SPORTS

Ridings takes unusual route to Emeralds

Pitcher was drafted in eighth round out of Haverford College

Steve Mims
steve.mims@registerguard.com
Stephen Ridings (center) talks with his Emeralds teammates during the team's media day June 13. [Brian Davies/The Register-Guard]

Even when Stephen Ridings realized he would be picked in the top 10 rounds of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft, it was hard for him to imagine that could happen.

Three years earlier, the 6-foot-8 pitcher had no scholarship offers above the Division III level. He ended up at Haverford College in Haverford, Pa., where the basketball coach tried to get him to switch sports.

In his first two years with the Fords, Ridings was 2-2 with a 4.46 ERA while being shuttled between the starting rotation and bullpen in front of crowds that topped out around 100.

Then early in his junior season, Ridings tossed a one-hit shutout against McDaniel College that caught the curiosity of area scouts in Pennsylvania. He finished the season with 10 strikeouts against Johns Hopkins in the Centennial Conference tournament, followed by 11 against UMass Boston in a regional tournament.

“My velocity ticked up a bit and scouts started to show up so I realized this could happen,” Ridings said.

Ridings struck out 87 in 65 1/3 innings while going 6-3 with a 2.62 ERA in 2016. He became the fourth player in Haverford history to be drafted when the Chicago Cubs took him in the eighth round.

“It still kind of baffled me that a guy like me from a school like that with little to no history could get that kind of an opportunity,” Ridings said. “I never expected it to be as high as it was.”

Ridings received a $120,000 signing bonus and reported to the Cubs’ training facility in Mesa, Ariz. Before he was sent off to the minor leagues, Ridings felt a pain in his arm that rehabilitation couldn’t fix.

“So they told me to get the surgery done and hopefully I am a better pitcher for it,” Ridings said.

He had Tommy John surgery in August and made his pro debut in the rookie-level Arizona League last season on June 24. He pitched in 12 games, including eight starts, but never for more than three innings while going 0-2 with a 4.09 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 22 innings.

“Ten months out of surgery is roughly the time the Cubs have you start pitching in games,” Ridings said.

Ridings has struck out 12 in six innings while allowing three runs as a reliever this season for Eugene, entering Thursday's game at Salem-Keizer.

“Arm feels fantastic and my body feels good,” Ridings said.

The 22-year old from Huntington, N.Y., split his time between baseball and basketball in high school but got more interest from colleges as a pitcher.

“I had one or two bigger schools that said I could try to walk on, but all the D-3 offers I got for actual roster spots were better academically so I figured that was better for my future,” Ridings said.

Ridings was playing intramural basketball at Haverford when basketball coach Michael Mucci stopped to watch.

“He said ‘Why don’t you join the team,’ but I told him I was going to stick with baseball,” Ridings recalled. “I enjoy pitching, the thrill of it.”