Sittin' on the Dock of the (Lake)

June 9, 2015. Mandan, North Dakota.
It's a picturesque summer day on the waters of the Upper Midwest. A father took the day off from work to enjoy some quality time fishing with his son.  

An activity that in its pure essence is peaceful and relaxing, fishing had been an activity that this duo shared throughout the son's life. However, it would sometimes be put on life's backburner when other activities took a greater precedence.
Whether or not the fish were biting was irrelevant. Getting out in nature and not worrying about anything else is the main purpose of this day.
"Everything at that point was so far out of my control (that) I just wanted to get completely out of my head and I didn't want to stress or worry. If it wasn't going to happen, I was ready to move on from that point. So yeah, we went fishing."
After fishing concluded, father and son went to grab a bite to eat to wrap up a wonderful day together. However, the action really was just starting to rev up when they arrived home.
By the end of this day, the son was going to become a Baltimore Oriole and the Flaa household was going to erupt with joy and excitement.
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(Flashback about 15-20 years)
A young Jay Flaa and his older brother, Brent, grew up in a household surrounded by sports. For his parents, sports were not just something they encouraged the Flaa boys to do. It was almost a part of the family culture.
"We chose whatever sports we wanted to," said Flaa. "I was more football, basketball, baseball, (while) my brother chose track, cross country, and soccer. They were polar opposites. My dad and my mom not just encouraged it, but it was something we grew up with and we loved it. It was a family affair and what our household ran on."
As a baseball and basketball player, Flaa received coaching from his dad early on. By the time he reached middle school and high school, it became apparent which sport the future Baysox reliever was going to pursue.
"I got into baseball pretty much just like any other kid," said Flaa. "All my friends played sports, so I played whatever I could growing up. When I got older, I was a little better at baseball than the other sports and it just came a little more natural to me. With success, I just came to like baseball a lot more than the others and I knew it was something I wanted to do and concentrate on.
"It's unlike any other competition out there. It's such a mental sport. You look at the ability that everyone has (and) sometimes it's that mental ability between the lines that really separates guys. I really enjoy that."
Now for the obligatory baseball geography lesson: North Dakota is not considered a baseball state in the grand spectrum of the United States. Yes, North Dakota gets cold during the winter. It is not a state where scouts travel to watch potential players in January and February. For the local colleges, it is not unheard of to start the home portion of the baseball schedule in mid-April.
Chalk it up as another motivator for Flaa to pursue his dream a couple years after graduating high school. The journey for Flaa took him about three hours due east across the vast (and flat) prairie to Fargo.
"I had a preferred walk-on spot at North Dakota State University and had to grind my way to get to where I am today," said Flaa. "I only knew a couple guys that played ball, but I knew that's where my brother went to school. If baseball wasn't going to work out, I still wanted to go to school there because I had a lot of friends there."
Flaa excelled as part of the Bison, but the questions of turning baseball into a career were still up in the air. After spending a year in the summer collegiate Northwoods League, Flaa headed to Walla Walla, Wash., to play for the Sweets in the West Coast League.
"I played in the West Coast league in Washington and Oregon (before) my senior year," said Flaa. "I think that I had a pretty bad junior year at school. Going out there, I looked at myself and realized I had one more year to play baseball.
"So, I said 'just don't think about failure. Don't think about any negativity out there. Just play ball like you know you can and the rest will take care of itself.' I ended up having a really good summer and, when I got back to school in the fall, I started getting letters from teams and phone calls from scouts."
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All of this led to Draft Day 2015.
"I had gotten a letter or a phone call from a little over 20 teams interested in me, and the Orioles were not one of those teams," said Flaa. "Actually, at the time I had broken my hand, so I was pretty skeptical about the draft process, having not thrown for over a month and a half.
"I just needed to relax, so I set the timer on my phone for like an hour and as soon as I laid down to take a nap my phone rings. I looked at it and it was a Cincinnati area code. I answered, and it was the Orioles asking 'if I would sign right now if we took you.' I said 'absolutely.' My dad asked who that was and I said it was the Orioles."
Baltimore's sixth-round pick came roughly five minutes later.
"I remember watching (and hearing), 'With the 193^rd pick in the 2015 draft, the Orioles pick Jay Flaa.' Then, it hit me," said Flaa. "I thought, 'Oh my God, that's me!' It was pretty special for my dad and me, and a moment that neither of us will ever forget. (It is) easily one of the best days of my life."
After the many years of practice, struggles, injuries and wondering if he'll ever get a chance, Flaa was now a professional baseball player in the Baltimore Orioles organization.
"I think (about) a lot of years of hard work and sacrifice, knowing there's not a lot of kids where I'm from that get that opportunity," said Flaa. "To be one of them, and hopefully one of many down the road, was really cool and special to me. I know that was something that my dad and I always dreamed of and for it to become a reality at that point was something incredible."
Since joining the Orioles, Flaa has reached the Double-A level in his fourth season as a professional. This consistency can be traced back to the man that's been there through it all.
"I think it's mostly been a maturing factor," said Flaa. "Something my dad's always been really good at is keeping me on a very even keel. We've had this saying between us: 'you're only as good as your last outing.' If you're doing really well, it's about your next outing. If you have a bad outing, it can be fixed. If you're struggling and you have a good outing, then you can get right back in it.
"One thing that baseball has really taught me is that the second you think you have this game figured out, it's going to find a way to knock you on your butt. It's kept me from being super high or super low (and) just riding those waves. Being a reliever, you have the luxury of having a short-term memory in the sense that if you don't do well one night, then two nights later you might have the opportunity. It's just about keeping your head up, focusing on the next pitch and the next opportunity."