The experience is one shared by virtually every college graduate, no matter their major or interest in a potential career.
The experience is one shared by virtually every college graduate, no matter their major or interest in a potential career.
It’s one thing to attend class, study and try to absorb as much as you can in a university setting, it’s a whole other thing to plug that classroom knowledge into a real world situation.
It’s different out there, as UH-Hilo grad Jordan Kurokawa discovered this summer. Lots of other former schoolmates of his are discovering the difference between college life and the big wide world, but Kurokawa, drafted last spring by the Philadelphia Phillies, is the only one trying to earn a career in baseball.
“This organization is just oozing with talent, young talent,” Kurokawa said in a phone interview. “What I learned early on was that it is all mental, you need to have a certain mental strength, a toughness, to get through; everybody has their pitches, their strengths and weaknesses, you just have to be tough enough mentally to fight through situations.”
His point about the talent level in the Philadelphia organization is verified by the results in 2016. The Phillies fielded the most successful minor league teams in the National League (482-348, .581 winning percentage), and were second only to Seattle’s (.590) farm system, in all of Major League Baseball. The Gulf Coast League team he was on went 43-15, 10 games better than the next two teams in the league.
Kurokawa, selected in the 28th round, had to wait his turn and take what was offered for the Phillies in a league of mostly all rookies. The organization had the worst record in the Minor League two years ago and set out to strengthen the farm in a series of trades. The Phillies had several drafted pitchers from the year before that got backed up in the overcrowded system, so those second-year GCL pitchers got 5-inning starts on a regular basis. The rest of the pitchers, including Kurokawa, picked up 1- and 2-inning relief roles all summer.
They tweaked his delivery just a bit, having him go through the mechanics quicker than he had been, but he said it felt good. More importantly, Kurokawa said he felt like he belonged.
“The first week was all about getting my bearings,” he said, “listening, trying to do what they wanted, and I realized, ‘Yeah, this is where I’m supposed to be, I can do this.’”
He thought it was his second or third appearance out of the bullpen when he had his “Welcome to Professional Baseball” moment, delivered by pitching coach Ray Burris, a low-round draft choice himself who managed a 15-year major league career, winning 108 games for nine different teams, oddly enough, none of them the Phillies.
But Burris knows baseball and he knows the kind of young pitchers that survive.
“I gave up my first home run,” Kurokawa said, “and after the inning when I went to the dugout, I started saying to Ray, ‘I was trying to … ‘ and he cut me off right there.
“He said, ‘We’re past the point of trying here, son,’” Kurokawa recalled, “and just like that it was, ‘Oh. Wow. Yes. I get it.’ That moment clicked for me, I felt different after that.”
It’s a job and you either get it done or they look for someone else who might be able to do it a little better.
At the end of his first professional summer, Kurokawa had nothing to be ashamed of, especially considering his Division II background couldn’t prepare him for professional hitters. His record out of the bullpen was 1-3, with 23 hits allowed in 19 innings pitched, but he walked only 5 and struck out 19. He didn’t allow a run in his last three appearances and at the end, the organization asked him to return for extended work.
“It was good,” he said of the post-season pitching school, “I have a slider now that I can add to my arsenal. I have the looping sort of curveball but the slider is sharper, I should be able to use it effectively, I think it can really help me and I can’t wait to get started.”
Kurokawa will start throwing, lightly, next month, then gradually pick up the intensity prior to arriving back in Florida on March 5. Should he survive spring training — nothing is a given, new arms looking for jobs will be coming in — the former Vulcans right-hander will likely begin the season at Lakewood, a Class A South Atlantic League franchise on the New Jersey Shore. As a 24-year old by spring training, he is ineligible for the GCL and will have to prove his worth in Class A.
He’s gained weight, up to 210 from his playing days at UHH when he was “almost 195,” and said he feels stronger than ever before, armed with a deeper, more richly experienced understanding of what he needs to do to make it as a professional pitcher.
“Obviously, I hope I make it through spring and have a full season opportunity in Lakewood or somewhere,” he said. “My attitude is good, and I will put in the work.
“I want to be that guy who you just can’t cut, that guy you need to keep in the organization.”
From Oahu to Hilo to the Jersey Shore, survivors find a way.