Sports stats



NYPL Norwich Sea Unicorns

Chase Edwards Regaining 2014 All-Star Form

August 5, 2015 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Norwich Sea Unicorns News Release


Chase Edwards is now in his third year of professional baseball and once again he is baffling hitters around the New York-Penn League. Following some early season struggles Edwards is starting to regain the form that saw him earn a spot on the New York-Penn League All- Star team last year.

Edwards was a 24th round pick in the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft by the Detroit Tigers out of Hill College, a junior college in Hillsboro, Texas. At the time of the draft Edwards was just 19 years old.

The 2015 campaign got off to a bit of an up and down start for Edwards who started the season with West Michigan, a full season Single-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Following a couple of rocky outings with West Michigan Edwards returned to Connecticut and was the Tigers Opening Night starter. Edwards pitched well in two of his three starts but when the 2015 crop of MLB Draft picks came he was forced to change his roll.

After starting 25 of his first 27 games as a professional Edwards would now be coming out of the bullpen as the piggyback man. For people who follow the New York-Penn League this is a common practice and is often done by organizations as they try to limit the number of innings for new draft picks who in most cases shouldered a heavy work load during their college seasons.

Despite this practice being commonplace around the league it was a concept entirely new to Edwards and it showed. In his first two outings as the piggyback man for Matt Hall he allowed eight runs in just six innings and saw his ERA jump to 7.48.

For Edwards though the fix was relatively simple, just warm up like a starting pitcher despite not being a starter.

"When I first started piggybacking I was pretty much going down to the bullpen and I started stretching around the second inning but I couldn't really get my arm loosened up because I wasn't able to long toss," says Edwards. "So now I come down about ten minutes after the starter comes down and I go through my stretching routine and then I will go and long toss. I will sit down and by the time they call down to get me warming up I am there and ready to start throwing in the bullpen because my arm is already warmed up."

The change in routine has worked extremely well for Edwards. In his last four outing he has posted a record of 3-1 and has only allowed three runs in 19 innings pitched. His batting average against has also dropped from .288 to .248 as he as allowed only 12 hits during that same time frame.

"In the beginning of the year I didn't really have my stuff but (pitching coach) Carlos (Chantres) has been working with me a lot and I can't really thank him enough for figuring stuff out and getting me situated to where I need to be," said Edwards.

In 2013, his first year with the Detroit organization Edwards started his season with the GCL Tigers but was quickly called up to Connecticut after just two appearances. During that first year in Connecticut Edwards put together a solid season, Edwards didn't pick up a decision on the year but did pitch in 11 games making 10 starts and posted a 2.96 ERA.

That strong rookie season set the stage for an All-Star year in 2014 with the Connecticut Tigers. Edwards set the tone for his season in his first outing against Tri-City when he allowed two runs both unearned in five innings.

However, for Edwards his welcome to the professional's moment came a little more then a week later in a game at Lowell. It was his fourth start of the season and after not recording a win in his first fourteen career outings Edwards finally recorded his first professional win.

"I think that was the biggest moment for me especially because it was against Shane Victorino so that was pretty awesome moment," said Edwards as he looked back on that game.

Outfielder Shane Victorino was then in his second year with the Boston Red Sox and was in Lowell on a rehab assignment. In the game Victorino played right field and hit leadoff. He also went 0-3 against Edwards who had very little trouble remembering the three Victorino at bats; "He had a big league fly out to third base, ground ball to short and a fly ball to left center."

With that first win under his belt Edwards quickly established himself as a reliable starter for Connecticut. By seasons end Edwards complied a 6-3 record and 2.99 ERA to go along with a league leading 87.1 innings pitched.

All that was good enough for Edwards to find himself in the 2014 league All-Star game in Brooklyn, New York.

"It was a pretty special day when (manager Mike Rabelo) called me in (his office) and told me that I was going to the All-Star game. It was in Brooklyn so it was a great atmosphere. It was special and I was glad I threw a clean inning so that pretty good. I mean it is pretty cool to say that I was able to make the All-Star game."

The Connecticut Tigers are the New York-Penn League affiliate of the Detroit Tigers and play a 76 game schedule that runs from mid June through early September. 2015 season tickets, group tickets, mini plans, individual game tickets, and team merchandise are now on sale! The front office and ticket office is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and can be accessed in person or by calling 860-887-7962.

Check out the Norwich Sea Unicorns Statistics

• Discuss this story on the New York-Penn League message board...

New York-Penn League Stories from August 5, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Norwich Sea Unicorns Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central