Reprinted from TwinCities.com © Copyright 2008
May 31, 2008 12:40:23 AM CDT
Twins' new lefty has Yale background, journeyman career
By Kelsie Smith / TwinCities.com
Ah, the offseason — a time to relax, play golf, travel, recuperate from a long season.
Or, if you're Craig Breslow, a time to work in a Yale laboratory doing stem cell research, a time to begin a foundation that raises money for pediatric cancer research.
That type of offseason, of course, is not exactly normal, but Breslow is not a normal baseball player.
The 27-year-old left-handed reliever isn't best known for a certain pitch or a certain game, but instead for his Yale degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry.
"I can't even pronounce that degree," Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson said. "I just hope I don't have to get into any real deep conversations with him because I think he'll be a little over my head."
The Twins claimed Breslow off waivers Thursday — making this the lefty's third team of the season after Cleveland claimed him off waivers from Boston during spring training — and in doing so added a second left-hander to help Dennys Reyes in the bullpen.
After bouncing from the minors to independent ball to the majors, when San Diego purchased him for $1 from the New Jersey Jackals, and then from the majors to the minors and five major league organizations, Breslow is hoping for a place to stick.
He pitched just 8 1/3 innings in his two months with Cleveland, compiling a 3.24 earned-run average, and Anderson said the Twins will try to give Breslow, who once went 14 days between appearances for Cleveland, a chance to build some consistency.
That, Breslow said, is all he's looking for.
"I'm just looking for a chance to pitch," he said. "I've been going up and down for four years without ever getting a chance to have any kind of role or spot. I don't really care what it is. I would just like to know, OK, when we're down 10 runs (I pitch). OK, fine, I'll do that. I don't want to be the guy that pitches down 10 runs and then not pitch when we're down 10 runs. That gets kind of frustrating."
Breslow, who was taken in the 26th round of the 2002 draft by Milwaukee, is out of options, which means a team must put him on waivers rather than outrighting him to the minor leagues, and although that does give him more hope of pitching in the big leagues, it also can be stressful waiting to see if anyone wants him.
Of course, there's always that Yale degree to fall back on.
In Breslow's first offseason after turning pro he worked in a Yale lab doing research, and since then he hasn't dabbled in his degree's field during the winters. Last offseason, Breslow decided to start the Strike 3 Foundation (strike3foundation.org), with his sister Lesley Palange, who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when she was 14 and now is in full remission, as his inspiration.
"That's been, not more than I expected in terms of workload, but it's taken up quite a bit of time," Breslow said. "It's something I really enjoy doing, but at the same time it's quite a commitment."
For a molecular biophysicist who chose baseball over medical school and has spent the past six years bouncing from organization to organization, commitment clearly is not a problem.