The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Cate held his own in duel with Sale
Former UConn ace in his first season at the Double-A level
After spending last summer pitching to teammates in intrasquad games in an empty stadium, Tim Cate experienced quite a different atmosphere in his July 20 start in Portland, Maine.
Hadlock Field was packed to the rafters with fans, and when Cate peered over to see the opposing pitcher warming up in the home bullpen, it wasn’t another Double-A foe but, rather, Red Sox ace Chris Sale.
Sale’s first rehab start on his road back from Tommy John surgery happened to fall against Harrisburg, the Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, with Cate on the opposing bump.
“It was cool,” said Cate, the Manchester product and former UConn lefthanded ace. “I grew up watching the Red Sox and watching him pitch quite a bit, so it was pretty neat. But once you get to the field, everything’s pretty professional and you’ve got to go out and handle your business. I know a lot of hitters felt it was pretty cool facing him, as well. But at the end of the day, you’ve just got to go out and compete. So, I wasn’t really too focused on the matchup, but it was pretty neat to see.”
Sale was sharp, striking out six and walking none over 3 shutout innings and giving Red Sox fans hope for a successful return in the near future. But Cate acquitted himself just fine, as well, holding the Sea Dogs scoreless on one hit over the first five innings.
Then came the sixth inning. Cate walked the leadoff man, gave up a single and, after a mound visit from his pitching coach, surrendered an RBI double to Devlin Granberg. That was the end of Cate’s day, but the two runners he left on base wound up scoring as well, making his impressive pitching line a little less so and pinning him with the loss.
That’s actually been a common theme this season for Cate, who is 2-6 with a 5.40 ERA in his first full season in Double-A and was put on the 7-day injured list on Thursday.
“I’m just figuring some stuff out,” Cate said by phone last week, prior to being put on the IL. “It hasn’t been the best year, but it hasn’t been terrible. Even a few of the starts that have gone well, it just felt like there’s been one inning where they put up a crooked number.”
“It’s a little frustrating,” he continued. “It hasn’t been as good as I’d like it to be, but it could be a lot worse.”
A second-round draft pick in 2018, Cate struggled a bit his first season as a pro (2-6, 5.02 ERA) but rebounded with a strong 2019 season, going 11-9 with a 3.07 ERA and charging up the Nationals’ organizational prospect list.
With last year’s minorleague season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cate spent the summer at the Nationals’ alternate site in Fredericksburg, Maryland, working out and pitching to teammates about four hours each day before returning to his hotel.
“It was better than being home and doing nothing, but it kind of got monotonous a little bit,” he recalled. “I know a lot of the guys were itching to actually play in games against different people, because we got so used to the matchups against each other. It didn’t feel as competitive as it could have been.”
Cate, who had Tommy John surgery back when starring at Cheney Tech, has spent this entire season at Double-A. He said his arm was feeling fine, with only the usual fatigue occasionally setting in, about a week ago.
Cate, who set UConn’s all-time record with 270 career strikeouts in his three seasons in Storrs, still keeps tabs on the Huskies from afar. He was also happy to see Ellington’s Frank Mozzicato, a UConn signee, selected by Kansas City with the seventh overall pick a few weeks ago.
What type of advice would Cate give to his fellow Connecticut-born southpaw and high draft pick?
“Keep doing what he’s doing, really,” said Cate, 23. “He got there doing what he does best. There might be guys that try to change him along the way or something, I don’t know. But, just be strong mentally and keep doing what he’s doing. That’s what got him there.”