‘That’s when I knew Sean was ready’
Coach’s faith in pitcher the tipping point on road to bigs
It dawned on Vince Horsman in mid-May, in one of Sean ReidFoley’s rougher starts, that the Blue Jays pitching prospect was ready to vie for a spot in the big leagues.
Reid-Foley was making his sixth start of the season with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats. He went into the game with a 5-0 record and a 1.83 ERA.
Horsman, the Fisher Cats’ pitching coach, remembers ReidFoley didn’t have good command of his fastball that day in Harrisburg, Pa. The 22-year-old righthander loaded the bases in the first two innings and walked five across four frames.
Still, he limited the damage to just one run.
“He had the bases loaded with one out and he threw a really good changeup and the guy rolled it into a double play ... I think it happened twice during that game. That’s when I knew, that one game,” Horsman said. “That’s when I knew Sean was ready.”
When Horsman first met ReidFoley in 2014, shortly after he was drafted by Toronto in the second round, he was young and raw. There were mechanical changes to be made, but Horsman loved Reid-Foley’s arm.
“I remember he had this swagger about him,” said Horsman, the Dartmouth, N.S., native whose big-league career included four relief appearances with the Jays. “And I liked it. I liked it. It was like, ‘Hey, this is a pretty confident kid.’ That’s what I loved about him.”
The pitcher and coach rose through the minors together. Reid-Foley considers Horsman a second dad.
Horsman thinks it is key as a coach to care more about the person than the player. And 2017, when Reid-Foley struggled and posted a 5.09 ERA, was difficult on both the person and the player.
“I saw a guy that just got out of his personality a little bit,” Horsman said. “(But) there were a lot of pluses to last year. Even when you struggle, there’s still some good things that happened last year with Sean. The development of his changeup ... if you took that out of the equation and he just kind of gave up and went back to doing what he used to do, he probably would have had a pretty decent year. But he also knew that if he wanted to start that he had to develop his changeup.”
Horsman watched as the pitcher gave up a career-high 22 home runs, many on the changeup, and
got frustrated. But Reid-Foley put in the work and Horsman didn’t worry about him.
“What everybody might see as a step back, I never saw it. I saw it as a step forward in development.”
That work has paid dividends. Reid-Foley went a combined 12-4 at New Hampshire and Triple-A Buffalo before making his majorleague debut against the Kansas City Royals on Monday. He gave up three runs on six hits over five innings.
Reid-Foley found himself in a situation similar to the one against Harrisburg almost three months ago. He loaded the bases before getting an out in the fourth inning.
After surrendering a basesloaded walk to Ryan O’Hearn, Reid-Foley got Adalberto Mondesi to pop out and Alcides Escobar to ground into a double play, limiting the damage.
“I think what happened with Sean last year, finally dealing with some adversity, I guess … I think when you look back it was probably good,” said Horsman, who believes Reid-Foley’s character and work ethic will keep him in the majors.
“He doesn’t care about statistics. He wants to win. Period. Other kids are worried about, ‘I put up numbers and I can go make some money.’ Sean’s like, ‘I just want to win. I don’t care if I win 6-4 or 1-0, I just want to win.’ I love that.
“Every time that he steps out on the mound, he gives everything he has.”