Bullpen Breakthrough Boosts Jarrett Casey's Chances for Chicago

July 31, 2014

By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent

Jarrett Casey got the word on a bus headed from Birmingham, Ala., to Jacksonville, Fla.

“We’d just finished a home series and we were about to go to Jacksonville,” said Casey, a left-handed pitcher for the Birmingham Barons of the Double-A Southern League. “We were about 45 minutes down the road, and our manager, Julio Vinas, came up to me and said, ‘Hey, we need to stop and let you out here.’

“And I said, ‘What?’ I didn’t know what to think. I was like, ‘What’s going on, am I getting released?’ But then he said, ‘Congratulations! You’re going to Charlotte.’”

Birmingham’s parent club, the Chicago White Sox, had promoted Casey to the Charlotte Knights of the International League, their top farm team. “They pulled over and left me at a gas station,” said Casey. “I got a ride back to Birmingham and then flew out to Charlotte.”

That was Sunday, July 20. The next day, Casey was in Indianapolis for Charlotte’s four-game series at Victory Field. “I got in Monday night, after the game had already started,” said Casey. “I had a long day, with flights cancelled, delays, changes … I was supposed to be here about two in the afternoon, but I didn’t get in until 7:45 at night. I made it out about the fourth inning of the game. Walking out on that field was pretty cool.”

It wasn’t the first trip to Victory Field for the 26-year-old Indianapolis native. “I came to games here when I was a kid,” said Casey. “I played here once in high school and thought how cool it would be to be able come back some time and play again.”

Growing up on the Indianapolis Eastside, Casey played baseball, football, basketball and soccer. “But when I got to high school,” he added, “I just focused on baseball.”

During his first two years at Lawrence Central High School, Casey played for the junior varsity team. As a sophomore in 2004, he watched from the stands as the Bears defeated Brownsburg in the Class 4A championship game. “I was on JV, so I wasn’t able to play,” he said. “But I was at the game and it was a lot of fun to watch. I wasn’t very good when I was a freshman and sophomore. Then I kind of hit my growth spurt, got a little stronger, and then started pitching better. I made varsity as a junior and senior.”

Pitching for Lawrence Central coach Dan Roman, Casey produced identical 6-2 records in 2005 and 2006. He was an all-conference pick in his junior year. As a senior, he averaged 10 strikeouts a game, made the Indianapolis Star All-North team, and earned honorable mention for the All-Marion County team. “I was pretty happy with my high school career,” said Casey. “I didn’t really know if it was going to go further than that. But luckily, I had a few looks from some colleges.”.

Casey claims he didn’t consider college baseball until his final high school season. “Junior year, I still didn’t think about it too much. But senior year, it was like ‘Hey, I’m doing all right now. Maybe I can try to play like Division III or something.’”

There were feelers from D-III, D-II and D-I schools, and eventually, from Indiana University. “I grew up an IU fan,” said Casey, “so I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to play at my favorite college.”

Casey was one of the original players sought by Tracy Smith, who turned the Hoosiers into an NCAA powerhouse before leaving for Arizona State after the 2014 season. “It was pretty cool to be part of his first recruiting class there,” Jarrett said.

On a visit to Bloomington, Casey met another prospective Hoosier – Josh Phegley of Terre Haute North High School. As sophomores, they would room together, and they were reunited when Casey joined the Knights. Phegley, who spent part of 2013 with the White Sox, is currently the starting catcher for Charlotte.

After two seasons at IU, Casey transferred to Northern Kentucky University, an NCAA Division II school in Highland Heights, about seven miles southeast of Cincinnati. “I wasn’t getting the amount of innings that I would have liked to get,” he explained. “Nothing against the (IU) coaches, they were great guys. I just decided I’d be better off somewhere else. Kentucky came up, and they’d always had a good team and successful seasons. I took a visit there and I met the coaches and I really liked it. I said, ‘This is where I want to play.’”

By transferring to a D-II School, Casey wasn’t required to sit out a year. In two seasons with the Norse, he compiled a 9-9 slate and fanned 90 batters in just over 100 innings with 43 walks and a 4.13 earned run average. He was a two-time All-Great Lakes Valley Conference pick. “I had a pretty successful career there,” he said. “We won the conference tournament my junior year. We got beat in regionals both years, which was kind of a disappointment. But it was fun.”

Back in Indianapolis after the 2010 college season, Casey found out he’d been selected by the White Sox in the 32^nd round of the June draft. “I was at home at my parents’ house,” he recalled. “I had a friend over, and we were hanging out in the basement. And I hear my mom upstairs, yelling. ‘You just got drafted! You just got drafted!’ I was like, ‘What? No way!’

