Casey Coleman admits he’s done a lot of thinking about retiring as a professional baseball player and moving into coaching.
The Mariner graduate and former FGCU pitcher couldn’t get past one lingering thought – the idea that his arm was completely healthy and capable of getting hitters out.
He decided to put off retirement this winter, signing with Tomateros de Culiacan in the Mexican Winter League. He was installed as the team’s closer, setting a club record with 22 saves while posting a 1.24 earned run average in 34 appearances. That led to the opportunity he was looking for, as the New York Mets signed him to a minor-league contract.
“I wanted to go down to Mexico and pitch as a reliever because that’s what I’ve been good at,” Coleman said. “I figured I’d give it everything I had and if I don’t get a job (in affiliated baseball), I probably wouldn’t go to (Independent) ball and that it would be time to retire. But I threw the ball well, broke some team records and a few big-league teams took notice.”
Not only were the results fantastic for Coleman, but he was throwing the ball extremely well – just as he knew he could. His fastball was consistently hitting 96-97 on the radar gun, and he almost completely shut down the opposition. In 36 1/3 innings, he allowed just 19 hits with five walks and 37 strikeouts. He surrendered just one home run and posted a microscopic 0.66 WHIP.
“It’s tough to walk away from the game when you’re still throwing the ball that hard,” Coleman said. “I don’t want to have any regrets about my career down the line. I still feel I can get people out, and the results are showing that.”
Coleman signed with the Mets late, meaning he wasn’t given an official invite to spring training with the major-league club. He still managed to make five spring appearances, tossing six scoreless innings while allowing five hits and striking out six.
He has several connections on the Mets’ big-league coaching staff. Mets bullpen coach Chuck Hernandez was a coaching protégé of Casey’s father – former big-league pitcher and longtime minor-league coach Joe Coleman. Mets manager Mickey Callaway played for Joe Coleman in the minor leagues, and Mets pitching coach Dave Eiland coached Casey when both were in the Kansas City Royals organization.
“I put up good winter ball numbers and I knew a lot of their staff, so they knew what they were getting with me,” Coleman said. “They know my personality and what I can bring to the clubhouse.”
Coleman was assigned to the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate, which moved to Syracuse in the offseason. That makes him a member of the first Syracuse Mets ballclub. For the past several years, the Mets’ top affiliate was in Las Vegas, which was a logistical nightmare for the club. Coleman made his debut Saturday, starting the second game of a doubleheader and pitching three innings. He allowed two runs (one earned), two hits, with one walk and four strikeouts.
The Mets made a conscious effort in the offseason to stockpile their depth. The Syracuse ballclub is littered with major-league veterans, including outfielders Rajai Davis, Carlos Gomez and Gregor Blanco, infielders Adeiny Hechavarria and Danny Espinosa, and catcher Rene Rivera.
“We’ve joked with each other about how we wouldn’t finish last in the AL Central,” Coleman said. “There is a ton of big-league experience on this team, so if the Mets have any injuries, there are going to be plenty of guys capable of coming up and helping out.”
Although he’s not sure if he’ll close games at Syracuse, he’s going to take the same mental approach he brought while pitching in winter ball this year.
“I loved that closer role, the idea that every day you come to the ballpark, you could pitch,” he said. “But also that aggressive mindset that a closer has. The thing I’m doing late in my career is no matter what pitch I’m throwing – fastball, slider or splitter – I throw it with intent and aggressiveness. If you throw a pitch aggressively and you get beat, that’s just baseball. It’s taken some time to learn that, but I never want to have the thought of ‘I hope I throw a strike’ or ‘I hope I don’t walk a guy.’ I know my stuff is good enough, so I’m just letting it go.”
Coleman, who was drafted by the Cubs in the 15th round of the 2008 MLB draft, spent parts of three major-league seasons with the Cubs. He last appeared in a major-league game with the Kansas City Royals in 2014. Since then, he’s pitched in the Seattle, Tampa Bay, Houston organizations before landing back with the Cubs’ Triple-A squad last year. He’s also pitched for a few Independent League teams in that time.
Coleman is now married, and his wife and 2-year-old son Caleb live in the Knoxville, Tennessee, area. Coleman met his wife Jennifer when he pitched for the Cubs’ Double-A affiliate located there.
He says his son is still a bit too young to love baseball, but he’s starting to make the connection that it’s what his dad does for a living. It’s still way too early to tell if he’ll add a fourth generation of Colemans to the major leagues.
“He’ll see baseball on TV and say ‘Daddy’,” Coleman said. “He’s been to a few games and kind of knows that’s what I do, but he’s often too busy doing 2-year-old things to care that much. He’s full of energy, that’s for sure.”
The original article written by Andrew Sodergren can be found here:
https://www.news-press.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/04/08/former-mariner-florida-gulf-coast-university-star-casey-coleman-new-york-mets-mlb/3351206002/