It’s not often that fans get to hear about the inner workings of their favorite team’s minor league system. In most cases, unless it is a top prospect being moved up or down, it rarely even makes the social media rounds. But recently, Dodgers minor league right-handed pitcher Shea Spitzbarth was promoted from the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes to the Double-A Tulsa Drillers, an experience which he recently shared with me firsthand.

Before getting into the details, here is some background information on the 22-year-old Staten Island, New York native. Spitz, as he is called by his friends and teammates, was assigned to the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes out of spring training. In Cactus league play, the hard throwing right-hander – who was actually named after Shea Stadium – did most of his playing on the big league side of camp and he did not disappoint. As a matter of fact, he was unhittable. Right after camp broke Shea continued his success in Rancho where he appeared in 11 games mostly as the teams closer. In those 11 games Spitzbarth sported an excellent ERA of 0.59 and came away with six saves. So, the front office took notice of his success and rewarded him by promoting him to Double- A Tulsa where he made his debut on Tuesday, May 16. In that game Shea pitched two full innings where he struck out one, walked none, and gave up two hits.

Of the Dodgers 38 spring training games, Spitzbarth appeared in nine of them. He began the 2017 season at Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga but has since been promoted to Double-A Tulsa.
(Photo credit – Steve Saenz).

Now, the story. The day was normal for Shea on the morning of Tuesday May 16. It began with him waking up and heading to eat breakfast with his team. When he walked into breakfast Quakes manager Drew Saylor greeted him as usual but it was what Saylor said that was obviously a first. His then manager greeted him with a normal good morning followed with,” Shea I just got a call and I heard that they need you up in Double A. You deserve this, you’ve been great.” From there, the obviously excited pitcher made his way down to Loan-Mart Field where he gathered his belongings and headed to the airport from which he flew to Tulsa.

From the airport, Shea arrived at his new home stadium where he had a moment to take things in for the first time. His reaction was a good one and in his words,” the whole atmosphere is different here. It’s awesome”.  From there, he got his new game threads and waited for his first ever Double A game to start.

Once the game began it did not take long for Shea to see his first action at this new level and it required him to learn the ropes very quickly. Double A in baseball is usually known for a serious step up in pitching and hitting from the levels below it. Players at that level are just one step away from the majors and are at the point where they are just refining their game instead of learning to play it. Shea picked up on that quickly and shared that he noticed how hitters “…really know their zone and know what pitch they want to hit. They don’t bend on that and they really keep it tight for pitches.”

When asked what he expects his role to be on his new team, Spitzbarth said that it would still be late in the game although probably not as the closer right of the bat, he said that as the season furthers along, he might move back into a closer-type role but really feels as though there aren’t any defined roles on the Drillers.

In the end, as I’ve said it before and will gladly say again, Shea Spitzbarth is someone to keep an eye on. He tore through hitters in spring training, made High-A look easy, and it appears like he’ll continue the trend in Double-A. I, for one, look forward to following his success and recommend you consider doing the same.