago

BY BRAD KIRTLEY
APSU Sports Information Director

"Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice: It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."-William Jennings Bryan

Few days will be more important to Shawn Kelley than June 1, 2007.

The October 2007 day he and the former Kelsey McNalley were married; the upcoming birth of his first child in late August; the day in early April 2009 that Kelley was told he had made the Seattle Mariners ball club are all dates undoubtedly more important to Kelley.  

However, June 1, 2007 was the day Shawn Kelley literally created his own destiny.

Kelley was wrapping up his senior baseball season at Austin Peay State University. Even though he was Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year, owning an eye-popping 11-3 record, a 2.52 earned-run average and a nine-game winning streak, Kelley had no guarantee what lie ahead for him as far as his baseball future was concerned. Although he impressed many entering this date with fate, he also was a fifth-year senior. Fifth-year seniors, especially pitchers, sometimes are viewed by professional baseball scouts as if they are too old, or worse yet, as if they are touched by disease.

Rumors had Kelley perhaps being drafted somewhere in rounds 20-25. But George Sherrill, now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, heard those same rumors when he was at Austin Peay back in the late 1990s and he went undrafted-he was a four-year college player.

Austin Peay was set to play Vanderbilt, the favorite to win the NCAA baseball championship, in the first round of regional play in Nashville. And, oh by the way, the Commodores also would pitch the overwhelming choice to be the 2007 major league draft's No. 1 pick, David Price, against the Governors. His mound opponent? Shawn Kelley.

Kelley was the staff ace as a senior with a 2.24 ERA, 82 K and 11 BB.

"I knew there would be a scout or two of every major league team watching Price," Kelly said. "I figured it might be the last game I ever pitched so I decided to go out and do it right."

It turned into more than an epic duel. It was televised regionally by CSS-and later ESPN, which originally had passed on a chance to cover the regional, joined the game late because of the compelling action. Kelley matched Price pitch for pitch. The statistics show that Price pitched nine innings, allowed just five hits and one run while blowing away 17 Governors via strikeout and walking two.

But Kelley arguably was better. In the extra-inning contest Kelley pitched 10 innings, also allowing only five hits while fanning nine and walking zero. Each inning Kelley pitched, the tenseness grew on the benches and in the crowd-the Vanderbilt faithful squirming more and more in their seats after each batter Kelley retired.

Kelley faced a Vanderbilt lineup that day which saw seven of the nine players drafted either that season or the next. In fact, third baseman Pedro Alvarez was drafted No. 2 overall in the 2008 draft while shortstop Ryan Flaherty also was first-round pick that same season. Austin Peay had just two position players (first baseman Jake Lane and outfielder Rafael Hill) who would be drafted.

Vandy finally touched Kelley for a run in the sixth inning, With two outs and a runner on third base, Kelley threw a biting slider in the dirt and to the right of catcher Matt Smith, who had no chance of blocking the pitch.  The ball skipped to the backstop and Brad French scooted home to make it 1-0 game. Kelley struck out that batter to end the inning, but the shutout was broken.

When the ninth inning rolled around, the Govs still were trailing when Tyler Farrar, the Govs third baseman, stepped up to the plate to hit a scorching line drive toward the left field wall.

"I already had thrown eight innings at the time, 80-90 pitches," Kelley said." We were losing 1-0 and it was a 3-2 count. I was thinking, 'well it has happened to me before (losing 1-0),' but then Farrar hit that ball. When that ball crept over that wall I was re-charged and thinking I was ready to go eight more innings.  I remember telling (manager) John Harris that I wasn't coming out of the game. But Coach Mac (Gary McClure) didn't think it was wise for me to throw more than 130 pitches. I was begging him to let me go back out. Still, that game was so cool. "

The Govs would lose 2-1 in 11 innings on a fluke play that saw reliever Ben Wilshire, now in the San Francisco Giants organization, catch a spike attempting to go after a ground ball. Despite the defeat, that game is considered by most to be the best game in Austin Peay history. Kelley's pitching performance is considered by even more people to be the best in Governors history.

"It was really neat-the quality of (Vanderbilt) fans after the game that night and then the next day," Kelley said. "I can't tell you how many people stopped me and shook my hand that day and the next, telling me how great I did. It meant a lot to me and made me proud of myself and proud of our team."

