While visiting the Marblehead Rotary Club on Jan. 18, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Emmet Sheehan handed out signed baseball cards.
But when it comes to vividly recounting the early highlights of the 24-year-old Sheehan’s fledgling big league career, the back of those cards is no match for Sheehan’s proud uncle, Marblehead Rotarian Ron Amon.
Amon introduced Sheehan to his fellow club members and other visitors by noting that last June 16, his nephew became only the third pitcher in Major League Baseball history to throw six scoreless, no-hit innings in his debut — a clean sheet preserved when former Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts made a diving catch to record the final out.
Sheehan was back in the northeast for a brief visit with college players at Fenway Park. A Fairfield County, Connecticut native, the 6-foot, 5-inch, 220-pound Sheehan pitched three seasons for Boston College before being picked by the Dodgers in the sixth round of the 2021 MLB draft.
In about a week, Sheehan will be off to Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona for spring training, where he will have his first chance to meet some high-profile new teammates, led by two-time American League Most Valuable Player Shohei Ohtani, who signed with the Dodgers as a free agent. The Dodgers also added to their starting rotation by signing Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto and swinging a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays for Tyler Glasnow. Los Angeles also outbid the Red Sox and others for the services of outfielder Teoscar Hernández, further bolstering what had already been a star-studded roster.
The general perception is that anything less than winning the World Series will be a disappointment for the Dodgers, and Sheehan acknowledged that such lofty expectations do add some pressure. But for the most part, he is excited to be part of an organization that is sparing no expense to try to win it all.
Sheehan believes he has done his part to contribute to that championship chase by having a “great offseason.” As many of his peers do, Sheehan spent part of his winter training at a specialized facility — in his case Advanced Therapy & Performance in Stamford, Connecticut. Almost immediately, he could feel himself improving, Sheehan said.
At the meeting, Marblehead Rotary President Don Dowling sported a Sheehan “shirsey” — a T-shirt replica of the pitcher’s uniform. Dowling also brought his son and a couple of his Marblehead Youth Baseball teammates.
Sheehan was asked what advice he would give players their age. Don’t dwell on bad days on the field, Sheehan advised them. There is plenty of time to get serious about honing their skills.
“Right now, it’s about having fun,” he said.
One of the young players asked Sheehan whether he had ever hit a batter with a pitch. A lot of them, Sheehan replied, but never on purpose.
“Especially when I was younger,” he said. “I didn’t know where the ball was going.”
As for the number on Dowling’s shirt — 80 — the Marblehead Rotarians got a little bit of an inside scoop to not get too used to seeing Sheehan wearing it.
As a rookie, Sheehan was assigned a uniform number. This year, he will have more say in the matter, and his mother has been lobbying for 27, the day of the month of her birthday, which is currently available.
Rotarians quizzed Sheehan about other aspects of his experience in “The Show.” Sheehan said he is a fan of the recent changes designed to speed up major league games.
Some veteran pitchers who prefer to work more methodically have struggled to adjust to the “pitch clock,” which requires them to begin their motions to deliver a pitch within 15 seconds when the bases are empty and 20 seconds when there are runners on base.
But Sheehan said, “I really like it…. As a pitcher, you want to stay in rhythm.”
He added that he had gotten a sneak preview of working under time pressure. After getting drafted, he landed in a low-A minor league experimenting with the pitch clock.
Aside from Dodger Stadium, of course, Sheehan said his favorite stadium he has pitched in so far is T-Mobile Park in Seattle. He acknowledged that pitchers do need to adjust their approach a bit when working at Coors Field of Colorado, where the ball does not move as much in the thin air.
Sheehan said he was a bit surprised that pitching in the majors did not feel dramatically different from pitching in the minors.
“There are just more people watching,” he said. “It is more similar than I thought it would be.”
As for Betts, who is much missed in Boston, Sheehan admitted that he initially wondered how approachable his accomplished teammate would be. But Betts went out of his way to make Sheehan feel comfortable and has become one of his favorite teammates. When Sheehan struggled, Betts talked to him about how he had gotten through such periods in his career.
“He’s been really helpful,” Sheehan said.
But perhaps the hardest question of the day was directed at Amon. A devout Yankees fan, Amon was asked for whom he would root if the Bronx Bombers squared off against the Dodgers in the World Series.
After a few seconds of filibustering, Amon said that he would rather see his nephew get a championship ring.
