Erik Kratz doesn\u2019t like the phrase, \u201crock-bottom.\u201d He finds it demoralizing \u2013 even morbid \u2013 and it implies that, as he put it, that he\u2019s been \u201cdown and out.\u201d But he\u2019s never truly felt that way. Not even through 10 years of toiling in the minor leagues, often getting told \u2013 either through speech or through his lack of movement up the ladder \u2013 that he wasn\u2019t good enough. He was still playing baseball, still getting paid \u2013 however little \u2013 and still had a family waiting for him in Harrisonburg.<\/p>\n
But there were plenty of rocky moments. Like 2004, when he was put on the \u201cphantom\u201d disabled list for a season \u2013 meaning he was listed as injured even though he was healthy, only to clear roster space. Or the time he was demoted on his birthday. Or the spring training where he and his wife couldn\u2019t pay next month\u2019s rent.<\/p>\n
Did he ever think about quitting? \u201cHow many times?\u201d he said wryly, while driving to the Phillies\u2019 stadium recently. \u201cI think I\u2019d be an idiot to not have thought about quitting.\u201d<\/p>\n
All that makes his first big splash in the majors this year \u2013 already made remarkable by his age, 32, and his background as a graduate of Division III Eastern Mennonite University \u2013 seem like a fairy tale.<\/p>\n
Sure, he\u2019s been called up to the big leagues before \u2013 for two weeks in 2010 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and again in 2011 for the Philadelphia Phillies. But he\u2019s never stuck like this. With Philadelphia\u2019s All-Star catcher Carlos Ruiz put on the disabled list in July, Kratz has played almost every day and produced at an All-Star level. He has seven home runs in 79 at-bats \u2013 that\u2019s a homer every 11.3 ABs \u2013 he\u2019s hitting .291 and he\u2019s slugging .646. Of his 23 hits, 14 have been for extra bases.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also thrown out 10 of 21 base stealers \u2013 a 47.6-percent clip, far exceeding Ruiz\u2019s 37.2 percent before he got hurt. He\u2019s allowed just one passed ball and has made only one error.<\/p>\n
Now, with fellow reserve catcher Brian Schneider joining Ruiz on the DL Friday, the 6-foot-4, 255-pound Kratz is, for the first time in his life, an everyday major-league starter.<\/p>\n
But after enduring the lifestyle most only know from the Crash Davis character in the movie \u201cBull Durham\u201d for 10 years, Kratz still doesn\u2019t believe he\u2019s made it. He can\u2019t afford to think that way. No matter how many home runs he hits today, he might get sent down tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t think that\u2019s possible, then that\u2019s when it\u2019s going to blindside you,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can always get sent down, you can always get released, and you can not find another team. That\u2019s something that\u2019s always very real, it\u2019s always in front of me that it could always happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
He knows rejection all too well to forget it.<\/p>\n
Kratz\u2019s debut in varsity high school baseball was something of an omen.<\/p>\n
As a junior \u2013 the first year he made the varsity squad at Christopher Dock High School in Lansdale, Pa.<\/a> \u2013 he wasn\u2019t supposed to be an everyday player. But one day, the team\u2019s starting catcher was caught smoking a cigarette during school, resulting in a brief suspension. Kratz started in his place, hit an opposite-field homer in his first at-bat, and became a mainstay at catcher.<\/p>\n An injury opens up playing time, and Kratz fills in admirably\u2026sound familiar?<\/p>\n Still, Kratz never became a hot-shot college prospect. He ended up at EMU because coach Rob Roeschley said he\u2019d play every day there, and there weren\u2019t many other schools interested.<\/p>\n \u201cI matured late,\u201d Kratz said.<\/p>\n When he did mature, he became the best player to ever play at EMU. His senior season (2002), he set single-season school records in nearly every major offensive category: batting average (.507), slugging (.993), on-base (.585), home runs (14), hits (72), RBIs (59) and runs scored (48, tied with Jimmy Pollard).