Because Clare
asked, I did a little digging, and the answer is, No. Ryan Crowley didn’t get a formal invite to
spring training with the Angels. But you
never know.
Crowley was a
year ahead of Clare in high school, and he had some idea of who she was as a
ballplayer. He signed her yearbook
junior year, “If you don’t hit a homerun Saturday, our friendship is over
ha-ha.” A few weeks later, Crowley was
drafted by the White Sox, but he didn’t sign.
This other
Morton Mustang caught the attention of scouts in part by posting a 1.07 ERA as
a junior; at the time people said he threw a nasty split-finger pitch. Crowley went to school in Florida for a year
and signed with the Angels after they drafted him in the 19th
round. A 6’3” lefty starter, Ryan had
his best year in 2013 at Class A Burlington of the Midwest League, posting a
10-7 record with a 3.28 ERA and 1.17 WHIP (walks and hits to innings pitched,
in this case meaning just over one base runner allowed every inning) to go with
123 strikeouts in 151 innings. Compared
to all other Angels’ pitching prospects, Crowley ranked second in ERA, fourth
in strikeouts, second in WHIP and fourth in batting average allowed (.248). So, why no invite?
My guess is that
Ryan doesn’t “look” like a big-league pitcher, if that means standing over 6’6”
and throwing the ball at 100 mph. He’s
going to have to make it like Greg Maddux did, which is why the WHIP is encouraging.
We tried to see Ryan
Crowley pitch last summer when the Burlington Bees played the Kane County
Cougars. It would be a lot more fun to
see him at the Cell in June as a member of the Angels. I’m sure he feels the same way.
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