Ryan Eades on his MLB Call-up/Debut

As the focus of pitching in modern baseball shifts from starters to the bullpen, teams have used their minor league system to essentially add a 26th man – usually a reliever – to their roster by continually shuffling players between Triple A and the big leagues.

So, if you’re in the bullpen on the fringe of the roster and pitch in consecutive days, you may be sent down just so the team can bring up a fresh arm. Likewise, if you’re in Triple A, have been pitching well, but not overused recently, you could be called up at any time. But it probably won’t last long.

Ryan Eades recently lived that second scenario. The 27-year-old righthander was called up on June 7 when the Twins needed a fresh bullpen arm in Detroit. He debuted the next day, appeared in two games and compiled 3 2/3 innings without giving up a run before being shipped back to Triple A Rochester in favor in Fernando Romero on June 13 (Romero himself, was sent back to Rochester the next day).

I discussed that memorable weekend with Eades at his locker during the Seattle series last week.

DZ: We’re just going back to- was it last Friday (June 7) you got called up?

EADES: Yeah, Friday (June 7) is when I found out.

DZ: Okay, how’d that all play out?

EADES: We were playing in Pawtucket. We had a doubleheader that day. After the second game of the doubleheader, I was taking a shower after the game, and the manager walks by and is like “Hey, come see me after the game”. One of the other guys her heard him called me and was like “Hey, you’re going to the big leagues kid.” I just tried not to look into too much. I finished up taking a shower, got dressed and went in the office, and the manager was there, pitching coach was there and minor league coordinator was there. He just told me that I was going to the big leagues, and I was going to be joining the team in Detroit just to give the bullpen a little extra help and that was it. Very surreal moment and just a lot of emotions at that time.

DZ: Does that happen a lot, where they ask to talk to you after a game? Or do you know something big is happened?

EADES: Yes, I mean if the manager’s got something to tell you, good or bad, they’ll just call you in after the game. I’ve been throwing the ball pretty well, so I didn’t think it would be bad news, but I just wanted to be cool and go see what he had to say. He gave me some good news.

DZ: What did you do right after that?

EADES: After that, I called my wife and told her. That was a very special moment and she’d been with me since the beginning, we got together in high school so she was with me through college and through rookie ball up until now so she’s been with me the whole way. I called my mom, I called my brother and told them. Everybody was fired up and they booked flights that night and took the flight the next morning.

DZ: Did you- is just kind of hectic and you just go throw some clothes together?

EADES: Yeah, like I said, we were on the road so I had five or six shirts- seven shirts. That’s it, just pack up what you’ve got and take off.

DZ: Literally an adventure pretty much.

EADES: Yeah, I need to do some laundry as soon as possible.

DZ: It was Saturday when you got in, right?

EADES: Yeah, Saturday I got to Detroit 20-25 minutes before the game started. It was a little hectic, you know, just trying to get something to eat and move around. Then played some catch in the bullpen for the first inning, then made my debut four or five innings later, whatever it was.

DZ: Was it kind of helpful to just have (your debut) happen so fast, where you didn’t have time to think about it?

EADES: It might have helped a little bit. Um, but yeah, I knew when I got called up that I’d probably pitch that day. If not, it’d be very soon. I don’t know, that’s just kind of how it works. You get called up there, you’re going to be called upon. When I got to the field that day, (pitching coach) Wes Johnson asked me if I was good to go and I told him yeah. That was it, they called him and said I was in the game. That was it, tried to go get some outs.

DZ: Yeah, it seems like recently, especially the last few years it’s gotten a lot more common where they just kind of (shuffle) the bullpen guys. So you guys (in Rochester), are you aware of that? Just knowing day to day it could happen at any time….

EADES: Yeah, I mean it’s just something you just try not to think about. You just go out there and do your job. Whenever you’re called upon, you go pitch and try to go get outs and do well. Let everything else take care of itself. We can’t control moves up and down and stuff like that, so it doesn’t do us a whole lot of good to worry about it. Just go out there and do the best you can. Let everything else take care of itself.

DZ: I heard Rocco Baldelli…talking about how you opened a lot of eyes in spring training. How important was that for you when you got here? To have met all the guys before and have been around the team.

EADES: Spring training, that was my first big league camp. It was awesome. It was good to be around all these guys and meet all these guys. You know, meet Rocco and the staff. I just felt like it was a really good atmosphere from day one, super welcoming and stuff like that. I remember one of the first days I got down to Fort Marsh for spring training, Rocco knew who I was and stuff like that. You weren’t just some guy. But I’m just having a lot of fun. Great guys around here. Just trying to soak it all in.

DZ: Just a couple quick things. I heard that you were the first Twin ever to wear No. 80. How’d you pick that number?

EADES: I didn’t pick that number.

DZ: Oh, okay.

EADES: That was the number that was given to me in spring training and from the looks of it, when you’re new to camp you usually get a higher number and 80 is what I was given, so we’ll roll with that. I don’t care what number I am.

DZ: I thought you might have like a football story like Jerry Rice or some favorite player who wore No. 80.

EADES: No, we’ll try to switch numbers down the road but for right now I don’t care. I’m just happy to be here and just trying to do whatever I can to help the team

See more of David Zingler’s 2019 athlete interviews: June 16: Jason Castro May 18: Seimone Augustus April 24: Ryne Harper April 21: CJ Cron February 2: Caleb Truax