The game also left an impression on Price. After the two teams completed the post-game ritual of handshakes, Price pulled Kelley aside in front of the backstop.

"We talked for a minute-he was standing with his dad," Kelley said, "He said congratulations to me--that it was toughest game he had ever played in his career in the SEC, even against SEC teams. He said he looked forward to seeing me down the road sometime.

"It was kind of fun because I really didn't know him, but I knew who he was. Obviously, he had a status symbol beside his name, knowing he was going to be the first pick in the draft.  Knowing all that, to say what he said, knowing the type of pitchers that he had gone up against in his career, it meant a lot to me."

That day Kelley put a symbol by his own name. He immediately heard from more teams. When the major league draft occurred just a few days later, Seattle called Kelley's name in the 13^th round.

"After the game I started getting phone calls from several different teams," he said."I think the game kind of put me on the map. Every time I see David Price I shake his hand and tell him thanks for getting me drafted, for letting me shine in his moment. Maybe I would have been drafted and maybe not. I know that game factored in why I went to the Mariners. I know that I had not talked to anyone from the Mariners before that night.

Kelley at APSU's Senior Day, with father Dennis, wife Kelsey, brother Justin and mother Rhonda.

"It is one of those things, going into that game, if I was going to get a chance to continue playing it might have been signing with someone as a free agent.  There is a difference when you sign as someone drafted than when you sign as a free agent, there is a little more pressure on organizations with their earlier picks to move guys or to give (drafted) guys opportunities because it makes them look better. It is kind of a big thing. In going back to that game, I think probably every inning I pitched I could have been moving up in rounds, literally speaking.  Who knows?"

The Minor Leagues

"Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny."-Charles Reade

When Kelley signed with Seattle, he joined an organization that owned a policy about its minor league pitchers not being pushed beyond 150 innings early in their professional careers as the organization attempts to build up its pitchers durability year-by-year. Kelley already had thrown 127 innings for the Governors during the spring so it was decided by the Mariners, to obtain a meaningful insight of Kelley's abilities, to use him out of the bullpen.

His first stop was Everett of the Northwest League. He quickly asserted himself to professional baseball at the Class A short-season league and after just three games immediately was advanced to Class A Wisconsin (Appleton, Wis.) of the Midwest League. Kelley made nine appearances in the Midwest League, fashioning a suitable 2.25 ERA. The Mariners had observed enough and shut him down a little more than a month after signing him. In fact, over the final month of the baseball season, Kelley was shipped to Arizona and the Mariners minor league complex to build up his arm and shoulder strength under the watchful eye of the organization's minor league personnel.  He continued his hard work into the offseason and while preparing for his new-found role as a short relief pitcher.

In 2008, Kelley, however, became more than a reliever; add closer to his title. His minor league career soared.

"I found my niche," Kelley said. "It was hard to explain but (pitching out of the bullpen) I gained four-to-five miles per hour on my fastball.

"In the minor leagues, and I hate to say this, but there are a lot of guys who know how to pitch and a lot of guys that are good, but they (organizations) want to see the velocity, if you are going to move up," Kelley said. "In college, I was always a guy who commanded his pitches well who could throw it up there a little bit, but not like I do now. The move to the bullpen and getting out there every other day, having to prepare my arm to throw almost every day, did a lot for my arm. That is the only reason I can think of why my velocity went up. It made my stuff that much better and allowed me to move up quicker.

"As a starter, they are going to develop you at each level and continue to work on your pitches. The one place you can move fast is out of the bullpen. It just all fell into place."

 He started the season back at the Mariners' Wisconsin affiliate, but didn't stay long.  In early May, he was promoted to High Desert in the High Class A California League. In 12 appearances that totaled 12 innings, he failed to allow a run.

"Timing was a big thing," Kelley said. "I had some success right away. That season after I got drafted I did pretty well over the next couple of months. Then that next year, I started in A ball and did well. They bumped me to High A ball-they told me in spring training because I was a little older, they thought my maturity level was higher than (Class) A ball.  I went to the California league and kind of dominated for a couple of months."

Then the fast track up the minor league ladder continued. In early June, he was promoted to Class AA West Tennessee (Jackson).

