Once cut from college club team, Boston's Uberstine defying odds in AFL

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- At 5-foot-5 and 120 pounds, you wouldn’t recognize Tyler Uberstine in his high school days. Cut twice from Chaminade Prep in Los Angeles as a teen, he didn’t exactly scream prospect or future pro ballplayer.

Uberstine made the varsity team his senior year -- and barely played, pitching seven innings in total. His fastball was consistently clocked in the mid-70s. Understandably, colleges weren’t beating down his door. So he stayed close to home and enrolled at USC as a business major.

“In my freshman year, I decided to play club ball and they cut me from the club team,” said Uberstine, laughing. “And that's when I kind of missed the sport and I went back to my parents and I was like, ‘I think I'm gonna try to walk on to the real team [at USC]' after I was just cut from the club team. I tried to walk on and I performed really well, but things didn't work out and they cut me.”

Passion for the game? Reinvigorated. But a spot on a Division I baseball roster? Not secured. How to make that happen? Throw harder, of course.

Joe Beimel spent parts of 13 seasons in a big league clubhouse, having joined the pro ranks as an 18th-round pick in 1998. He fashioned himself a left-handed specialist who may not have piled up strikeouts with ample velocity, but he found a way to get outs nonetheless. He last pitched in the Majors with Seattle in 2015, but the dream stayed alive well beyond that. He worked with Driveline Baseball in an attempt to elevate his radar gun readings, now a tried and true method as it pertains to getting on the radar of Major League organizations.

In 2017, Beimel pitched for the New Britain Bees of the Atlantic League. Four years later, he signed with the Padres and made it as high as Triple-A at age 44.

When Uberstine looked himself in the mirror, he knew who to call to push his fastball to the next level.

“So right when I was cut, I was like, ‘I need to throw harder’ and I was only like 86-90 [mph] at USC and I went to Joe [Beimel] and I was like, ‘Joe, I need to get stronger and bigger and throw harder,’” Uberstine said. “And basically I'd Uber to his place in the morning and I'd work out with him and we basically would go through the Driveline stuff and got me throwing harder. And that was kind of when I saw the training for it, when I was like, ‘I can play Division I baseball.’”

But in order to make that happen, Uberstine knew he might have to expand his reach beyond Southern California. The interest of one school in particular was piqued when the hurler dialed it up north of 90 mph in a bullpen session: Northwestern.

That is how a kid who had a late growth spurt and almost no track record of success on the mound to speak of in the uber-competitive California high school prep ranks found himself in Evanston, Ill. He made just 13 appearances over parts of two seasons for the Wildcats, posting a 4.82 ERA. But for a journey that had already taken so many twists and turns, ebbs, flows and sheer drops, there was one more significant launching pad to come:

The MLB Draft League.

Uberstine’s timing couldn’t have been more perfect. The Draft League launched in 2021, initially focusing just on some of the top Draft-eligible performers from across the country. The league was -- and still is -- a veritable proving ground for those who haven’t already had the opportunity to propel themselves onto the radar of big league organizations. Since the league began, 185 alumni have been selected in the MLB Draft and more than 90 went on to sign deals with big league clubs. In short, it has been a godsend for pitchers just finding their footing and velocity.

A key feature of the Draft League is that prospective big leaguers get to learn from former big leaguers. Jim Gott spent 14 seasons in The Show, making 554 appearances for the Blue Jays, Giants, Pirates and Dodgers. He became Williamsport's pitching coach in 2021, the Crosscutters' inaugural season, to help impart his knowledge on a moldable group of arms.

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"[Gott] was instrumental in introducing small pitching things,” Uberstine said, “whether it's the core velocity belt or just kind of how to work on the slider. Just small things that really changed my career going forward.

“Getting to the Draft League and having the ability to play against the top prospects and being in an environment like Williamsport with so much like rich tradition, it was just super huge and a confidence booster going into the Draft and into pro ball just knowing that I can hold my own and having that confidence.”

That start in pro ball came just weeks later when the Red Sox nabbed Uberstine in the 19th round of the 2021 Draft. After a quick stint in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League to complete his whirlwind year, the stage was set for the following year and beyond -- until his elbow gave out.

At the start of 2024, Uberstine had one full year of pro ball and one major arm surgery in the books. For all the obstacles and setbacks he had already encountered, having to wait after having gotten just a taste of his dream was another crossroads.

Uberstine hit pause for almost two full years -- 728 days, to be precise -- on his Minor League journey. When he returned to the mound for High-A Greenville this August, he spun two scoreless frames in his first outing. But with the South Atlantic League regular season ending in early September, the 25-year-old harbored hopes for one final avenue: the Arizona Fall League.

Now in its 32nd season, the Fall League has long been seen as the “finishing school” for prospects before they ascend to the Majors. North of 3,000 Major Leaguers are among the AFL’s alumni -- including, but certainly not limited to, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts and Bryce Harper -- and postseason rosters are often littered with players who first made stops in the desert.

“It was pretty surreal,” Uberstine said of his reaction to the Red Sox invitation. “They threw me out in Greenville again where I played in ‘22 and then I was like, ‘Hopefully I can get a couple more innings. The quality would be great.’ [The Fall League] is where the best players come, and when they called me in the office and mentioned it, it was just a huge moment.

“I was like, ‘Dang, I went from not playing baseball to playing in the Draft League and here I am now playing in the Fall League.’ Just having these opportunities to learn from so many people, players, coaches, it's just a huge honor.”