<\/p>\n He is the only EMU athlete to be named the Old Dominion Athletic Conference<\/a> Player of the Year in baseball \u2013 he won it in 2001 and \u201902 \u2013 and he led the Royals to two of the best seasons in their 44-year history: 23-16-1 in \u201901, 29-13 in \u201902. (The .690 winning percentage in \u201902 is the school\u2019s all-time best.) After marrying his college sweetheart, Sarah \u2013 a graduate of Eastern Mennonite High School<\/a> and EMU \u2013 in his senior year, he was selected in the 29th round of the MLB draft by the Toronto Blue Jays, and a long, tumultuous pro career began.<\/p>\n As you might imagine for a minor-league journeyman, Kratz has plenty of colorful anecdotes. The first, when he received his first professional assignment, reveals just how little Kratz knew about what was about to transpire.<\/p>\n The Rookie League team he was assigned to was listed as \u201cMedicine Hat, AL\u201d. That didn\u2019t make Kratz or his wife very happy \u2013 he had no interest in going to Alabama.<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife said, \u2018Alabama? How are we going to get down to Alabama?\u2019\u201d Kratz recalled.<\/p>\n It turned out he wasn\u2019t going there at all; AL actually stood for Alberta, Canada.<\/p>\n But even when Kratz \u2013 who also played for the Valley League\u2019s Harrisonburg Turks<\/a> and the Rockingham County Baseball League\u2019s Broadway Bruins<\/a> during his college offseasons \u2013 didn\u2019t know minor-league logistics, he could always hit. His first season with Medicine Hat, he hit .275 with four home runs in 44 games. By age 24, he had already been promoted to double-A New Hampshire.<\/p>\n \u201cTwenty-four in double-A, that\u2019s not bad,\u201d Kratz said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut,\u201d he added with a laugh, \u201cthen it was five years later, and I was 28, still bouncing back and forth in double-A.\u201d<\/p>\n He finally made his MLB debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates at age 30, but hit just .118 over nine games and was sent back down. At that point, Kratz, who had just turned 30, had already spent plenty of time wondering if he\u2019d ever really stick in the majors.<\/p>\n \u201cI always felt like I was good enough to move on to the next level \u2013 whatever that level would be,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I see a lot of people that think they\u2019re better than the next person, and it\u2019s easy to see that on the outside and be like, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re not really better than that person.\u2019 You think to yourself, \u2018Could that be? Am I blind to what my real ability is?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Now, it certainly doesn\u2019t appear that way.<\/p>\n Kratz\u2019s teammates are beginning to notice the big, red-haired catcher from EMU.<\/p>\n After Roy Halladay pitched to Kratz for the first time Aug. 5, he said to the media of Kratz, \u201cHe\u2019s very intelligent. He does a great job of calling a game.\u201d<\/p>\n After Kratz hit his most recent home run Aug. 20 against the Reds, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was asked whether Kratz has become a \u201cbuilding block\u201d for the organization.<\/p>\n \u201cKratzy\u2019s doing a tremendous job,\u201d Manuel responded. \u201cKratzy\u2019s showing that not only can he handle big-league pitching, but he can catch and he can throw. And that\u2019s good \u2013 that\u2019s tremendous.\u201d<\/p>\n With his big-league success and the praise, Kratz \u2013 who spends his offseasons with his wife and two children in Harrisonburg, and eventually with a third child who\u2019s due in a month \u2013 still doesn\u2019t feel comfortable saying that he\u2019ll be with a big-league club next season. He said the Phillies\u2019 management hasn\u2019t given him any indication that it will keep him. And with Ruiz and Schneider expected to come off the DL in September, Philadelphia \u2013 hardly a contender at 61-67 \u2013 will eventually have one catcher too many.<\/p>\n But whether Kratz is released, or whether this is the start of a multi-year major-league career, he\u2019ll be prepared.<\/p>\n \u201cThe one thing that I don\u2019t have that I can\u2019t go out and get in a hot second is years and years of experience in the big leagues,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026I don\u2019t ever feel like I\u2019ve done enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhen I had him at EMU, I remember saying to assistant coaches, \u2018If this guy can\u2019t make it, what kind of talent level does it take to actually make it?\u2019\u201d Roeschley said.<\/p>\n