T-Rat Talk: Howell Added Experience, Muscle During 2020 Shutdown

Timber Rattlers infielder/outfielder Korry Howell had to wait over 600 days between his final plate appearance with the 2019 team and his first one with the 2021 edition, but he certainly made the most of that time.

When the 2020 minor league season was postponed and eventually cancelled, Howell returned home to the Chicago area to wait for news before the Brewers reached out with a rare opportunity: The Joliet Slammers of the independent Frontier League were setting up a four-team City of Champions Cup in place of their cancelled season, and the door was open for affiliated players to participate.

“It was the perfect situation for me for the summer, so I decided to lace them up for a few days,” Howell said. “My dad had recently moved closer to the Town of Joliet, so I was basically down the street.”

The City of Champions Cup came together quickly for the Slammers: The four-team league opened play just 24 days after the Frontier League announced they would not hold a 2020 season. At first they thought they would just be fielding teams with local free agents, but they quickly realized they had an opportunity to do more.

“Once word got out that we were going to have baseball in Joliet it kind of went from there that some teams said, ‘you know what? We’ve got a couple of guys that we want to get in extra work. Can they come play for you?’ It was an easy answer for us, once we had permission from the MLB clubs,” Slammers General Manager Heather Mills said.

Mills estimated that about 20 affiliated players spent part of the abbreviated season in the makeshift league. On the position player side alone Howell’s Slammers team included players that had spent the 2019 season in ten different affiliated organizations: The Brewers, Diamondbacks, Marlins, Orioles, Angels, Cardinals, Rockies, Dodgers, Cubs and Athletics were all represented. His teammates ranged in age from 20-30, with an array of baseball experiences to match.

“You got to see different perspectives,” Howell said. “There were a lot of guys who were released from their teams because of the pandemic and were trying to get back into affiliated baseball or had never been into pro baseball so their first opportunity was the indy ball league. Just getting different perspectives on life itself and what other people were doing outside the Brewers and outside of what I’ve come to know over the last couple of years. Then just seeing how they react and how appreciative I am of this opportunity that I have of this opportunity that I have, that I am signed with a major league club and I do have this opportunity to go further my career.”

Independent ball can be a different experience from life on the affiliated side of the sport, with a higher emphasis on winning day-to-day and less of a developmental mindset. Mills said that’s not the case with Joliet, however, and that made her organization a good fit as a temporary home for affiliated prospects.

“We’re probably a little bit more cognizant of player development than some other teams,” Mills said. “That’s a big goal for us: We want to shoot guys on to the next level. That’s one of our internal goals, is to get as many guys signed out of our club to affiliated ball or back to affiliated ball. We see that as more successful than winning on the field. So we probably have a different mindset than some clubs. I think that helped us as well, because our goal was to make sure these guys were getting what they needed.”

Howell appeared in 20 of Joliet’s 25 games during their cup-winning season, posted a .357 on-base percentage and stole nine bases.

“I just remember him playing hard all the time,” Mills said. “I don’t think he probably hit particularly well, but that seemed to be the case across the board: There weren’t that many at-bats to be had in a 27-game season, so just about the time guys were hitting their stride we were kind of hitting the end of the season. But he was quick, he stole quite a few bases for us in those 27 games, and just a good kid. We were excited to have him and he was always playing hard for us.”

Most importantly, Howell got an opportunity to see live game action in a safe environment at a time where at bats would otherwise have been hard to come by.

“The most important thing was not getting hurt,” Howell said. “It’s not my season, it’s the season for me to get back into the groove of playing again. I played most of the games but it was dissected into innings where I didn’t have to play all nine if I didn’t want to or need to. I played different positions, I got the at bats that I needed, I saw the pitching that I needed. It was good competition all around, and it was just getting back into baseball rather than sitting at home and doing nothing.”

In the end, the experience was beneficial for everyone. Mills said the Slammers “have a leg up” on their Frontier League competition for their upcoming season after the opportunity to scout lots of available free agents, and have already sold two player contracts to affiliated teams this spring.

“MLB teams know we’re here. Agents know we’re here. Scouts know we’re here, because a lot of teams had guys playing for us last summer,” Mills said. “So in the end, what we did last summer will only help us improve in the eyes of ballplayers and teams as a place that is good to players.”

Howell’s preparation for the 2021 season did not end there, however: In addition to accumulating game experience he’s been working on adding muscle to combine power with his already-elite speed.

“(I’ve been) Just getting in the gym knowing the proper lifts, the proper dieting, making sure I am still that athletic guy I can be, that I was before while still maintaining the strength and getting into the best shape I can possibly be in as my 22-year-old self,” Howell said. “Going into this year that’s really all that I focused on.”

After his first eleven games Howell’s newfound power-speed combination is readily apparent in his numbers: He leads the Rattlers in runs scored (15) and home runs (four) and ranks second in hits (12) and stolen bases (five). He also continues to display significant positional flexibility, having already played center field, right field and shortstop in the season’s first two weeks.

“With Korry, he put on a little muscle,” Timber Rattlers manager Matt Erickson told the Rattler Radio Podcast on May 7, after a game where Howell went 3-for-4 with a home run, a triple, two stolen bases and scored four times. “I know he’s a skinny guy, but he’s put on some good weight and he’s able to keep his feet. If you just saw him in between pitches and how he was taking pitches, there’s a comfort level for him. The game was slow for him tonight. He was recognizing pitches really early, his front foot was landing soft, he was balanced on every pitch that he swung at or took.”

Howell’s comfort level extends beyond the field, also. The 2021 Rattlers feature plenty of familiar faces, with a significant number of Brewers prospects following the team as they made the jump from the Low-A Midwest League to the new High-A Central. Having grown up around Chicago, however, Howell has a level of familiarity with many of the road ballparks that extends beyond even his teammates’ extended experience.

“Most of these clubs we’re playing are relatively close to my home, so I grew up around the area, I played in some of the stadiums already, so there are no surprises. So that’s one thing I have to look forward to every place we go: I know where we’re going to stay. I know how the field plays. I know the weather, I’ve been here my entire life, so nothing’s going to surprise me at all,” Howell said.