Greene carries sheen of stardom
Laid-back California kid takes his baseball seriously
PORT CHARLOTTE, FLA.— People know Blue Jays pitching prospect Conner Greene because he’s buddies with actor Charlie Sheen and has appeared in a couple of episodes of Sheen’s hit TV series Anger Management.
Jays fans, though, will get to know Greene this spring more for his 98m.p.h. fastball and the real possibility of seeing him in a starting rotation down the road.
Toronto’s rotation was bolstered for this coming season via off-season deals with Marco Estrada and J.A. Haap, who started Wednesday’s 5-1 victory over the Rays in Port Charlotte.
And in the very near future, Toronto could very well feature a trio of starters under the age of 25 in Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna.
Osuna, last year’s closer, is in a spring training battle with newly acquired Drew Storen for the closer’s role this season. Toronto’s management is thinking of extending Osuna’s workload to two innings instead of his usual one-inning specialty in the ninth.
Osuna has been mentioned in conversations about a possible future role in the starting rotation, but there are health risks in converting Osuna, who throws 95-m.p.h. and puts a lot of strain on his elbow.
So where does that leave Greene in all of this?
Drafted in the seventh round out of Santa Monica High School in 2013, the 20-year-old ascended rapidly through three levels of minor league ball last season, finishing at Double-A New Hampshire.
Toronto expedited several young pitchers up through the minors into
“Conner is our best (pitching) prospect. If he’s good, I’m sure they’ll bump him.” JAYS MANAGER JOHN GIBBONS ON PROSPECT CONNER GREENE
the majors last year, including Osuna and Miguel Castro, who broke spring camp with the Jays but was sent to the minors and ultimately traded to Colorado in the Troy Tulowitzki deal.
Toronto’s new management group — among them president Mark Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins — appear to believe in allowing prospects to develop at a slower pace, but that may not be the case with Greene.
“It’s tough to say,” Jays manager John Gibbons said. “Last year, it was out of necessity (bringing up Osuna) . . . we were trying to fill some holes in our bullpen and these kids were a good option. It was a gamble, but it paid off with Osuna.
“A lot of it depends what the philosophy is this year, but Conner is our best (pitching) prospect. If he’s good, I’m sure they’ll bump him.”
Greene worked a scoreless one-hit inning in the fourth against Tampa on Wednesday and missed a sure pickoff at second when his throw was slightly wide of the bag.
He has created a bit of a buzz in camp as the result of his acquaintance with Sheen, and Greene has an IMDb page with three acting roles to his credit. He’s also an avid surfer on the southern California beaches around his Santa Monica home.
But his fastball is his real claim to fame.
“I don’t know where I got it . . . I’ve had it for about a season-and-a-half,” Greene said.
“We (Class-A Lansing Lugnuts) were playing Michigan State, and I’m usually 93-94 so I don’t know if it was the crowd or adrenaline or what, but I got up to 96-97 and I’ve had it ever since.”
Greene grew up playing soccer and basketball in addition to baseball but ultimately decided on baseball after discussions with his best friend, his father Johnny.
“Growing up I’d dribble two basketballs to school, that kind of thing. I’d play soccer a lot too,” Greene recalled.
“My dad, he’s sincere, faithful, and when I got to high school we had to make a decision on what I could be a professional in. I’m not real fast so soccer wasn’t it, and I’m not six-foot-six so the NBA wasn’t going to do it either. I always had this good arm so I just stuck to it.
“My dad is everything to me. He led by example, he always made everything an opportunity to grow, he was never too hard on me. We had such a good relationship, his spirit and compassion, we were for each other.
“I’ve lived with him and I’ll always live with him for the rest of my life.”
Greene, who tweeted out a photo of his media scrum here Wednesday, nicknamed his father “Hungry Johnny” because of his father’s eating abilities. Sheen nicknamed Conner Greene “Ricky Vaughn Jr.” after Sheen’s character in Major League.
“Tony Todd was a high school coach, he scouted me and he just so happened to be a long-time friend of Charlie Sheen,” Greene said.
“So I said to him, ‘I gotta meet Charlie.’ He said ‘I’ll make you a deal, — you get drafted and I’ll set it up.’ So the next day I got drafted and before I knew it I was playing catch with Charlie Sheen.
“With me, it’s baseball first, 100 per cent. I wouldn’t be anywhere else (the acting, the surfing) if it came down to baseball.”