Photo Credit: Zachary Roy, Getty Images
On December 11, the Dodgers signed RP Andrew Schwaab to a minor-league deal with hopes he could help the Major League bullpen someday.
Schwaab traveled a long road to get here and is hoping to fulfill his big-league dream with the Dodgers.
Andrew Schwaab started his journey with the Yankees after attending the University of Missouri, where he was one of the best pitchers on that pitching staff.
He would end up staying with the Yankees for almost four seasons, with his best season coming in 2016, when he had an ERA of 2.68 in 53.2 innings of work before ending up with the Tigers.
The experience of jumping to a different organization was surreal for him as he tried getting used to a new baseball culture. One thing seemed to stick with him: keeping strong connections.
“I was just so used to being clean shaven and TAKING A different way of going about the game. But the one thing I realized was you always have to kind of keep respect with everybody. You don’t want to burn any bridges,” SCHWAAB SAID.
After spending a season with the Tigers, he had to take part in the Rule 5 Draft in 2019, getting selected by the Red Sox.
While he didn’t make it to the Major League level there, he put up decent numbers between two minor league affiliates, recording an ERA of 3.09 in 58.1 innings along with 66 strikeouts.
One of the benefits of strictly coming out of the bullpen is consistency, as he doesn’t have to switch up any processes. He said he would have small outings spread out.
The Red Sox signed him back for the 2020 season and had him backing up big-league games until the pandemic hit and had sent him home.
The 2020 season brought on all sorts of obstacles for everyone within the sport thanks to the pandemic, and it brought upon a time where Schwaab was thinking about retiring and giving up on his shot to make it to the big leagues.
“It was a little nerve-racking for me especially because the Red Sox decided not to sign me back for 2021. that made me declare free agency and that’s always a crap shoot. I was just really hanging onto my agent and letting him know that I was ready to go. He reached out to teams and he was staying diligent and persistent.”
It finally paid off as the Dodgers organization reached back to his agent and to him about playing in 2021. They asked where he was at healthwise to start the season.
“As A pitcher I’m hoping to at least complete the package. I want to be able to figure a couple things that maybe they see that could help me get to the big leagues.”
Andrew is driven like any other player by the ultimate desire of playing in the Major Leagues, and the Dodgers are giving him a crack at it.
He’s in great hands as the Dodgers are loaded with talented arms that they’ve helped turn into big-league potential, such as Dylan Floro, who struggled with the Rays, Cubs, and Reds before landing with the Dodgers and getting to record outs in the postseason for the boys in blue.
While Schwaab’s ultimate goal is to be recording big-league outs for the Dodgers, he also sees the organization helping him as a person and improving on what he’s been doing on the side.
“As a person, I want to be a coach whenever I’m done playing. I want to grow there and just be around. I want to learn as much as I can while I’m still playing.”
Schwaab helps run a facility in St. Louis that is dedicated to teaching youth about the game and works with them on their pitching skills. He’s clearly not just in it for himself as he wants to take his experience while working with the Dodgers to his facility and better the coaching of kids wherever he’s working. That’s the kind of person the Dodgers can work with.
While he’s also working on his own stuff, he has the ability to work with others and pass his knowledge down for a better future for the game itself and possibly help others make their own dreams come true.
He’ll be entering his age 28 season as he sees this opportunity as a boom or bust and he’s planning to give it his all. All of his prior experiences with teams and even coaching youth baseball has taught him something that he can take with him when he’s on the mound.
Finding and sustaining his success will be one of his major goals as he sets to work with coaches, teammates, and staff of the Dodgers organization.
Hopefully, if all goes well in the minor leagues and he can continue his hard work, it will pay off and his friends and family will be watching him in a Dodgers uniform.
Jacob Cisneros is a writer for Dodgers-LowDown. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram @_JacobCisneros.Â