Royal opportunity

Tupman may become second UML star to reach majors

By The Lowell Sun



There is only the weekend to sweat through before Matt Tupman officially becomes the second former UMass Lowell baseball player to reach the big leagues.

"I'm staying even keel," said Tupman's wife Addie on Wednesday night from the couple's residence in Concord, N.H. "Ninety-five percent (chance) doesn't mean a whole lot. There is still that other five percent."

But right now, Tupman is on the Kansas City Royals' active roster as their No. 3 catcher.

"Well, I'm on the bus (with the major league team) on the way to the airport right now," Tupman said via his cell phone after the Royals broke camp in Surprise, Ariz. yesterday.

Most teams carry two catchers during the regular season. But the catch here is that KC's backup catcher, Miguel Olivo, must serve a four-game suspension to open the season. That suspension, reduced by the commissioner's office yesterday from five games, stems from Olivo's part in a brawl with the New York Mets last September when he was a Florida Marlin.

That means Tupman will open the season as the Royals' backup catcher to starter John Buck.

"How can I not be excited?" said Tupman, a Concord, N.H. native. "This is a lifelong dream. This is everything I've ever wanted. This is why I was in the weight room every day at UMass Lowell."

The Royals are in Milwaukee to play exhibition games against the Brewers tonight and tomorrow at Miller Park. Kansas City opens its regular season in Detroit on Monday.

There, the 28-year-old Tupman, who has batted .272 over 51/2 minor-league seasons, should reach the majors 24 years after another catcher, Mike LaValliere, became the first former UMass Lowell player to do so.

Former UMass Lowell pitchers Billy Moloney of Lowell and Marc Deschenes of Dracut got as high as Triple-A. Tupman last season batted. 281 in 86 games at Triple-A Omaha, where he also played 26 games in 2006.

"The pitchers have to like throwing to Matt. He is an outstanding defensive catcher," said Jim Stone, who was both Tupman and LaValliere's head coach at UMass Lowell. "He's not that bad a bat either, and he can run for a catcher."

The Royals selected Tupman in the ninth round of the 2002 draft after he was a Division 2 All-American as a junior at UMass Lowell. He had transferred in from Plymouth State in 2001 and helped UMass Lowell to its only two Division 2 World Series appearances (2001-02).

Tupman climbed slowly through the Kansas City system until everything sped up this past off-season when he helped Licey of the Dominican Winter League win the Caribbean Series. Tupman batted .293 with 12 RBI in 36 games for Licey, then batted .364 in the six-game Series. He was added to the Royals' 40-man roster and during this spring training has batted .286 (6-for-21) with 5 walks (.407 OBP).

"Guys use the Dominican League for different reasons," said Tupman, who had tried unsuccessfully to land a spot in the league the previous two years. "The Dominican kids just play there. Other people are over the hill and need to make money. Others are trying to move on as free agents. This would have been my sixth (full) year, so I would have been a minor-league free agent (after this season). I'm not a big name, so I needed to market myself. As it turned out, I got noticed by the team I was playing for all along. Go figure."

Tupman has met LaValliere, who was also a catcher from New Hampshire (Manchester). LaValliere played with the Phillies, Cardinals, Pirates and White Sox during a 12-year big league career (1984-95).

Like Tupman, LaValliere batted left-handed and was outstanding defensively. He was the National League's Gold Glove catcher as a Pirate in 1987.

"I didn't even use (LaValliere) as a catcher. That's how good I was. I played him at shortstop," joked Stone, who retired to Florida in 2003 after 37 seasons and 801 victories at UMass Lowell.

And for a while in 2001, Stone alternated Tupman with Dracut's Dave Harne, who was UMass Lowell's incumbent catcher when Tupman transferred in. Sensing Tupman's ability, the team-first Harne finally told Stone, "Go with Matt."

Tupman's many fans from his UMass Lowell days hope the Royals also go with Matt.