Royals give Adcock shot in bullpen
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Hours before the biggest moment of his professional career, Royals rookie Nate Adcock was watching television, thinking about nothing in particular, when he saw a clip of former Alabama running back Mark Ingram on the screen.
Ingram had just been drafted in the first round by the New Orleans Saints, and Adcock — who was watching in the clubhouse before Saturday's game — was intrigued by the emotion Ingram showed in the moment.
It was the culmination of a lifelong dream, Adcock thought, and he could relate. He'd felt the same way when he was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the fifth round in 2006.
"It was the same situation for me," Adcock said. "It's not a Nate Adcock thing. It's about the whole family supporting you and getting you through the tough times. Not many people get a chance to do what we do for a living."
Little did the 23-year-old know that just hours later, he'd encounter another moment that would bring a similar sense of pride: his first big-league victory.
That's right. After pitching only 10 innings in the first 26 games of the season, all in mop-up duty or long relief, Adcock — a Rule 5 draft pick from the Pittsburgh Pirates organization who never pitched above Single-A in the minors — saw the first meaningful action of his MLB career on Saturday night, as unlikely as it might have seen.
With the score tied at 2-2 in the seventh inning, Royals manager Ned Yost needed someone to face the top of the Minnesota Twins' lineup, which featured three lefties in the top four holes.
The Royals have taken it slow with Adcock, who they've chosen to keep on their big league roster rather than send him back to Pittsburgh. But Yost remembered that Adcock — who didn't pitch in a game for two weeks in April — had fared well against lefties in his limited big-league action. He decided to throw the kid into the fire, and the decision paid off as he pitched a scoreless inning of relief and wound up getting the win.
Not bad for a guy who figured he was destined to start the season in Double-A before he was claimed by the Royals in the Rule 5 draft.
"Honestly, when I was with Pittsburgh I figured that if I got protected (from the draft), great, I go to Double-A," Adcock said. "But now I'm here, in the big leagues, with the Royals and a great group of guys. We're winning and having fun and heck, we're in the hunt to do something special."
Going forward, it looks as if Adcock — who is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in 11 innings — may even see his bullpen role increase for the Royals, who enter a three-game homestand against Baltimore tonight with a 15-13 record.
Yost said Sunday that he plans to use Adcock in more pressurized situations, because if Adcock performs, it would give him some added flexibility in the late innings. Currently, fellow rookie Tim Collins has been the primary left-handed setup man.
"It would be a pretty big boost to our 'pen if we get him in the mix down there too," Yost said. "Keep us from overusing anybody."
As for Adcock's long-term future, Yost said he currently sees him as a reliever. And that's just fine with Adcock, who once saw himself as a starter only but now says he's taken to coming out of the pen. He features one plus-pitch — a heavy two-seamer with sinking action — but he knows his other pitches (a slider and a changeup) still need some work.
"As of now, (I enjoy) being a reliever," he said. "I haven't started in a while, and I kind of like what I'm doing. I'm in a groove."
Indeed, things couldn't be going much better for Adcock. After his first big-league win, he fielded more than 60 calls and emails from friends and family back home in Binegrove, Ky., all congratulating him for achieving his dream.
It was enough, Adcock admitted, to get a bit choked up about.
"Just like Mark Ingram," he noted, with a grin.
This story was originally published May 3, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Royals give Adcock shot in bullpen."