Albers aims for new chapter with Jays
DUNEDIN, Fla. — After a season in South Korea, Canadian pitcher Andrew Albers is back on more familiar turf.
The 29-year-old left-hander from North Battleford, who made headlines in 2013 with the Minnesota Twins, is hoping to start a new chapter with the Blue Jays.
Albers threw one inning of scoreless relief last Wednesday against the Pirates, with one strikeout and one walk. He gave up three singles in 2/3 innings in another outing Sunday against Pittsburgh but escaped without a run thanks to a helping hand from pitcher Bo Schultz.
“He’s got a great feel for pitching,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said of Albers. “He’s not an overpowering guy by any means ... He’s a lot like (Jeff) Francis. They’re both command guys that are very very polished. I mean, they’re pitchers. They’re not just chucking that thing up there. They’ve got an idea what they’re doing. Both those guys live at the knees.”
Albers is coming off an interesting, sometimes challenging Korean season with the Hanwha Eagles.
“We struggled as a team, I struggled as an individual over there so that part of it wasn’t real good,” he said. “But as far as the life experience went, I’m really glad I did it.”
Albers went 6-13 with a 5.89 earned-run average in 28 games as the Eagles finished last in the nineteam league with a 49-77-2 record.
He says he was a little nicked up early in the season and then paid the price for letting the team change his mechanics, something he soon regretted.
It took about half the season to figure things out. “My second half was a lot better than my first half.”
Albers says his experiences abroad have reminded him not to take things for granted and how fortunate he is to play baseball.
The Canadian has had his share of career ups and downs.
“Baseball’s got a funny way of humbling you when you think things are going well,” Albers said.
Drafted and then released by the Padres, he survived Tommy John surgery and pitching for the Quebec Capitales of the independent Can-Am Association.
He earned a tryout in Fort Myers with Minnesota after driving from Arizona to Florida in search of baseball employment.
The University of Kentucky graduate made his mark in 2013, pitching 8 1/2 scoreless innings in his Twins debut. Next time out, he threw a complete-game shutout.
Albers, the eighth Saskatchewanian to play in the majors, finished the season with a 2-5 mark and 4.05 ERA in 10 starts.
“It wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible,” he said somewhat modestly.
Albers is proud to still call Saskatchewan home and grateful for his province’s support.