He’s 6’6″ and throws heat, so the last thing you might expect to hear from 23-year-old left-hander C.D. Pelham is just how he reacted when he heard on Monday that he was headed to the big leagues for the first time.
“I was shocked, speechless. I went to my locker and cried for a little bit,” Pelham smiles and admits.
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There’s no shame in that. Nor is there any shame in the reaction from his parents when he called to give them the good news: “They were hooting and hollering,” Pelham says with a chuckle. “My girlfriend, she had been looking forward to me coming home since (Monday) was (Frisco’s) last game, but she was just as happy as I was that I got the call-up. My parents were just hollering, they were really excited.”
As you may have guessed from the phrase “hooting and hollering,” Pelham is from the south. Lancaster, South Carolina, to be specific, though to hear it in Pelham’s drawl, it sounds a bit like “Sacré lah-na”.
“Well, I’m from Lancaster, Sacré lah-na,” Pelham says as an introduction to the group of writers standing in front of his locker. “But I went to Spartanburg Methodist to play college ball.”
He was originally drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 25th round of the 2014 draft, but opted to stick around for his sophomore year. Texas scooped him up in the 33rd round in 2015, sent him to the Arizona Rookie League, and the journey began.
Pelham was assigned to Spokane in 2016, Hickory in 2017, and began the 2018 season with the Down East Wood Ducks before a June promotion that preceded his appearance in the 2018 Futures game over the All-Star break.
Then came September, tears, hooting and hollering, and a #64 jersey hanging in his locker in Arlington.
“I mean, this is an honor, to be honest with you, it’s just a blessing to be a part of this … It’s been way faster (than I thought it would be),” Pelham said, shaking his head. “I never thought that this would happen, but the hard work has been put into it. I started in Down East, and did what I had to do there; got called up to Double-A and was there for a while, but now I got called up the other day, and I was beyond happy.”
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As for what to expect from Pelham? He says his fastball is the bread-and-butter, but that he has a slider and a changeup he throws — mostly to right-handed hitters — that has produced some swing-and-miss this season.
“Honestly, just go out there, just let it eat,” he says of what is expected of him. His primary focus for improvement this season has been “… really, just (the) off-speed for me right now, being able to throw it for strikes whenever in the count; I kinda had a hard time with it in Down East, but more just working with it each and every day … to throw it ahead in the count, behind in the count; that’s really the biggest factor for me.”
The irony in that quote is that Pelham’s results were markedly better in High-A (1.95 ERA, 34 strikeouts against 13 walks in 27⅔ innings, and an opponents’ batting average of .215) than in AA Frisco (6.16 ERA, 19 strikeouts against 13 walks in 19 innings, and an opponents’ average of .270).
They’re all small sample sizes, and even if Pelham doesn’t see a ton of success at the big-league level in 2018, this September promotion is more about letting him see the level of competition he’ll hope to face in 2019.
Pelham was the only September call-up who is looking to make his big-league debut, but he wasn’t the only one hoping to make his Rangers debut. The Rangers also purchased the contract of Adrian Sampson, who last pitched at the big-league level in 2016 with the Mariners.
But 4⅔ innings into his big-league career, Sampson found himself on the disabled list with elbow damage that required surgery. Before long, he was back in Arizona.
That off-season, he was claimed by the Rangers, and that, he says, was a big turning point.
“Once I got picked up by Texas in the offseason of that year, rehabbing with those guys, they make it a team with Texas … it feels like you’re not doing it on your own, you have the team camaraderie. As you can see, the guys that are coming out right now — Palumbo, Chi Chi, those guys that are just making their way back to games — from what I’ve seen reading box scores and seeing some stuff, it makes sense because the way they run it is really awesome.”
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Let’s give credit where it’s due: Sampson named a few people by name, including rehab coordinator Sean Fields, and rehab pitching coordinator Keith Comstock, who pitched from 1984-1991 with the Twins, Giants, Padres, and Mariners.
“(Comstock) keeps things light,” Sampson says. “He knows when to get on you. He’s played baseball for so long in so many different countries, for so many different teams, he’s seen it all.”
Now, Sampson will get a chance to prove he belongs in the big leagues.
“(It’s) good to put it behind me,” he says. “It was a long, long road back. But I felt like I was mentally engaged in the rehab process, so it went by faster in my mind, but it was tough. It’s really nice to be back here.”
- Bartolo Colon will start for the Rangers on Wednesday after spending time on the disabled list with a strained back, and having his return delayed by a stomach bug. Jeff Banister made it a point to note that Colon isn’t taking away any potential innings for any young guys in need of development: Sampson started for Round Rock this past weekend, and none of the younger guys are currently on enough rest to start. The only other option would have been Austin Bibens-Dirkx
- The rotation in Oakland will be Yovani Gallardo, Yohander Méndez, and Ariel Jurado. Banister said that they have not yet decided if they will use an “opener” for Méndez or Jurado, but that it was unlikely to be the case with Gallardo
(Top photo of Pelham by Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports)
