May 26, 2005
By Bill Doyle TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF wdoyle@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Chris Shank’s maternal grandparents live next door to his parents in Westminster, but they have never seen him pitch professionally. Neither have his aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, or even his roommate at Franklin Pierce College, current Leicester High baseball coach Mike Callahan.
That is about to change. Shank has signed to pitch for the Worcester Tornadoes.
“It will be something totally different,” Shank said. “This will put the fun back into playing baseball for me.”
Shank’s parents, Don and Joyce, and his sister, Kayla, traveled to see him pitch in the Oakland A’s farm system, but they’ll get to see him much more often this summer.
“It’ll be great,” Shank said, “because I know every night there might be somebody different in the stands that will be cheering for me.”
Rich Gedman is returning to his hometown to manage the Tornadoes, so he knows how Shank must feel.
“It should in some ways act as a comfort for him,” Gedman said. “It’s like you’re home. No matter what you do here, you can’t mess up. You’re around the people who love you. It shouldn’t give you any more motivation or any less. You should just go out and play your game. You have to look at it as if it’s going to benefit you. In my eyes, it should not be any more pressure.”
After pitching for Oakland’s Class-A farm clubs in Vancouver, Illinois and California the past three years, Shank was released by the Stockton Ports earlier this month. Ports manager Todd Steverson called Shank into his office and informed him the parent club had decided to make some changes. Steverson was no more specific than that.
“Usually, as a player,” Shank said, “you get the feeling when your time is up or you’re struggling. I wasn’t struggling at all. It was a total surprise to me.”
Shank’s numbers weren’t that bad, 0-2 with a 4.82 earned run average in eight relief appearances. He was disappointed that he didn’t make AA ball this season and devastated that the A’s had given up on him just a few weeks into the year. But his release allowed him to return home.
Former Leominster High star John Kelly tried to convince Shank to play with him for the North Shore Spirit, against whom the Tornadoes will make their Can-Am League debut in a 6 p.m. doubleheader tomorrow in Lynn.
Shank preferred to be closer to home over being the Spirit’s closer so when Tornadoes manager Rich Gedman offered him a chance to be a starting pitcher, he gladly accepted.
Gedman had been tipped off about Shank by Callahan. Both Gedman and Callahan are graduates of St. Peter-Marian High.
Shank will get to play again with Tornadoes infielder Scott Loiseau, a St. Peter-Marian graduate who was his teammate at Franklin Pierce College. The two plan to share an apartment on Shrewsbury Street.
Gedman was surprised another major-league organization didn’t sign Shank before he joined the Tornadoes, who aren’t affiliated with a major-league team. Shank hasn’t given up hope of signing with another major-league organization some day.
“Hopefully, something will come up,” Shank said, “and I’ll get another opportunity with another organization to start off fresh and clean and see where I go from there.”
“We’re like a feeder system to the minor leagues,” Gedman said. “As long as they have a place to pitch, there’s a place to be seen. If you do well enough, hopefully you’ll have an opportunity to move on if that’s what’s in your heart and in your dreams.”
But for now, Gedman is glad to have Shank.
“After we saw him throw for the first time, it was evident that this was a guy we needed to keep on our club,” Gedman said. “He’s legit.”
Shank won’t get rich playing for the Tornadoes, but he’s actually earning more money with them than he did in the A’s farm system.
Shank started for Franklin Pierce, but pitched mostly in relief in the Oakland farm system after the A’s drafted him in 23rd round in June of 2002. His career record is 12-12 with a 3.81 ERA in 203 innings.
Starting will allow Shank to use his slider and curveball more often. As a reliever, he relied primarily on a fastball which ranged from the high 80s to the low 90s and a change-up.
Shank has been working out with the Tornadoes for about a week. Not having pitched in a game for a few weeks, Shank is building his pitch count back up. He threw 50 pitches in a side session Tuesday.
