Tyler Uberstine was cut from his high school team twice and it wasn’t until a growth spurt that he began to excel as a pitcher. He has a 3.75 ERA in five starts for the Sea Dogs this season. Photo courtesy of Portland Sea Dogs by Jamie Fiedorek
You want to know about perseverance? Tyler Uberstine knows all about perseverance.
A native of Santa Monica, California, the 25-year old’s journey to the Portland Sea Dogs pitching rotation was Route 1 in the summer, all pauses and detours.
Most American players who reach Double-A, so close and so far from the major leagues at the same time, were the star of their high school team. Uberstine, on the other hand, was getting cut from the baseball team at Chaminade Prep in Los Angeles. Twice. He finally made the team as a senior, but rarely saw the field.
“Maybe like six innings or so,” he said Tuesday afternoon, a couple hours before Portland’s game against the Chesapeake Bay Sox was postponed due to rain.
Now, Uberstine understands why. His senior year of high school, he was 5-foot-6, 140 pounds, and had a fastball that topped out at 77 miles per hour, maybe 78 if he got everything he had on the pitch. Part of his baseball journey is a growth spurt during which Uberstine grew to 6-1, 200 pounds and learned to harness it on the mound.
“A big part of it was just becoming a man, in a sense. If you saw photos of me from my freshman year of college you wouldn’t recognize me,” he said. “I’m a different person, a different athlete. Bigger, faster, stronger, and even now, every year feels like I’m elevating myself as an athlete.”
Uberstine has five starts for the Sea Dogs this season, with a 3.75 earned run average and 29 strikeouts in 24 innings. That fastball that scared nobody in high school now reaches the mid-90s, and he has five pitches he can throw for a strike in any count.
“The fastball is playing a lot better than we anticipated. That really sets the table for his cutter,” said Portland pitching coach Sean Isaac, who first met Uberstine nine years ago when they trained at the same facility in Southern California. “When he gets to two strikes, he has two options. You’ve got the fastball up and the sweeper low. The changeup, for me, is that pitch that brings the whole thing together. He can throw it any time, any place, and it just gives the batters a different look, lefty or righty.”
Tyler Uberstine missed all of 2023 and most of 2024 after having Tommy John surgery. Photo courtesy of Portland Sea Dogs by Cullen McIntyre
With no baseball scholarships on the table, Uberstine enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he planned to join the club baseball team. He practiced by throwing on a roof with his roommates, and he took an Uber two hours each morning before class to work on his mechanics with former big league pitcher Dave Coggin. Uberstine also trained with Joe Beimel, another former big league pitcher.
When the club team told him he was just OK, he decided to heck with it, he’d just try to walk on to the varsity team. He stuck with the Trojans until February, just before the season started. While he didn’t make the roster, Uberstine became more confident than ever.
“I’m competing against guys who were All-Americans in high school, so it’s a little different. I came in there throwing 85. I left there throwing 87-90,” he said. “I realized I fit in there, and had a chance to play somewhere.”
That somewhere was Northwestern. He started four games in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and eight more in 2021. His velocity continued to improve, and with few miles on his arm, suddenly Uberstine was a prospect.
“I was like, I belong here. Even though I was always cut and not having opportunities, I for sure belong. I’m going to keep trying to prove all those people wrong,” Uberstine said. “Being cut from SC was the biggest blessing, because I was able to go and train and transfer somewhere that wanted me. And here I am.”
Boston drafted Uberstine in the 19th round of the 2021 draft. The pro journey was paused for nearly two seasons when he underwent Tommy John surgery to repair his right elbow. He missed all of the 2023 season and most of 2024. Last fall, the Red Sox sent Uberstine to the Arizona Fall League, where he continued to work his way back and regain his form. He also worked with Isaac, his pitching coach with the Mesa Solar Sox.
“It was just a good environment to build confidence. I worked on a new pitch, my cutter, now it’s a huge pitch for me,” he said. “I’d say I feel better than I did prior to the surgery. This year I’m throwing harder than I have, and I have a couple new pitches. It’s a lot easier to pitch when you’re healthy. When you’re worried about your arm, it’s not an easy thing to do.”
After allowing three earned runs in each of his first two starts of the season, Uberstine found his groove. He allowed just one run in each of his last two starts, and each scored on a balk. On April 24, he failed to declare to the umpire that he would pitch from the windup with a runner on third. The rule changed while he was off rehabbing, said Uberstine, and he simply didn’t know. Saturday at New Hampshire, he just slipped on the mound in his delivery.
“He’s been a horse for us,” said Sea Dogs manager Chad Epperson. “You go into the ballpark, and you know you’re going to get a good one from him.”
Catcher Mark Kolozsvary was behind the plate for Uberstine’s start Saturday. He saw Uberstine in full command of his changeup, using it to put hitters away after getting ahead in the count. He knows what pitches Uberstine likes to throw and when, but calling the game, Kolozsvary knows he has to push pitchers a little and make them uncomfortable to get them to become the best version of themselves, he said.
You want to know about perseverance? Tyler Uberstine is perseverance.
Comments are not available on this story. about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