"Then there were a couple of injuries at Double A and they said they needed a pitcher, so they sent me up there," Kelley said. "They told me I might just be up there for a little bit. They said they needed a few arms until the other guys got healthy."

Kelley never gave the Mariners organization the opportunity to think twice about returning him to High Desert. The success he was enjoying at Class A continued in Class AA. After reporting to the Diamond Jaxx, he reeled off 14 more consecutive scoreless innings. At the same time, he became the team's co-closer and ripped off nine saves over the final three months-in one outing all five outs he recorded were via strikeout. In fact, at season's end he led the entire minor league organization with 15 saves.

Winter Baseball

"More than anything else, I believe it's our decisions, not the conditions of our lives, that determine our destiny"--Anthony Robbins

His meteoric rise certainly caught the Mariners' brass attention. They asked him to pitch winter league baseball in Venezuela. Being married less than a year, Kelley was not necessarily enthused about spending part of his offseason in South America.

During the regular baseball season, Kelsey Kelley, an elementary school teacher at the time in Clarksville, couldn't join her husband until the school year ended. However, the young married couple was able to spend time together when Shawn was promoted to West Tennessee. As a result, the second-year hurler knew what he had to do if he was going to continue to advance up the Mariners chain.

Kelley with future Hall of Famer New York Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter.

"Venezuela was not my first choice to play baseball," he said."But I told myself that if this is what I had to do and be gone for two months and go to another country, then that is what I have to do. This is what I have to focus on...this was my job. 

"(Venezuela League) was a real high level of baseball. They say if you can pitch in Double A, you got a shot of pitching in the big leagues. If you can pitch down there (Venezuela), you can pitch in the majors because there are a lot of names and a lot of big-time guys."

Again Kelley never blinked. Pitching for the Lara club, Kelley was a perfect nine-for-nine in save opportunities.

On one rare off night, much of the team stayed out late as it prepared to play in a fund-raising golf tourney the next day. Kelley elected to turn in early and was one of the first to the course the next day. Mariano Rivera normally played in the tournament but had other commitments that winter. However, a surprise stand-in surfaced for Rivera-teammate and future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter. Kelley, because he was one of the first players to the course that morning, was part of the Jeter foursome.

Getting the Call   

"Dreams are like stars...you may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to your destiny."- Anonymous

A super 2008 season coupled with an impressive Winter League campaign earned Kelley an invitation to Mariners big-league camp as a non-roster player in February 2009 .

Kelley pitches in spring training, wearing a non-roster invitee No. 66.

"It was kind of a blessing because we (Mariners) had an entire organizational shake up-a new GM (Jack Zduriencik), new manager (Don Wakamatsu), new coaches (pitching coach Rick Adair and bullpen coach John Wetteland to name two)," Kelley said. "They basically said we are going to take the best 25 guys out of camp-it didn't matter who was on the team last year."

Overcoming a slow start, Kelley impressed the new staff, especially Adair and Wetteland, the former All-Star closer who preceded Rivera as the Yankees' late-inning star.

"We heard so much about his makeup, his ability to pitch, the way he competed and his command," Adair said. "When he came into camp that is what we saw. He made a huge impression day one and still does. Great young man, great competitor who belongs in the big leagues."

"Number one for me is makeup...a guy that is fearless, a guy that attacks the strike zone," said Wetteland, who had 600 relief appearances and 330 saves during his 12-season major league career. "A lot of guys will throw bullpens and have great stuff but all of a sudden they get in games where they are nibbling corners, trying not to get hit and that type of attitude. There is no place for that in a major league bullpen. That was the first thing...'how does he use his stuff? Is he on the attack? Does he keep them on their heels?' He never shied away from that. He took it by the horns from outing one and just said I going to light something up. 

"I tell these guys no matter how hard you throw, no matter what kind of stuff you have, your biggest asset is conviction. And he has that in spades. As long you have that, you a real good fighting chance. Put that on top of his stuff and how well he locates, that is a major league pitcher."

As spring training ended, Kelley was called into the manager's office, not sure if he was going to open the season in another Washington city, Tacoma, the home of the Mariners' Class AAA club in Seattle.

