Stiever makes big-league impression
Jonathan Stiever’s air-mailed pitch the backstop bounced straight back to catcher James McCann, a ricochet that served as the perfect encapsulation of Stiever’s outing overall.
Had it glanced sideways, at least one Detroit Tigers run would have scored Sunday; runners were positioned at second and third and one run had already crossed the plate in the first inning of Stiever’s major-league debut for the Chicago White Sox. The Cedarburg native, 23, hadn’t pitched above Advanced Class A, and the nerves showed when his 0-1 pitch to Daz Cameron sailed over McCann’s left shoulder.
But no runners advanced, giving Stiever new life as he stood on the Comerica Park mound in Detroit. He battled back to strike out Cameron, the son of former Brewers outfielder Mike Cameron, to strand both runners and keep the lead at 1-0 in what became a 5-2 White Sox victory over the Tigers.
Much like the bounce back to McCann, Stiever marched in a straight line from there, retiring nine straight batters before getting lifted.
“If I don’t get that out, I’m probably done at that point,” Stiever admitted two days after his debut. “It’s a huge pivot point, could have gone from me pitching two-thirds of an inning and terrible to me ending up able to finish and make use of a start and provide some innings.
“James McCann is a terrific catcher and puts confidence in you no matter what. Knowing the guys behind me, if I was going to get out of it with just one run, that would be a plus with the way the offense is. One run is nothing for them, and they were saying that when I was back in the dugout.”
That turned out to be accurate. Stiever didn’t get the win in his first 32⁄3 bigleague innings, but the White Sox rallied back and took over the top overall seed in the American League postseason chase with the victory. Stiever allowed one earned run, two hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
“I didn’t have my best stuff just because I was nervous, and that long first inning kind of labored me a little bit,”
Stiever said. “But I was able to regroup, got ahead, and got quick outs – because my pitch count was up. Luckily, I was able to do that over the next couple innings.”
Stiever will make his second start Friday at Cincinnati, and Brewers fans watching the tight National League Central standings will be pulling for him.
Football star chose baseball early
Ironically, Stiever was never firstteam all-state in baseball at Cedarburg, but he was a state player of the year in football, a two-way terror for the North Shore Conference co-champion Bulldogs. But he wasn’t part of a football recruiting race; he’d had his eye on baseball early. Stiever accepted a chance to pitch at Indiana, and he became a fifth-round pick by the White Sox in 2018.
“Getting into travel ball a little more competitively and seeing the best players in the area, playing with them, playing against them ... I knew I could fit in right there,” Stiever said. “I was maybe a little behind at that time just from a development standpoint because I didn’t focus on baseball year-round like a lot of people did.
“Football in the fall, basketball in the winter and when the summer came around, it’d be baseball, but I’d still be working out for football and go right into football, so I never spent that yearround process focusing on baseball. I knew if I did, like in college I would obviously, I knew I could make a lot of strides during my time in college, and that’s what happened. I was fortunate to play at Indiana for a great coaching staff that really focused on developing pitchers.”
Stiever emerged as a top-10 prospect in the organization, taking a leap forward in 2019 from Class A Kannapolis to advanced Class A Winston-Salem. At the latter spot, where he posted a 2.15 ERA over 12 starts, Stiever said coach Matt Zaleski helped him understand how his pitches were working on a deep analytic level.
“It really opened my eyes, that I have good stuff,” Stiever said. “If I just use it the right way, I can have success.”
During spring training, Stiever a minor injury kept him at the club’s Arizona training facility for rehab during the first stages of quarantine, and he said it enabled him to keep making progress at a time when many players were scattered elsewhere. When MLB announced that it would create 60-man player pools and Chicago would house its non-roster players in Schaumburg, Illinois, Stiever had an idea he’d be included.
Stiever gets the call
But making it all the way to a bigleague game?
“I always thought I could,” he said. “I had the confidence, and it’s basically Triple-A at Schabumurg. There are some really good hitters throughout, so you’re still facing really good competition.
“I knew if I could stay on my right progression and keep working towards it, I could get a chance toward the end of the year right now when they felt I was ready.”
When the White Sox needed a starter after an injury to Dallas Keuchel, they turned to Stiever.
“I still have to develop in a lot of different ways, but in the back of my head, I thought I could get a chance,” he said. “The fact that there’s not a ton of people that are stretched out to go five-plus innings (as a pitcher) . ... They have a group of guys here that are able to do that, and I was one of them. I still wanted to have that end goal: I want to get there this year.”
When he did, it obviously wasn’t what most players imagine, in an empty stadium surrounded by a smattering of cardboard fans.
“It is a nice little buffer, kind of,” he said. “Almost two separate debuts (when I pitch with fans on hand). You didn’t have a fan base heckling you or just there to add that extra level of excitement.
“Still, I expect a lot out of myself when I go out there, so I was still excited and nervous. I hadn’t pitched in forever, and this is my debut, so all those emotions go into it.”
It had been more than a year since Stiever had pitched in a meaningful game. He won’t have to wait nearly as long for his second.