Allegiant Stadium can accommodate up to 72,000 fans and hosts special events such as Super Bowl 58. If every player in MLB history got a ticket, there would still be nearly 50,000 tickets available for Sunday’s game in Las Vegas.
Pat Mahomes’ son Patrick, a quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, will earn a spot. Shawn Purdy, whose son Brock is the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, won’t do that. Pat Mahomes played 11 seasons in the major leagues. Shawn Purdy pitched eight pitches in the minors.
Just one game at the highest level and you will have a halo for the rest of your life. Otherwise, you’re just like the rest of us, at least when it comes to service time at the pinnacle of baseball. What is the word? Doesn’t matter. The subtle differences seem cruel.
“I played with guys who were drafted and they didn’t have baseball IQ, they didn’t have discipline, they didn’t have a winning attitude, that kind of thing,” said Russ Ortiz, who pitched on the team. 12 seasons of Grand Slams. “I always say, ‘Man, I played with guys at Double-A and Triple-A who had all these intangibles but never got the opportunity.'” I would list Sean as one of those guys . “
In 1997, Ortiz became roommates with Purdy. They are the Phoenix Firebirds, one level below the San Francisco Giants. He remembers Purdy lugging a device around the Pacific Coast League to strengthen his arm’s ability to stay out of the park. The squeak of the ropes lingered in Ortiz’s ears, part of the minor’s soundtrack.
“Yeah, that’s coming from our physical therapy staff here at the Angels,” said Eduardo Perez, who was rooming with Purdy earlier. “We all have one; it’s a heavy thing with a pulley system on the door. We have it marked on every door in every hotel and every apartment we rent.”
Perez, the 17th overall pick in the Angels’ 1991 first-round draft, was a Florida infielder with star pedigree and a slugger’s body. Purdy was the Angels’ 16th-round draft pick, No. 428 overall, a starter out of the University of Miami with average build, petite frame and, as old scouts say, a belly full of guts.
The Angels have a habit of looking for smart, strong-willed players from Florida. Howie Kendrick, Jeff Mathis, Mike Napoli, Darren O’Day, Orlando Palmeiro, Scott Shields and Perez all played in the majors for at least ten years. Year. Tom Kotchman, the scout who signed Purdy, saw a durable, competitive right-hander with a sinker, slider and changeup whose confidence belied a low-90s fast ball. ball.
“You’d think he threw 105,” Coachman said. “He wasn’t afraid to get in the car and say something to me. He would talk some trash, but polite trash.”
In his first season with Miami against the Rookie League Boise Eagles, Purdy pitched 218 2/3 innings in 10 complete games. Compared to all the times Coachman (who also managed Boise) competed for games, Purdy’s total innings — now unfathomable — were up.
The Eagles are 50-26, and Purdy is their ace in the hole. In the Northwest League championship game, Coachman had the ball thrown to him against Yakima, even though Yakima had previously bombed Purdy on the opening drive. When Purdy said nothing to his manager in the clubhouse, he knew he had made the right decision. All he needed to see was a confident nod.
Purdy pitched six strong innings to get the win. Teammates mobbed Eagles closer Troy Percival after the final game. When Coachman recently discovered game tape, he eagerly sent it to his former players. That night, Purdy got the last word on the local news.
“I didn’t get to run the distance like I dreamed of, but I held them down and the guys made some runs and I got – we all got – our revenge,” Purdy said amid the locker room ruckus. shouted the room. “We’re the champions, baby. We’re number one.”
On Sunday, the 49ers will seek revenge against the Chiefs, who defeated them in the Super Bowl four years ago. Brock Purdy was at Iowa State and on his way to the NFL as the final pick in the 2022 draft – the infamous “Mr. Irrelevant”.
Sean Purdy was selected in the 16th round as the MLB Draft was drawing to a close and the draft lasted only 20 rounds. In 1991, teams could keep drafting as long as they wanted – that draft lasted 1,600 selections – but by the 16th round, most of the top prospects were long gone. Purdy has no one in the majors this round.
“Sean might have been the last guy drafted,” said Joe Maddon, the Angels’ farm system traveling coach at the time. “When they describe Brock, they’re probably describing Sean: great makeup, very competitive, never gives up, a little short on tools, but he makes it work.”
Maddon, who coached in the major leagues for 19 seasons, now hosts a podcast with Tom Verducci. Last winter, when Bullock led the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game, they tried to invite Shawn Purdy as a guest, but Shawn refused until the end of the season.
Likewise, Sean Purdy has not responded to the Competitor Last week, although he was in touch with his old teammates.
“Oh, look, Purdy just texted me,” Perez said, giggling during the interview. “I said, ‘Man, I’m transferring a lot of calls from the press and they want to talk to you and I’m your buffer right now. Haha.’ He said, ‘Now that’s funny.'”
In 1992, Perez and Sean Purdy were roommates in Palm Springs and the Angels had a team in the California Single-A League. One of Perez’s college friends came over and mentioned that his father, a sportswear executive, knew some models who would be in town.
As unbelievable as it may seem, Perez said his roommate was so focused on baseball that he didn’t want to see the women. But Purdy’s enthusiasm changed instantly.
“When he saw Carrie, he looked at me and said, ‘I’m going to marry this girl,'” Perez said. “I said, ‘Okay, bro, whatever you say.’ And he married that girl.”
