Natural not home, but closer
SPRINGDALE — Andy Ferguson can remember going to Arkansas Travelers games when he was 6 or 7 years old and running the bases with the other kids at Ray Winder Field.
“It was a lot of fun,” Ferguson said Monday. “I thought, ‘One day I want to be out here playing.’
“I think most little kids want to play baseball, but at that age, you really don’t
know what that means. I’m fortunate enough to still be playing.”
Ray Winder Field was torn down last summer, but Ferguson, 24, is getting his wish to play professional baseball. This season, he’ll be playing against the Travelers — and the rest of the Texas League — as a pitcher for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.
Northwest Arkansas opens the season at 6 p.m. Thursday against Midland at Arvest Ballpark.
Ferguson, a right-hander from Benton, is in his first season with the Class AA Naturals after working his way through Burlington, N.C., Idaho Falls, Idaho, Kane County, Ill., and Wilmington, Del., the previous two seasons in the Kansas City Royals organization.
The Royals made Ferguson an 18th-round pick, 546th overall, in the 2011 major league draft after his senior year at Arkansas State.
After pitching in North Carolina, Idaho, Illinois and Delaware, Ferguson said he’s glad to be back in Arkansas.
“As soon as I signed with the Royals, one of the first things I realized was,” Ferguson said. “‘If I make it up to Double-A, I’ll be playing at home.’ I’ve got a lot of family in Arkansas, so it’s exciting.”
Ferguson is 6-6 with a 3.25 ERA in 36 minor-league games, making 16 starts, throwing 133 innings, striking out 120 and walking 33. Last season at Advanced Class A Wilmington, he was 4-2 with a 2.97 ERA in 10 starts.
“I feel pretty comfortable, pretty confident to this point,” Ferguson said of his career progression. “Hopefully, I can keep it rolling. I know Double-A is a whole different animal, but I’m ready for it.”
Ferguson will begin this season as reliever, but also could be used as a starter.
“He’s a guy that can give us some valuable innings to get us to the end of the game,” Northwest Arkansas Manager Brian Poldberg said.
Naturals pitching coach Jim Brower had the same position last season at Kane County, where Ferguson made two starts before being promoted to Wilmington.
Brower said Ferguson can play a key role for the Naturals as a long reliever, especially early in the season when starters will be on tight pitch counts.
“He’s kind of a glue guy for the staff,” Brower said. “This is his chance to go out and shine a little bit.”
Poldberg and Brower said Ferguson made steady progress in spring training.
“I think he was a little nervous early, but as he got into it more and was pitching on a regular basis, he started to relax and was able to throw strikes with all his pitches,” Poldberg said. “He had a solid end to spring training, which actually got him a spot here. Otherwise, he might have been back in Wilmington.”
Ferguson pitched as a starter and reliever at Arkansas State and in his previous minor-league stops.
“I’m pretty comfortable doing whatever the want me to do,” he said. “I just want to help us get some wins.”
Naturals outfielder Brett Eibner, a former Arkansas player, was Ferguson’s teammate last season in Wilmington. “He’s by far one of my favorite guys to play defense behind,” Eibner said. “He has a great tempo when he pitches, doesn’t try and nitpick. He really attacks the hitters.
“That helps you as a position player be in every pitch and stay ready to make a play.”
Ferguson went 6-4 with a 3.57 ERA and 80 strikeouts in 88 1/ innings as senior for
3 Arkansas State after not being drafted as a junior, when he was 5-5 with a 4.71 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 101 1/ innings.
3
Going undrafted as a junior, he said, provided extra motivation.
“You think you’re good, you think you’re where you want to be, and then something like that happens,” Ferguson said. “It put a chip on my shoulder to get better.”