Schafer Eyeing Dual Role

The St. Louis Cardinals got their first look at Jordan Schafer on the mound against an opponent this afternoon as he threw a scoreless inning in their 7-2 victory over Boston. The left-hander gave up a pair of hits, but induced a double play and then struck out Pablo Sandoval looking.

That concluded Schafer’s work for the game, but in the future it may just be a warm-up for him then moving to the outfield for an inning and then grabbing an at-bat or two.

With 463 big league games under his belt as an outfielder, Schafer is trying to make it back as a reliever/position player.

“It’s a little different,” he admits. “Definitely just being a position guy for the last 10-11 years and then kind of having this new journey, has definitely been different for me but I’m having fun with it and it’s gone well so far.”

“It’s kind of like a hybrid role, honestly, I’m just having fun with it,” said Schafer. “It’s almost like being in high school again where you can do anything.”

A career .228 hitter in 1292 at-bats, Schafer has shown the ability to steal bases–four times in his career swiping at least 20 bags. In 2014, he stole 30 bases in only 210 ABs with a .310 OBP. But a change needed to be made.

“So in my career, five or six years in the big leagues, I’ve had a ton of injuries,” explained Schafer, who made his debut with Atlanta in 2009. “I feel like every time I’ve kind of gotten myself on track and going the right way, I’ve had something halt my progress. The last year in ’15, with my MCL, it really was kind of a thing that got to me mentally–that hey, I’m kind of tired of being hurt all the time. It weighs on you not only on your body, but on you mentally.

“I had a suggestion of ‘hey, you were a highly looked at guy pitching in high school, did you ever think about doing that?’ And I had really never thought of it at the time. Even to go back as far as 2013, John Hart was one of our front office guys when I was in Atlanta, he said ‘hey I was GM in Texas and we were actually going to take you the next pick as a pitcher, but the Braves took you the pick before us.’

“He was like ‘why don’t when you’re done being a position guy, why don’t you think about coming out of the bullpen?’ He was being serious, but I didn’t really think anything of it at the time because I was a full time position guy. One thing kind of led to the next and that kind of always stuck in the back of mind, especially when someone brought that up to me and I said, alright, I’ll give it a shot. So, it’s been a lot of fun so far.”

Hart isn’t the only one who remembers what Schafer was like on the mound in high school.

“We played against each other in high school,” remembers Dexter Fowler. “I remember he was throwing mid-90s. He was a really good pitcher and then he’d jump in the box and hit as well. It’s good that he’s getting this chance to do that. If you can do it, why not?”

The two later played on the same Arizona Fall League team and then lived nearby each other in Atlanta.

“I’ve known Dex for a long time,” echoed Schafer. “He’s been a good friend of mine for quite a while now.”

And now at 30 years old and with all of these years conditioning as a professional athlete, Schafer is also enjoying the physical difference of again being on the mound.

“Yeah, my arm feels really good,” he said. “As a position guy, you don’t really have too much wear and tear on your arm. It’s kind of like I took a 10-11 year break, so to speak, on the pitching aspect of it. My body feels good.”

And a pitch arsenal that was limited last year has now grown to include a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, changeup, curveball, and slider.

“I threw mostly four-seam, curveball last year,” Schafer shared. “I threw some changeups–I didn’t really have a whole lot of comfort or confidence with it, so I pushed it to the back. Later on in the year, probably the last two weeks or so, our pitching coordinator asked if I would throw a slider. It’s something that I really worked on this off-season, something that I think will really help me.

“Then as far as two-seamers, I didn’t really have a whole lot of comfort with moving my fingers on the ball yet, last year being my first year back. It’s something that I really worked on this off-season, something I like and that I feel very comfortable with now.”

In 49.1 innings last season, Schafer struck out 59 batters. But he’s not worried about swing and miss stuff, just getting three outs as quickly as possible.

“I think that’s some of the advantage that I have as being a position player in the big leagues–I know how hard it is to hit,” he said. “I’d much rather go after guys and make guys beat me than beat myself by walking guys and get behind guys. I think that’s some of the advantage that I have. Even me facing left-handed hitters, a lot of times I try to do what I didn’t like as a left-handed hitter facing a lefty. So I think in that way, it gives me a big advantage.”

And if called upon to be a pinch-hitter, defensive replacement for any of the three outfield spots, or a pinch-runner, there is an excitement about what Schafer could bring to the Cardinals.

“It’s a very unique role,” said GM John Mozeliak. “If you remember him as an outfielder, he is very athletic and brought a lot to the table in that regard. Now to see what he’s doing on the mound, that’s kind of our biggest question mark coming in–is that really a viable option? Can he pitch at the highest level? If he could, there’s no doubt you could stick him in the outfield for a defensive replacement or something like that. So really, the 25th spot, if you would, could become the 25.5. It would be very interesting if it was something he could manage.”

photo credit: STLBaseballWeekly.com