Hope the guy makes it...
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/ ... 513351001/Dillon Maples was ready to quit baseball.
He had reached his breaking point. Maples, a top Chicago Cubs prospect early in his career, had been demoted earlier in the 2016 season and just had another uninspiring outing. He plunked a guy, walked another and gave up an earned run in one inning.
It was emblematic of his career to that point — not good, not bad ... just ordinary.
He walked to the team bus after South Bend took a 5-2 loss at Kane County and called his father on the way.
"I'm done," Maples remembers telling his father, Tim. "I'm going to walk into the manager’s office and I’m going to ask for my release."
His dad was outside fertilizing the front lawn of the family's property in North Carolina.
"Listen, it’s not all that fun what I’m doing right now," his father deadpanned.
His dad made sense. Maples never made that trip to the manager's office.
That call is sure shaping up to be an important one.
Maples, now a reliever with the Iowa Cubs, is one step away from the big leagues. A major-league career, which seemed so impossible in 2014, now feels like a eventuality.
"I takes some guys longer to figure it out, and he was a guy that just took a little bit longer to hit his stride and now he's at a place where it's tough to stop him," said Jaron Madison, Chicago's director of player development. "He's just moving through the system, jumping levels and forcing our hands."
Dillon Maples throws a pitch for the Iowa Cubs.
Dillon Maples throws a pitch for the Iowa Cubs. (Photo: Dylan Heuer/Iowa Cubs)
Fading dreams
There were high hopes for Maples.
“He was an upper 90s fastball with a major league-plus breaking ball in high school. So, coming into the system, I'm sure he thought he would just move right through the system and things would be great."”
Jaron Madison
The pitcher was a member of USA Baseball’s 18-and-under national team in 2010, was the Gatorade North Carolina High School Player of the Year in 2011 and had a full scholarship to play football at North Carolina.
Then there were his genetics. Tim Maples was a second-round pick by the Baltimore Orioles in 1979. He played five seasons in the minors but didn't log any major-league time.
His son had a blazing fastball and knee-buckling curve that caught the attention of the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs liked his stuff so much that they signed him to a $2.5 million deal — a figure much higher than that of a typical 14th-round selection.
His physical traits, athleticism, arm talent and genes made it easy to see why a rapid rise was in store.
"He was an upper 90s fastball with a major league-plus breaking ball in high school," Madison said. "So, coming into the system, I'm sure he thought he would just move right through the system and things would be great."
That was hardly the case.
In Maples' first five professional seasons, he rarely produced. He struggled to remain healthy and perform consistently.
He suffered a UCL injury his first season, had his knee scoped his second season, broke a rib in his third and strained an oblique last season.
When Maples was healthy, his production was unimpressive. During his first five seasons, he went a combined 7-14 with a 5.33 ERA. Maples struggled the most with his control, walking 116 batters in 182.1 innings.
During those first five seasons, he never played above the Cubs' Class-A advanced affiliate.
From a top prospect to an afterthought.
It all took a toll on Maples.
Stuck in the lower levels of the minor leagues, he grew frustrated with himself. He started having doubt in his pitches and his ability to get hitters out.
Madison said Maples would also unravel in games. The most minuscule things threw him off his game. For as good of stuff as Maples had, self-doubt often crept in. It led to more hits, more control issues and adversity.
"It was never about stuff," Madison said. "It was just about quality of strikes and finding that comfort, and also find him just being comfortable and understanding. You don't have to do more. You can just let your stuff work, because you do have big-league pitches and trust it. Just throw strikes and let it happen."
Dillon Maples gets ready to throw a pitch during an
Dillon Maples gets ready to throw a pitch during an Iowa Cubs game. (Photo: Dylan Heuer/Iowa Cubs.)
But the more Maples struggled, the more he doubted himself. Things got so bad that in 2014, he contemplated quitting. He suffered a rib injury that year that limited him to 10 games.
Was it time to be done with baseball?
“I was not having a lot of fun, and people talk about how you’ve got to go out and play the game with a Little League mentality, and all this stuff and it was just not happening,” Maples said. “There was zero fun at the ballpark that year."
His career hit rock bottom last June when he was demoted from Chicago’s Class A advanced affiliate in Myrtle Beach and sent to Class A South Bend. Maples was in his fifth professional season and hadn’t even cracked double-A.
Then came the outing on July 18, 2016, at Kane County.
Maples had a so-so performance. He had certainly had worse before. But he wasn't easy on himself, either. He wanted perfection. It just was not happening.
