North Van player happy as a hurler
Would-be slugger reveals skills on the mound too good to overlook
Rowan Wick no longer thinks pitching is boring.
That’s what he tagged it initially. Exactly that. The North Vancouver native was quoted as saying, “pitching is 100 per cent boring … my childhood dream was to hit in the big leagues,” not long after the St. Louis Cardinals told him in May 2015 that they had seen enough holes in his swing and enough hope in his right arm that they were moving him from the outfield to the mound.
At the time, he was one season removed from belting 20 home runs over two lower levels of single-A ball. He was also a few days behind a 33-game stretch at the high A level that featured 50 strikeouts and a .198 batting average, and a few days ahead of spending three straight months on the practice field trying to grasp the finer points of pitching.
It probably seems like another guy from another life now. With a fastball that sits comfortably in the high 90s and an improving curveball, Wick has already made it to the Cardinals’ top farm team, the triple-A Pacific Coast League Memphis Redbirds.
He was knocked around in an outing on Thursday, giving up five earned runs in an inning. But in his first six appearances of the campaign he had a 1.93 earned run average, thanks to allowing just three hits and two earned runs over 92/3 innings. He struck out 11 and walked four in that span.
The Cardinals certainly seem to be grooming him to be a fireballing closer.
Considering his @RowanWick Twitter bio includes the phrase “Homerun hitting pitcher,” it’s fair to say there’s a part of him that would rather be swinging bats than trying to overpower them. Those feelings aren’t as prevalent as they once were, though.
“I had no say in it,” the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Wick, 24, explained of the change in job description. “I wasn’t too happy at first, but I can’t complain now.
“I’m glad I made the switch. With the way I was hitting at the time, it was a good move.”
Surrey’s Adam Loewen has switched from pitching to hitting and back again. Wick hasn’t spoken to him about it. The Cardinals have been one of the better teams at making such things work, though. They drafted Jason Motte as a catcher in 2003. He was pitching in the minors by 2006 and in the bigs by 2008, recording a 42save season for St. Louis in 2012.
They drafted Trevor Rosenthal as a pitcher in 2009 after he had split time between the mound and shortstop at his Kansas junior college that season. As the story goes, the Cardinals scout who pushed to pick him had seen him throw just one inning, but felt the athleticism he showed in the field could translate.
As well, one of Wick’s Memphis bullpen mates, Sam Tuivailala, was chosen as a shortstop by St. Louis in 2010 and spent two seasons as a position player before making the change.
Wick says he’s leaned on both Rosenthal and Tuivailala for advice. That’s readily part of his makeup. He asks questions.
Wick grabbed one of the last bullpen spots with Team Canada for the World Baseball Classic in the spring and one of the first things he brings up about the experience is having his locker between Ryan Dempster and Eric Gagne, who have a combined 981 games of big-league experience.
To borrow a line from Dave Empey, the longtime North Vancouver minor baseball bench boss who has become a mentor to Wick, “Rowan is very coachable.”
“Not a bad group of guys to learn from,” Wick said of Dempster, Gagne and Scott Mathieson, the veteran Japanese league closer who also had a stall close by in the Team Canada clubhouse. “When they talk, you listen. Everyone has a different routine, but to be able to take things from guys like that was huge for me.”
The high-end players on most minor baseball teams in this province spend some time pitching. Wick did not. He rotated between catcher and the outfield with the Highlands Little League system and then when he went to the Vancouver Cannons of the B.C. Premier League.
“He just wanted to be a hitter then,” Empey said.
Asked to explain why he never went to the mound as a kid, Wick replied simply: “I raked.”
Even with that, Empey maintains he’s not surprised at how quickly Wick has taken to pitching. He thinks Wick could get a call-up to the majors at some point this year. He says Wick could be one of those guys who hits 100 miles per hour on the radar gun regularly one day.
Empey does know his pitching. He worked with Dempster when he was a youngster, as well as the likes of James Paxton and Tom Robson.
“He has the intelligence. He has the arm,” Empey explained of Wick, a 2012 ninth-round draft pick of the Cardinals. “The chances of him making it to the majors are even higher as a pitcher, I think. They need arms. They’re always looking for another arm. I know he didn’t want to pitch when it first happened, but I’m glad they made the change.”
Wick’s glad, too, now. Mind you, he does think that he could still do some damage at the plate if given the chance.
“We’ve taken batting practice on the field twice in Memphis and, yes, I still have the juice,” he explained.
I had no say in it. I wasn’t too happy at first, but I can’t complain now. … With the way I was hitting at the time, it was a good move.