By Matt Corbett
SUNBURY -- For a guy who threw a bunch of innings in 2008, Matt Wright couldn't wait to start throwing again in 2009.
After being advised by his Toronto Blue Jays instructors not to throw again until the new year rolled around, Wright heeded the advice. But when Jan. 2 rolled around, Wright figured it was time -- despite temperatures in the 30s -- to give his potent left arm some work.
"I just put some warm clothes on and went outside and tossed it a little bit," said Wright, the former West Snyder, Midd-West and Shippensburg University standout who was drafted in the 12th round by Toronto in last June's amateur draft. "It was for about 10 minutes at 60 feet. I was just tossing it.
"But when I really start pitching, I'll have to go inside for that. I don't want to be doing maximum effort in cold weather."
The southpaw might want to rest that arm as long as possible. He's coming off a remarkable year that saw him lead his college team to the Division II tournament, then in short order begin his professional career.
"It's been hectic, but it's been a lot of fun," said Wright, the son of Scott and Denise Wright of McClure.
Wright was at Shikellamy High School on Saturday to sign autographs at Sam Smith's annual baseball card show to benefit the Shikellamy High band. He's scheduled to report to the Blue Jays' spring training facility in Dunedin, Fla., in early March to begin his second pro season.
Wright was a two-time Daily Item Player of the Year in his high school days, then played three seasons at Shippensburg. After posting an 8-6 record in 2008, he's now tied for third on the Raiders' all-time win list with 22 victories. He's also third in school history in innings pitched (244) and career starts (35). And that's without the benefit of a senior season; three years instead of four.
"I'm finally able to relax a little after a couple of years where it was really baseball all the time. But I had a lot of fun during that last college season," Wright said.
His college career culminated in the Raiders reaching the 2008 Baseball Championship in Sauget, Ill., where Shippensburg went 1-2 and was eliminated with the second loss.
The lone Raiders victory saw Wright turn in a memorable performance. In a 9-2 victory over Franklin Pierce, Wright threw 166 pitches in a complete-game effort, striking out 15 while allowing two runs and just five hits.
"What made (last season) great was that in three years at Shippensburg, that was probably our least talented team individually," said Wright, a two-time North Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year. "But we came together as a team, and that's what made the season so special.
"There was a time when I thought I'd want to come back and play another season of college, but after last season it made it so much easier to say, I've had a good college career and this was a good season, and now I'm ready for the next level.'"
Days later, Wright was drafted by the Blue Jays and began his pro career at Auburn -- a short-season Class A team -- in the New York-Penn League. In his rookie season, all the numbers were impressive except his won-loss mark.
Despite an earned run average of just 3.58, Wright went 0-3 in 15 starts. In 50.1 innings of work, he allowed 20 earned runs on 53 hits and 22 walks, with 54 strikeouts.
Coupled with the 98 innings he threw for Shippensburg in the spring, Wright eventually noticed a loss of strength in his throwing arm.
"I could just tell my velocity was down toward the end of the summer," Wright said. "A lot of people may have thought my arm was hurting, but I knew it was just tired because when I went out there, I don't think I could have thrown a complete game. Any other time I could have thrown 200 pitches and been fine.
"My arm was tired. It needed a rest. But the good news was, it wasn't hurting."
While the life of a rookie in short-season Class A ball certainly isn't glamorous, Wright says it's not as dismal as sometimes portrayed.
"The bus trips aren't the best. Going to Vermont was the worst. That took forever," he said. "Being one of the small guys (5-11, 170) on the team, I always got stuck sharing a seat with somebody. But if you were starting the next game you got your own seat, so I always prayed that I would start the next game after a road trip.
"The hotels weren't bad. For the most part, it wasn't nearly as bad as some people think it is. But it wasn't high-end, either."
When Auburn's season ended in September, the Blue Jays made it clear that Wright was to shut it down for a few months. That coincided with Wright's decision to return to Shippensburg in the fall and work toward his degree in Geo-environmental Studies.
"I told (the Blue Jays) I wanted to take classes, and they were like, That's fine, your arm needs a break anyway, just go back to school," Wright recalled. "They're a pretty good organization about that, with guys wanting to go back and finish school. They didn't have any problem with that."
Wright credits his ability to keep his left arm healthy to that bane of pitchers everywhere: running.
"My coaches throughout my career have been sticklers for running and staying in shape," said Wright.
Those include Ron Flood, his coach at West Snyder and now an assistant at Midd-West, who made a lasting impression on Wright.
"Floody always used to say, You know boys, if these (pointing to his legs) aren't in shape, then these (pointing to his arms) aren't going to be in shape.' We used to give him a hard time about all the running, we didn't want to run, but that's what he said to do," Wright recalled. "When I got to college I was kind of worried about all the running. But it was so much easier because of all the years my (earlier) coaches had run us. I think that's the main reason my arm has been in relatively good shape in all my years of playing."
Wright relates an anecdote from his high school days to illustrate that durability. As a sophomore at West Snyder, he also caught a few games in addition to his status as team pitching ace. Two days after throwing a complete game, the Mounties took on archrival Middleburg, coached by Vince Keister (who became the Midd-West head coach in Wright's senior season).
Keister, figuring Wright's arm was still fatigued from the earlier game, tied to run against him. Wright threw the would-be basestealer out at second.
During his senior year Wright volunteered to catch a few games for the Mustangs, but Keister was adamant.
"He said, You're not going to catch.' I said, Hey, remember when I threw one of your guys out two years ago?'"
Keister replied, Yeah, don't remind me. You just got done pitching two days earlier, and I thought there's no way you were going to have anything on that throw."
"So a kid tried to steal and I got lucky and threw him out," Wright chuckled. "I always enjoyed getting on his case about that."