Reporting to Bristol, Va., of the rookie Appalachian League, Casey made 15 appearances, including nine starts, and went 1-7 with a 4.33 ERA.

In 2011 at Great Falls, Mont., of the rookie Pioneer League, he was 4-1 with a 4.40 ERA after 10 starts. “I was having some success, but then I got some strange illness about three-quarters of the way through the season,” said Casey. “They didn’t have a specific diagnosis. They told me it was an abnormal virus. They sent me home, just to get better. The team ended up winning the league championship, and I wasn’t able to be a part of that, which was kind of disappointing.”

Healthy again in 2012, Casey spent the year with Kannapolis, N.C. (low-A South Atlantic). “I started the year in the pen,” he said. “But then we needed a starter, and they knew I had some starting experience. So they put me back in the rotation, and I finished the year as a starter.”

The result was a 5-8 mark in 33 appearances – nine of them starts – with a 5.81 ERA. “My first couple of years,” Casey said, “I’d either begin the year as a starter and then move to the bullpen, or go back and forth, starting to relieving.”

Then came 2013, when he opened the season with Winston-Salem, N.C., of the high-A Carolina League. Casey made 30 appearances, all in relief, and had a 2.91 ERA while holding opposing batters to a .184 average.

Promoted to Birmingham in early August, he was with the Barons when they defeated the Tennessee Smokies in the first round of the playoffs and then beat the Mobile BayBears for the Southern League title. “Just to get called up was an awesome experience,” he said. “And then we ended up making the tournament, and we won the first round. Then we get to the second round, and we win that. We won at home in Birmingham, which was really cool.”

Casey credits his success to the bullpen conversion. “Last year was the first full season where I was purely a reliever,” he said. “Last year and this year have been the two best seasons I’ve had, professionally. I think I’m just more effective as a reliever for some reason. I don’t know why, but it’s worked out for me and I like it.”

When the 2014 campaign opened, Casey found himself back in Winston-Salem. “It obviously wasn’t where I wanted to be, but I understood the reasoning for it,” he said. “We just had too many guys, and they didn’t have room.”

Through the first three weeks of the season, Casey was Winston-Salem’s top reliever. Over eight scoreless innings, he allowed no runs and scattered five hits while striking out 11 and saving a pair of games. “I just kept working and trying to get myself an opportunity to get called back up,” he said, “and luckily, I did.”

Rejoining Birmingham on April 22, Casey relieved in 20 games for the Barons and went 1-0 with a 1.98 ERA while limiting opposing batters to a .184 average. When Charlotte right-hander Daniel McCutchen went on the disabled list, Casey was tabbed as the replacement.

From that highway gas station on the road to Jacksonville, Jarrett called his parents with the news: he was on his way to Indianapolis to join Charlotte. “They were super proud,” he said, “and happy for me.”

Casey made his Triple-A debut on July 22, coming on to start the seventh inning of a 9-3 Knights win over Indianapolis and giving up two hits and a run in 1.2 innings. “It was like a storybook,” he said, “kind of like a movie.”

Jeff and Jane Casey were at Victory Field for their son’s Triple-A debut, along with a slew of family and friends. “Too many to count,” said Jarrett. “About everybody that’s been able to make it has been out. I’ve had aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends that still live in town. They’ve been here all week in Indy, which is awesome. It’s been great for them to be able to be out here and support me.”

Casey says his arsenal consists mostly of a fastball, slider and changeup. “But I started throwing a curve ball about a week ago,” he added. “It’s come along pretty well. I’m pretty pleased with adding another pitch to my repertoire.”

When the season ends, Casey plans to return to Indianapolis. “I’ve been living here the past couple of years,” he said. “Last year I just lived at home with my parents, trying to save a little money, working out, giving lessons and stuff like that.”

One of Casey’s offseason jobs was with Prep Baseball Report. “I was doing little things to help out,” he said. “I was charting guys on their speed, and that sort of thing – doing radar guns. I’m trying to do a little more. Maybe if they’ll let me come back this year, I’ll help out a little more with seeing how guys are, giving them grades and stuff like that.”

The assignment enabled Casey to work with another former Lawrence Central High School left-handed pitcher – Blake Hibler, PBR Indiana's Scouting Director. “He was a senior when I was a freshman,” said Jarrett. “He’s a great guy to work with.”

After joining Dan Brown’s Force Barbell gym in Fishers last winter, Casey now packs 210 pounds on his 6-foot frame. “Jarrett went from being a twig in high school to pretty muscular,” recalls Phil Wade, PBR Indiana's Executive Director.

The sessions also cost Casey a pair of pants. “I ripped my jeans one day,” Jarrett admitted with a sheepish chuckle. “I guess I’d been squatting too much and my legs got too big for them. I had to get a size bigger.”