Bateman still in search of Dream

March 31, 2011

By Brian Sullivan, Berkshire Eagle

Joey Bateman was there. He saw Oakland Athletics manager Bob Geren look at pitching coach Ron Romanick and tell him to "get Bateman up."

It was a spring-training game in Phoenix, in the middle of this month, and the Athletics were hosting the defending American League champion Texas Rangers. Oakland trailed in the ninth inning, and Geren wanted reliever Bateman ready for the 10th in case the A's tied the score.

Oakland never caught up, and Bateman never got the call.

It was a feeling he knows too well. The former pitching standout at Pittsfield High School and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has been knocking on the major-league door for so long that his knuckles are nearly raw.

Bateman, 30, is still waiting for his big chance.

Talented enough to have stayed in professional ball since being a 32nd-round selection by the San Francisco Giants in the 2002 draft and coming off perhaps his best year in the minors, Bateman chose to leave the Tampa Bay Rays' organization after two seasons and take a shot with Oakland this year.

A non-roster invitee to spring training, Bateman wasn't on the A's 40-man roster when camp opened. And, with the 2011 major-league season starting today, he's likely to start his year with the Class AAA Sacramento River Cats.

Still, it was the A's organization that wanted him during the offseason and promised a little more money than Tampa Bay was paying.

With that optimism, the heart of Bateman's major-league dream continues to pump, and he hasn't tired from the quest.

"[Other players] talk about chasing the dream," Bateman said. "I always tell people that I'm living the dream."

Bateman was in the San Francisco Giants' minor-league system for six years, the Milwaukee Brewers' for one, and the Rays' for the past two. He was 7-0 with a 1.66 earned-run average with the Class AAA Durham Bulls in 2010. He walked 25 and struck out 66 in 76 innings.

"After the 2009 season I signed as quickly as I could with Tampa for 2010 because I wanted to have a job somewhere," said Bateman, a side-arming right-hander. "This past offseason I was more patient, and it was Oakland which contacted my agent."

"I've been in situations where I've been pitching really well but haven't gotten the call," he said. "I've seen guys who weren't pitching well get the call to the majors simply because they were on the 40-man roster. The A's have told me that isn't always their practice."

Bateman said he's heard that promise before.

"We'll see," he said.

Billy Bateman knew his son had a chance for a future in baseball when scouts would seek him out at MCLA games during Joey's senior year.

"Until that year I don't think I ever considered that Joey might keep his career going," Billy said.

Joey, who lives in Morrisville, Pa., with his girlfriend during the offseason, still calls his parents nearly every day.

"I just tell him to keep that fastball on the inside of the plate," Billy said with a laugh. "But all Joey has ever wanted was a shot at the majors. If it didn't work out, then I think he could accept that. He just wants a shot."

That opportunity will have to be earned with a pitching arsenal that includes a fastball that can reach the low 90s and a sweeping curve that neutralizes right-handers.

Getting a shot is how Joey felt in 2002, when he looked in the mirror and saw a young man who was about to wrap up his baseball career.

"Before I was drafted, I was very unsure about what was going to be next," Bateman said. "I knew after Little League there was Babe Ruth, and that after Babe Ruth there was high school, and then college.

"I felt sad at that point. I didn't feel like I was done. All I wanted was a chance to keep playing."

It was the second day of the draft when Joey's mother, Nancy, took the call.

"She told me that some team called the San Francisco Giants called," Joey said. "The scout came to my house to sign me. It was only for $2,000, but I'll tell you -- I felt like a first-round pick. I'd never seen that kind of money."

The life of a minor-leaguer isn't so bad, Bateman said. The trains, planes and buses haven't diluted his desire.

"I love the travel," said Bateman, who has played winter ball in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic during the past three years. "When I was a kid I loved to get on my bike and check out other neighborhoods. I'm like that now. I can go where I want and when I want. I've always been like that."

But Venezuela?

"Well, they have some sort of statistic that shows that area as one with a very high murder rate," Bateman said. "But they take care of the ballplayers. We stay at a Best Western, and there's a mall right under the hotel.

"It's OK. I took Spanish in high school and have learned some more along the way. I've been able to survive."

Pittsfield High baseball coach Bob Moynihan recalls Bateman as a scrawny freshman and sophomore. (He's now a lean 6 feet, 2 inches and 185 pounds). Moynihan looked at him for second base because he didn't think Bateman had the arm to play the left side of the infield.

"He was a good little player," Moynihan said. "But he was still small his sophomore year. "He did some pitching for us, but nothing overpowering."

Even Bateman's junior year at PHS didn't start well.

"He got lit up by Agawam early in the year; I think we lost 12-4," Moynihan said. "Joey's fastball was only in the high 70s."

But later in the year?

"Joey was in the high 80s and had a curve that buckled your knees," Moynihan said. "He was blowing people away. And he hit pretty well, too."

Joey's father attributed the surge in velocity to warmer weather and a growth spurt.

"He really blossomed as a pitcher his senior year," Billy Bateman said. "He was efficient and consistent, and I didn't do much to change him."

Billy Owens, the Athletics' director of player personnel, said that having Bateman in camp was good for the organization. Quality pitchers, Owens said, are worth plenty no matter what age they are.

"If you can get outs, it doesn't matter whether you're 24 or 35," Owens said. "There's going to be a spot for you."

Bateman has put together "an attractive minor-league career," Owens said, and as a minor-league free agent was on the A's radar.

"Joey has dominated at the Triple-A level at times, has a low earned-run average and keeps the ball on the ground," he said. "Because of his pitching angle, coming from the third-base side, he's been able to nullify right-handed hitters. He just needs to come up with something to get left-handers out on a more consistent basis.

"But Joey has put himself in a position where he's a viable option, and if you look at the A's over the past 10 years, you'll see that we've given these kind of players a chance."

Bateman isn't as whacky as former Red Sox legend Bill "Spaceman" Lee. Nor is he as quirky as Dalton's favorite son and former major-leaguer Turk Wendell. But Bateman is both introspective and a little out there.

One of his favorite books is "Way of the Peaceful Warrior," a story that surrounds the life of an aspiring gymnast who wants to be a world champion.

It reads, in part: "To survive the lessons ahead, you're going to need far more energy than ever before. You must cleanse your body of tension, free your mind of stagnant knowledge, and open your heart to the energy of true emotion."

Bateman follows that mantra closely.

"I use the word love," he said. "I love my folks, I love to be confident, and I love to be what I call peacefully aggressive. It's a state of mind in which I put myself. I try to be the peaceful warrior."

With that in mind, Bateman said he's neither hanging on nor ready to hang it up.

"I was very proud of what I did last year," he said. "I'm sure if I get a chance in the majors, I'll be successful. I am determined. But I'm still playing, and that's a blessing in itself."