If Maples had been consistent about one thing, it was beating himself up. And now he was in the dumps again. He walked out of the stadium, away from some fans waiting for autographs and made that call to his dad.
Tim was working on the lawn and laying out fertilizer. To be honest, any number of things sounded more appealing than playing pro baseball did at the time.
“He wasn’t all that shocked at first,” Dillon Maples said. “But, then he just told me, ‘Just step back, gain some perspective, just kind of cool out — simmer down and don’t get too emotionally wrapped up in it.’”
His father had some more advice for him.
"You know, you’re think you’re far away," Tim Maples remembers telling his son, "but you’re one adjustment away from getting where you want to be."
His father's words helped. Maples didn’t quit. He took his father's advice seriously.
“After that, I detached from those emotions, came back the next day and grinded it through and then the next day, I was back in the saddle and I was ready to go,” Maples said. “It was a pretty quick turnaround.”
The turnaround
Tim Maples was right: One adjustment could make all the difference.
In Maples' case, it was one pitch. Maples always had a blistering fastball with late movement and an impressive curve.
But the two pitches weren’t enough.
David Rosario, one of Maples’ minor-league pitching coaches, told him there were going to be nights when his curveball was off. Maples needed to develop another pitch.
And so Maples, who always returned to North Carolina in the offsesaon, got some advice from a right-handed pitcher in the Cincinnati Reds' organization. Rob Wooten was working in at the same local baseball facility as Maples.
The two talked pitching grips. When Maples told him he needed another pitch, Wooten recommended a cutter. Maples started throwing it while playing catch the next day.
He worked hard on developing the pitch and tested it in live batting practice and side sessions. He even worked on it on that lawn his father had fertilized the summer before.
“I’ve been given a lot of building blocks and ultimately, I got that Lego set and it was time for me to assemble. And there was a lot of ripping it apart and building it back up but I feel like I’ve got a pretty good blueprint right now.”
Dillon Maples
When Maples arrived at spring training this year, he showcased the pitch in intrasquad games and eventually worked it into his in-game repertoire.
Now, it's perhaps his best pitch.
“It’s 88 to 91 (mph),” Iowa manager Marty Pevey said. “It’s Chris Carpenter in his prime. ... It’s nasty.”
Maples made slight adjustments elsewhere, such as shortening his delivery motion. The move has upped the velocity on his fastball, which can now surpass 100 mph.
Beyond that, Maples said he reads psychology books and has tried to learn as much about the brain and the mental part of baseball as he can. He’s worked extensively with minor league coaches and members of Chicago’s mental skills staff on his breathing, slowing things down and making adjustments from pitch to pitch.
"He's done a really good job of slowing things down when things start to get out of control," Madison said. "He's able to refocus and get back under control this year where he hasn't been able to do that in the past."
Dillon Maples delivers a pitch during a game with the
Dillon Maples delivers a pitch during a game with the Iowa Cubs. (Photo: Dylan Heuer/Iowa Cubs)
Now, his mental game is matching his stuff.
“It’s taken me awhile to get to this point,” Maples said. “I’ve been given a lot of building blocks and ultimately, I got that Lego set and it was time for me to assemble. And there was a lot of ripping it apart and building it back up, but I feel like I’ve got a pretty good blueprint right now.”
Maples knew this season may have been it for him if things continued as they were. It's become by far his best yet.
He started the year at Myrtle Beach and went 4-0 with a 2.01 ERA with 44 strikeouts in 31.1 innings. Maples was then promoted to double-A for the first time in his career. He was dominant: 28 strikeouts in 13.2 innings and a 3.29 ERA.
On July 17, he was called up to Iowa. He was roughed up in one appearance and forceful in the others — in four innings with the I-Cubs, Maples has nine strikeouts.
And now those big-league dreams are oh-so-close.
"There's a guy that throws 100 miles an hour with two major league breaking pitches," Madison said. "He's going to open up eyes and put himself in a good position if he continues to have success. He's going to force our hand to hopefully move him up, and that's what he's done so far with the three levels he's spent this year."
Those sky-high expectations for Maples from years ago? Oh, they are back.
“He has an opportunity to finish some games for us in the big leagues,” Pevey said. “He has that type of stuff.”
Maples said he hasn’t thought about quitting since that talk with his dad.
“I know where that red line is, and if I start tinkering around there, I know what I need to do,” Maples said.
It's amazing what a chat with dad can do for a career.
Without that phone call?
“I probably would have been back in school right now,” Maples said.
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