Perez reached the majors the next summer and Purdy returned to Palm Springs after straining his ulnar collateral ligament in spring training. He split between Single-A and Double-A that season and the next, and his progress stalled.
Purdy’s sinker still kept the ball in the park, but a ton of hits fell in: 86 in 68 Double-A innings during the 1993 and 1994 seasons. His ERA at that level with the Angels was 7.01, but he pounded zone defenses fearlessly.
“His arms are short and fast, which gives him good deception and a really good change-up ability,” said Todd Green, who beat PGA in 1994 at Single-A Lake Elsinore (Calif.) Dee and played 11 seasons in the major leagues. “It wasn’t overwhelming, but he knew how to pitch, he knew who he was and he made a lot of throws.”
In 1995, Purdy moved to the Giants, again in Double-A, but now in a short-relief role, perhaps more suited to a pitcher who was rarely beaten with home runs or walks. Ron Wotus, Purdy’s agent that season in Shreveport, La., said Purdy had the ideal finisher’s makeup: steely, durable, resilient.
“Felipe Alou always used to say, ‘Believe in the people first, then the players,'” Votus said, referring to the Giants head coach for whom he was a bench coach. “It’s not about the skills or talents they have, but who they are as a person: their will and their desires, that kind of thing. Brock obviously has that, and so does Sean.”
Waters said he thinks Purdy is a prospect, but that word covers a lot of differences. Purdy is not a genius, but a so-called 4A player who has the ability to complement a major league roster but is unlikely to become a star.
That became clear the next season, his fourth in Double-A. Purdy performed well as a closer, but had his job thrown away by Ortiz. Ortiz is a young pitcher and future 20-game winner who is making his way in the farm system. The Giants had high hopes for Ortiz to close out in Shreveport, so he did just that.
“I felt bad because I thought, ‘Sean deserves this, he did a great job,'” Ortiz said. “I’m still learning, I watch the way he pitches and the way he handles himself. He’s a guy I respect because of his mental strength and the way he does things.”
For Purdy, this business transcends territory. Ortiz recalled that during spring training in 1997, the Giants asked Purdy’s fledgling company, then called Purdy EZ Pools & Spas, to set up a booth at the ballpark.
Purdy was promoted to Triple-A Phoenix that season and heard call-up rumors in July, but the contending Giants instead added three veterans in a trade. The next season, Purdy returned to Triple-A with the Richmond Braves affiliate, posting a 1.83 ERA in 16 games. Convinced he was about to join the Warriors — a possibility he overheard a coach mention — Purdy felt pain in his elbow while catching a ball before the game.
“They flew me to Atlanta, put a shot in my elbow and tried rehab for a while, but it didn’t work out,” Purdy said on Madden’s podcast last spring. “Went in and had surgery, removed some bone spurs, and that was it. My elbow was fine. My career was starting to take off. I just chose to be a major league dad.”
Sean and Carrie have three children; he coaches their oldest, Whitney, in softball and tells Perez she is the best athlete among them, while Chabba, the youngest, Purdy and Neb The quarterback from Alaska who recently transferred to Nevada – ranked No. 2 overall.
That would put Brock Purdy at No. 3, which is roughly consistent with his story. At 6-foot-1, he’s an inch taller than Sean and an inch shorter than Chaba, but his alleged lack of athleticism may be exaggerated.
“He may not be Deion Sanders, I get that, but the guy has touch, he’s got enough speed to keep defenses honest, and he can throw the ball right away,” said Sean Purdy of the Angels farm when he pitched Supervisor Bill Barvasi said it’s in their system. “This guy is known for his great makeup and his personality, but he also has athleticism, man.”
Whitney, Chuba, Sean and Brock Purdy (left) with Eduardo Perez, 2012. (Photo courtesy of Eduardo Perez)
However, there was always something extra about Bullock, a talent his father recognized early on. Sean told Madden that when the Purdys had a Super Bowl party, most of the kids would be outside playing. But at five or six years old, Bullock would stand on the coffee table studying moves, trying to think with the quarterback.
“It was definitely like his second year at Pop Warner and I remember talking to Sean about how smart he was,” Ortiz said. “Like, yes, of course he can throw the football, but a lot of kids can throw the football. It’s another thing to be accurate and then really know how to play the position.
“Like our daughter, we started her in piano lessons when she was six years old, and very quickly her piano teacher said, ‘She gets it. She can hear all the notes. You learn from Kyle Shaner. Han and Brock heard the same thing. You know he just got it.”
Sean Purdy’s injury experience at UCL has helped Bullock focus on the small daily milestones of his recovery from last winter’s postseason tear. Bullock, a former middle infielder, also said playing baseball as a kid — he stopped playing after his sophomore year in high school — helped him grasp different angles as a quarterback.
The most obvious thing that Brock inherited from his father is difficult to define, but those who know Shawn can clearly see it. Sean’s career statistics have been mediocre: 3.91 ERA, many hits per inning, and 5.6 strikeouts per nine. But somehow, he finished 21 games over .500 with a 58-37 record. He is a winner.
Brock Purdy has started 26 NFL games and his teams have won 21 games. This next game will mean more to more fans than Boise faced Yakima in 1991. But the son is expected to handle a title run just like his father.
“Look at Brock and Shawn, they’re the same guy,” Maddon said. “Nothing can overwhelm you, but he beats you.”
(Above: Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images and iStock: bmcent1)
