Kevin Slowey: A Tribute

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Kevin Slowey, my good friend and one of the newest subscribers to this blog, sent me a package to France with a new baseball glove and some under-armour baseball clothing. I wrote him an email to thank him for his gracious gift, and he said that he did not need any thanks, but that if I ever felt obliged I could feature him in one of my blog entries.

Well, that time has come.

This morning I was reading an article on ESPN.com, an opinion piece giving a rundown of the latest happenings in Major League Baseball, and unexpectedly the article started talking about Kevin Slowey. I took this as a sign that it is time for the 'Tribute to Kevin Slowey.'

Kevin is a professional baseball player, grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. I met him last year in Durham, North Carolina at the Duke University K-Lab where I have trained for baseball for the past two winters with Kevin and several other minor league players.

Kevin was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 2005 out of Winthrop University where he played college ball for three years. In 2006 he was named by baseball America as having one of the top ten best seasons for all minor league players.

This year in spring training, he was invited to pitch for the Twins as a starter for a few games, but was told by the end of spring training that, in his words, ‘there are not enough innings to go around.’ Thus he began this season in Triple-A with the Rochester Red Wings in their starting rotation.

Kevin is about my height (maybe a bit taller?), and about my build. He is a right-hander that throws in the upper 80's with a fastball, changeup, curveball, and a newly-found 2-seam fastball that leaves hitters feeling silly. In an era of 95 mph-plus power pitchers and Barry Zito-like curveballs, pinpoint control and low strikeout to walk ratio and the durability of his arm (he threw over 200 innings last season) are what appeals to coaches and scouts the most about Kevin Slowey.

To put it bluntly, Slowey has been tearing it up in the International League with the Red Wings thus far this season. He is 6-2 in nine starts with three complete games and a 1.54 ERA. He leads the team with 64.1 innings pitched, and has struck out an incredible 57 batters and walked only five.

As a result, this week Slowey was called up by the Minnesota Twins to join their starting rotation, and tomorrow (Friday) he will start against the Athletics, his first career major league start.

Thanks for the glove, Kevin, and go get ‘em T-Bone!

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Photos

Kevin Slowey
photo taken from: www.minorleaguenews.com/.../08/fab50/53.html,

photo
from: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061109&content_id=143446&vkey=news_t576&fext=.jsp&sid=t576

Comments

[Pat Slowey]

hope all is well in France
Hi Will....thx for the entry on Kev. We are all in a fog here in Pittsburgh over the call-up. The whole Slowey family is headed to Oakland tonite. Pray that he remains healthy and is victorious on the Battlefield! Mr. Slow

[Cindy Franck]

Keeping up with my nephew, Will
Hi Will, In cleaning out my desk I came across your blog address and was thrilled to be able to track your travels. This is a first for me.....entering into the world of blogs. Before this, it was just good ol' email, and maybe a bit of wordprocessing. Old dogs CAN be taught new tricks!!!! I love being apart of your world. I look forward to the next entry. Love, Cindy