Steedley mapping out his future

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By Mike London

mlondon@salisburypost.com

That geography degree from Charlotte could come in handy down the road, but East Rowan graduate Spencer Steedley has nasty sliders in his immediate future.

He'll keep throwing them until someone tells him it's time for him to teach school.

The key nugget of information on the back of the 24-year-old Steedley's baseball cards is "Throws left."

"My coaches keep telling me that any decent lefty can pitch until he's 40," Steedley said with a laugh.

If he threw right-handed, the Minnesota Twins may have auditioned Steedley as an outfielder after they selected him in the 25th round of the 2007 draft. But he's a 6-foot-2 southpaw, and lefty pitchers are the most precious commodity in baseball. Their deliveries naturally move in strange, mysterious ways.

Steedley could always hit. He used to mash at East's Staton Field. He slugged 23 homers and knocked in 149 runs in his Rowan County American Legion career. He whacked 22 homers and 47 doubles for the Charlotte 49ers.

As a junior, he was an All-Atlantic 10 outfielder. As a senior, he was an All-Atlantic 10 pitcher. No one at Charlotte had accomplished that difficult double-dip before Steedley.

49ers coach Loren Hibbs relied on Steedley as a key hurler for the first time during his senior year, and there was a day in February that Steedley shut out Campbell while striking out 13.

He was named National Pitcher of the Week, and maybe that's the day pitching became his priority.

Even as his arm heated up for the 49ers, his bat cooled. When the 2007 draft rolled around, scouts were divided. Maybe Steedley had enough power for first base, but maybe he didn't. Maybe he was fast enough to play right field, but maybe he wasn't.

The one thing everyone agreed on was there was life in Steedley's left arm. He didn't have an extensive track record at Charlotte — 13 wins — but the Twins gave him a shot.

Hibbs said the Twins wouldn't regret it, that Steedley was a better athlete than most realized, and so far that's been the case.

Steedley has been an all-star twice — in the Class A Midwest League in 2008 and in the advanced Class A Florida State League in 2009.

He's plowed through four stops in the Twins chain — Elizabethton, Tenn., Fort Myers, Fla., Beloit, Wisc., and New Britain, Conn.

New Britain is Double A, and that's where he concluded the 2009 season, doing nice things such as striking out Domonic Brown, a slugging youngster who may be the Phillies' top prospect.

Steedley's run last spring and early summer at Fort Myers was the most dominating stretch he's enjoyed as a pro. He was 4-0 with a 1.79 ERA in 35 appearances.

"I got off to that great start at Fort Myers, and it really turned into an awesome year," Steedley said. "Then I did pretty well at Double A (2-1, 3.38 ERA), and that was really encouraging because everyone tells me the jump from A to Double A is the biggest. Double A has guys with major-league kind of talent who are looking for consistency."

Steedley's career minor-league numbers are solid — 14-11, 3.03 ERA. His most impressive stats are 191 strikeouts in 181 innings and just 11 homers allowed while facing 769 batters. He gets plenty of Ks and is deadly against lefty hitters.

His primary pitches are a sharp slider and a moving fastball that averages 90 mph. His changeup is coming along, and he's developed a curve during this offseason as one more weapon to torment lefties.

"I feel like I progressed a lot last year as far as my mechanics," Steedley said. "I still haven't been working on pitching full-time for that long, and I know I can still get better. I'm learning the mental aspects, learning to read hitters better, when to throw certain pitches. I'm just now starting to figure out who I am as a pitcher."

Steedley's arm is fresher than that of most 24-year-old prospects. He couldn't pitch his senior year at East following shoulder surgery, and he didn't log workhorse innings his first three years of college.

Former MLB hurler Eric Rasmussen was Steedley's first pro pitching coach after he signed, and Rasmussen is now the pitching coordinator for the whole organization. It's a plus that Rasmussen is familiar with Steedley and knows his history.

The Twins think enough of Steedley that they sent him to compete in the Arizona Fall League, where he made 11 relief appearances from mid-October to mid-November. He walked too many in his early outings, but he finished strong.

"When I went out there I hadn't thrown many bullpens since the season ended because I was trying to rest my arm a little bit," Steedley said. "There were some very good players in Arizona, and it's a hitter's league with the ball really flying out of there. Still, I did OK. It just took a little while to settle down."

Steedley faced advanced prospects in Arizona such as first-round pick Buster Posey, who could be San Francisco's catcher by mid-season. Steedley's fastball was clocked as high as 92 mph, serious zip for a southpaw.

Steedley said he ran into former high school teammate Bobby Parnell, the New York Mets right-hander, at Catawba not long ago.

Steedley is thrilled Parnell has become a success story, and Parnell has predicted that Steedley will be the next Mustang to make it. There aren't a lot of geography majors in the big leagues, but it could happen in 2011.

A realistic goal for Steedley for 2010 is to work his way up to the Triple A Rochester (N.Y.) Red Wings by the end of the season. He'll take the first step by reporting to Fort Myers on March 11 for Spring Training.

"I'm pretty sure I'll start the season off back at New Britain," Steedley said. "I just want to keep pitching, to keep making progress."