"They told me they had good news and bad news for me," Kelley said. "They told me the bad news was I was not going to be closing (at Tacoma); the good news was that I had made the ballclub (as a relief pitcher)."

Kelley raced outside to his truck to call his wife back in Clarksville and his mother and dad in Louisville.

"Lucky for me, if the same organizational people had still been in place, they might have wanted to stay with some other people or might have wanted me to go down and spend some time in Triple A," Kelley said. "But these guys thought I was ready. Things just fell into place. A little luck is involved in this game too.

"It has been surreal, especially last year. When I made the team out of spring training I remember thinking I had not even been in the minor leagues a year and a half. I thought to my redshirt junior year and not even knowing if I would even be a main guy in our rotation in college. It is crazy how things can happen. Still sometimes today I step back from looking at all the numbers and everything and appreciate the fact I am getting to do something I dreamed about as a little kid."

Kelley made his Major League debut April 10, 2009, at Oakland, firing a scoreless inning, striking out the first batter faced as a major league pitcher. He opened the season with 7.2 innings of scoreless relief before suffering his first major league loss at Chicago (White Sox) in late April. However, he bounced back to pitch well, gaining his first relief win against Oakland, May 1.

But misfortune struck Kelley. If torn ulnar collateral ligament and torn rotator cuff are the most feared injuries for baseball pitchers, then a strained oblique possibly is third on the list. In fact, Kelley literally appeared to be shot on the mound on May 5 with a left oblique strain as he collapsed to the ground. In reality it felt like someone had stuck a knife into his side. He went on the disabled for almost two months.

After three rehabilitation appearances, Kelley returned to the Mariners in early July and permitted seven runs over two appearances, watching his earned-run average balloon from 1.46 to 5.93. He spent the rest of the year whittling it down to a more respectable 4.50, He finished with five wins, tying for fifth most by a Mariners rookie reliever in franchise history. His 41 appearances ranked 10^th best by a Seattle rookie.

"Looking back now, I think I was healthy when I came back," Kelley said. "However, it is like anything else when you take took two months off. I couldn't remember the last time I took two months off from baseball in the last 10 or 15 years. To just stop and then try to pick things up once I got healthy-to jump right back into that situation, let alone doing it at the major league level with the best going against the best-it was tough. And then you throw in that I was still learning how to pitch at this level-still evolving and adjusting-it was difficult not being 100 percent ready to pitch."

Spring Training 2010

"There is a destiny which makes us brothers; none goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own" - Edwin Markham

Kelley has increased his velocity since moving to the bullpen. He know wears No. 23.

After a whirlwind 12 months, Kelley was ready to slow down during the offseason, allowing his body and mind to both get away from baseball while he and Kelsey built a house in the Chattanooga area.  He literally didn't touch a baseball for a couple of months. However, when the New Year arrived his focus shifted back to baseball. February and Spring Training were right around the corner. He was looking forward to again sharing a spring training home with his former APSU teammate A.J. Ellis. When Kelley was a freshman, Ellis was a senior and the two became close, despite their age and class difference. It was that "Kentucky thing," according to Ellis, a Lexington native. 

"Our wives (Cindy Ellis and Kelsey Kelley) played volleyball (both were setters) together at Austin Peay and are very close friends," Kelley said. "It's a great situation and A.J. and I have a lot of fun together. We have a lot in common. We are there for each other and we are great friends and we will continue to be.

"We want to (share a house) again. We talked about it but we know we definitely are going to have to upgrade the size and fork out a little more money because we are going to have a few more little ones running around.

"Hopefully, one day it works out that we can play together. I would love to throw to him, love to have him on our team."

Understanding the fortune he has achieved in reaching the major leagues in such a short time frame, Kelley even more is appreciative of Ellis' perseverance to reach the majors. After spending September 2008 in the majors along with four different trips to the big leagues in 2009, Ellis, after seven minor league campaigns, has settled in as Dodgers' back-up catcher after Brad Ausmus underwent back surgery in April.  

"I am so happy for him," Kelley said. "He probably has deserved to be at that level for the last couple of years, for what he has done at Triple A and his intelligence behind the plate. I felt bad the last couple of years that he got stuck down at Triple A. But they have a good catcher (Russell Martin) and they had Ausmus last season, who is a veteran guy.

