CLEVELAND, Ohio – Sam Hentges grew up a Twins fan about 20 minutes from Target Field in nearby Shoreview, Minn. But the Indian newbie left-handed will wear hostile colors when he competes for Cleveland on Saturday.
Hentges has had his best game as the Big Leaguer, a five innings goalless game against Pittsburgh on the 20th. It’s the perfect time for him to make his first major league start in his hometown, but he won’t be on Saturday first appeared in the Twins ballpark.
Hentges voted Mounds View High there for the second of his consecutive Class AAA state championships in 2014, just 10 days after the Indians picked him in the fourth round of MLB player drafting in the first year. He threw seven shutout innings that day and hit eight thugs in a 9-0 win over Eden Prarie.
“It was great,” said Hentges. “It’s something I will never forget.”
Hentges was the 2014 Gatorade Minnesota Baseball Player of the Year with an 8-0 record and a 0.56 ERA, including 85 strikeouts in 50 innings that season. Now when he thinks back to his high school days, the 24-year-old says he always wanted to come back as a great player.
“Now I’m standing here in front of the Twins, the team I grew up for,” he said. “It’s pretty surreal.”
Hentges was the guy no left-hander wanted to face at Cleveland’s alternative training ground last summer. But after a dazzling spring training session, his rookie year in the big leagues has seen more highs than heights so far.
Coach Terry Francona said it was encouraging to see Hentges command the striking zone, throw his breakball and come through Pittsburgh’s line-up in his most recent game.
“If we want to be young, we want to be young and get better,” said Francona. “We really feel like Sam can get better and be a guy, whether it’s your bullpen or your rotation, and he kind of showed that.”
Growing up, Hentges attended the 2009 American League Central Division tie-breaker game at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome between the Twins and Detroit Tigers. The Twins won that game 6-5 in 12 innings, and the scene made an impression on a then 13-year-old Hentges.
“It was electric in the Metrodome,” he recalls.
Hentges idolized the Minnesota pitcher Johan Santana, a left-handed man who won two Cy Young Awards in 2006 for the twins and the triple crown from pitching.
“I always wanted to be like him,” said Hentges. “It was great fun to watch and it was a nasty change.”
But Hentges could strike a little in high school too. He had three hits to help himself in the 2014 State Finals and was in the 2013 title game with a double, triple and two RBI as a junior 3-for-4.
“I loved watching Justin Morneau play,” said Hentges. “I loved to watch (Joe) Mauer play, but I think my favorite was Tori Hunter.”
Hentges says he has tried day in and day out since he was drafted in late April, but now that the moment has come it is an exciting time for him and his family. About 35 family members will be on Hentges’ passport list for the first pitch on Saturday at 2:10 p.m., and countless more friends have paid their own way to see it in action.
“I got text messages from a lot of people saying they had tickets to the game,” said Hentges. “But everything is done and I don’t have to worry about it and can concentrate.”
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