Ezersky on ride of life
Former chauffeur first caught Tri-city’s eye in exhibition vs. team
Rolls-royce. Mercedes. Range Rover.
Tri-city Valleycats pitcher Eric Ezersky rode in style through New York City, Long Island and New Jersey at all hours of the night.
But he didn’t own the cars. He was a chauffeur for Midnite Riders, a shopping, delivery and transportation service on Long Island. When Ezersky wasn’t doing that, he worked at a friend’s diner, where he cleaned and made deliveries.
“Not everything you do in life is something that you like doing, but it pays your bills,” Ezersky said. “It’s not something you do forever. But you’ve got to start somewhere to get to where you want to be in life, you know?”
Right now, that place is the mound at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, where Ezersky is a 28year-old rookie reliever for the Valleycats. They found Ezersky in the unlikeliest of ways, when he pitched against them on May 3 on a barnstorming team assembled by an agent for an exhibition game.
Sitting behind home plate, Valleycats manager Pete Incaviglia watched this unknown pitcher with the long hair and goatee hit 95 miles per hour with his fastball mixed with an “electric” slider. When the 6foot, 175-pound Ezersky came out of the game, Incaviglia stopped him before even reaching the dugout to offer him a job.
“It’s the greatest feeling that’s ever happened to me,” Ezersky said. “Just to even drive to a stadium knowing I’m on a professional team just to pursue my dream, that’s the best feeling in the world.”
After four appearances, Ezersky has a 12.00 earned-run average, though that number doesn’t tell the whole story. Twice he has been removed with two outs, only to have the pitcher who replaced him allow inherited
▶
runners to score. In three innings, he has allowed four hits, struck out four and walked three.
Ezersky entered in the ninth inning and allowed one run in Wednesday’s 15-5 loss to the New Jersey Jackals at Bruno Stadium. The Valleycats (14-14) lost for the sixth time in seven games and manager Pete Incaviglia was ejected for the second straight game.
“He’s got a big-league slider,” Valleycats pitching coach Scott Budner said of Ezersky. “Love the kid. Wants to learn. Great teammate. Really pulling for him. He’s had a few bumps in the road growing up and he’s come through that and he’s just a tremendous kid, the kind of kid you pull for hard.”
Budner pointed out Ezersky’s weakness has been command issues. They’ve worked together on changing his delivery.
Ezersky said he’s pitching for his father, William, a successful New York City lawyer who died last year of Parkinson’s disease.
“Every time I step on the mound, I look up and I know he’s running out with me,” Ezersky said. “I know he’s out there on every pitch and I’m just super, super thankful.”
Eric Ezersky grew up in
Queens and in Bellmore, a hamlet on Long Island. After graduating high school, he spent time at three different schools. He began at South Georgia State College, a two-year school. He transferred to Division I Savannah State, but spent just a fall semester there. Then he went to South Carolina Beaufort, an NAIA school.
Ezersky said poor grades helped derail his college career.
Trying to start a pro career, Ezersky would drive just about anywhere for a pro tryout: Chicago, St. Louis, Florida. Last year, between his chauffeur and diner jobs, he made the six-hour trip to Pennsylvania to play mornings in the Yinzer Baseball Confederacy, a place for prospects to be seen by independent-league teams.
Now Ezersky has his dream job. He’s one of the first players on the field, running pregame sprints in the outfield. Ezersky credits speed trainer Ed Lovelace, a longtime family friend who works with the MLB Players Association, with getting him into proper condition with Lovelace’s “Phewsioneering” program.
“He’s the model underdog,” Lovelace said. “It’s totally the ‘Rudy’ story, like New York City version . ... He has this thing about him. It’s just kind of like a naive optimist. It’s like a sweet thing.”
Before Sunday’s game, Ezersky played catch in the outfield with pitcher Kumar Rocker. It was a stark contrast between Rocker, the former Vanderbilt star and Mets first-round pick who might go in the first round again in July, and Ezersky, who is thankful to be in independent ball after years of pursuit.
“That’s why for kids out there, I just tell them to keep following their dreams,” Ezersky said. “Keep pursuing their passion and do it every single day and don’t take a day off. At the end of the day, nothing is impossible.”