"It was a matter of waiting for an opportunity. I kept telling him...once you get there you are going to a starter or back up for a long time. He has started his career. It no longer is going to be getting called up in September; he is here to stay. Hopefully, we see him as an everyday guy soon."

When Ellis recently knocked in the winning run in an extra-inning win against the Atlanta Braves, Kelley couldn't have been happier. But they also both like to keep their needles sharpened.  

 "Our relationship is great," he said. "We shoot each other texts all the time when we see each other on ESPN, If he sees me give up a home run or I see him screw up, we let each other know about it."

Settling in For Season 2

"We all have a destiny in accordance with the breadth of our shoulders. My shoulders are broad"- Placido Domingo

Kelley was pitching some of his best baseball early in 2010 when he hit a major pothole in consecutive appearances June 4-5 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  He gave up five earned runs over a two-day stretch, including four walks in one appearance-Kelley walked just 11 batters total in his senior season.

"I went through a funk in a 24-hour period," he said. "I went in against LA and couldn't throw a strike for the life of me. I never have had anything like that happen to me in my life. The next day I got it back, even though I got hit a little bit. You go through periods in this game where sometime you go out there and you don't feel like yourself. What I have been told by veterans in this league and from guys I respect, it doesn't matter how things are going when it's good, what makes you a longtime major league player is how  you get back out there and how you put things past you, how you come back from those times when you struggle. I just went back out there and tried to throw strikes again."

It also helps he has a wife, who as a former college athlete, understands the delicate balance of success and failure on the athletic front. As a setter at the Division I level, Kelsey Kelley often held the team's fortunes in her own fingertips.

"If things are going good, Kelsey knows how to bring me down and keep me humble," Kelley said. "If I have a rough outing, she knows exactly what to say to me to pick up and make me feel better, help put it past me and get it off my mind. She has been watching baseball games since we started dating in college so she knows the ins and outs of the game. She is as supportive as I could imagine anyone could be. She is very athletic and has an athletics background so she knows about the ups and downs, the roller coaster life."

A few days after Kelley's four-walk implosion against the Angels, Kelley was riding back up the roller coaster, putting together consecutive scoreless outings against Texas and San Diego to get back on track.

"The things you look for in a young pitcher are maturity, the way he competes, his aggressiveness and obviously stuff," said Wakamatsu, a former catcher in his second season as Mariners manager. "In the short period of time in spring training a year ago we felt like he was ready to do that. I think he was as good as advertised early in the season. But then he had the misfortune of pulling that rib muscle and it has taken his quite awhile to get back. We think he is back now-his velocity is up. The benefits last year were he got the experience; he knows he can pitch here and the rest is continuing his career and making adjustments. We feel like is about where he was last year before the injury.

"I think some guys learn a lot from struggles and injuries. He has grown a lot. He understands location is more important than power. Even though he has a power fastball and has power stuff, location matters and going through some of the things he has, he understands that even more. And that is part of the maturity we are talking about."

Kelley sits alongside bullpen coach John Wetteland, closer David Aardsma and reliever Sean White at Busch Stadium.

Kelley seems to relish the idea his baseball future rests in his own hands, his own arm. The former Austin Peay star always had the ability to rise to the occasion when his team needed him most-three times he was named to the OVC all-tourney team and twice pitched in NCAA Regionals. 

In his short career, Kelley has been able to pick the pitching brains of such stars and former stars like Wetteland and Cliff Lee, a former Cy Young Award winner who starred on the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies, pitching in the World Series a year ago. He also had the opportunity to play with one of the all-time baseball greats and future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. ("Growing up," Kelley said, "he was the only player whose jersey I ever had.") Currently, he plays with another player, Ichiro Suzuki, who could be ticketed to Cooperstown some day. Kelley knows he has been blessed to have a baseball career literally fast-tracked in such a short period of time.

He knows it all started one day a little more than three years ago on a warm, muggy night in Nashville. In fact, his baseball career to this point came be summed up from a quote by American author Denis Waitley: "As long as we are persistence in our pursuit of our deepest destiny, we will continue to grow. We cannot choose the day or time when we will fully bloom. It happens in its own time."

-AP-