Back then, everybody knew Joey Krehbiel as “The Rocket.” No one threw quicker than the 10-year-old right-hander did in Florida’s Seminole Youth Athletic Association, nor regarded as cool skateboarding across the car parking zone earlier than and after video games or flipping his flowing hair in excellent Justin Bieber style.
Brett Phillips was in awe.
Krehbiel was a rising star. Phillips, one yr youthful, was an admirer following shut behind, nevertheless it didn’t take lengthy to make himself identified by means of his personal accomplishments.
“He’s the one that would beat the records I would put up the year before,” Krehbiel stated.
That aggressive spirit blossomed right into a friendship, one which carried by means of Seminole High School and journey baseball leagues and ultimately made its strategy to Baltimore. . To today, Phillips, an Orioles outfielder, remembers Krehbiel, an Orioles reliever, as “the best player that I grew up playing against and with.” Krehbiel agreed: “Some things don’t change.”
But loads of different issues have, aside from the game they play and the friendship they share.
Last yr on Twitter, Phillips shared a collage of photos from their baseball careers, beginning with their time collectively in Florida at Seminole earlier than overlapping within the minor leagues and, ultimately, the majors. As the years go by, Krehbiel’s tattooed arm fills out, as do each of their beards.
It’s a journey neither anticipated to occur once they had been simply two pals enjoying a recreation. But that journey has led them right here, now as teammates with the Orioles after a midseason commerce introduced Phillips to Baltimore. As they sat contained in the dugout collectively Wednesday at Camden Yards, reminiscing on this path, they needed to chuckle in any respect that’s occurred since they had been 10 years outdated.
“Now I don’t have hair and can’t skateboard,” quipped Krehbiel, who reached the majors in 2018 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. “One extreme to the other.”
But they nonetheless have one another.
“I sometimes have to pinch myself, regardless of the circumstances of performance,” stated Phillips, an outfielder who made his main league debut in 2017 with the Milwaukee Brewers. “Like, dude, you’re so freaking blessed. What the heck? You’re playing professional baseball with your best friend, we’re living together. It’s the coolest thing ever.”
When the Orioles arrive in Florida to play the Rays on Friday, the reunion goes past an early return for Phillips, who spent three years with Tampa Bay earlier than the commerce. It’s one other probability to play baseball close to their hometown simply exterior of St. Petersburg.
Krehbiel, 29, guess $20 that Phillips, 28, would have tears in his eyes when Phillips comes as much as the plate at Tropicana Field and hears the anticipated ovation for a fan favourite and native product. And whereas Krehbiel lives “under the radar,” the previous Rays pitcher remains to be excited to satisfy along with his family and friends close to the bullpen earlier than every recreation of the sequence — a pivotal one between two groups preventing for an American League wild-card berth.
Each time he returns to St. Petersburg, Krehbiel hears from way over simply acquainted faces. Residents of Seminole rally round him and Phillips, as a result of that’s the place this all started.
“Oh, we’re going to be good,” Phillips stated of his expectations for that prime faculty crew.
“We never accomplished exactly what we were looking for, but we definitely had fun,” Krehbiel stated.
“We won a lot,” Phillips added, leaping in when Krehbiel trailed off, earlier than starting a retelling of the time they “choked” within the playoffs throughout Krehbiel’s senior yr and Phillips’ junior season. That was concerning the time the scouts started to line up routinely for video games, watching Krehbiel pitch and play third base.
It jump-started the following stage of their careers — one they by no means noticed coming. Each knew they had been good at baseball, “but I had no idea what college was, draft, nothing,” Krehbiel stated. “What are these steps?”
But Krehbiel would be taught after being chosen within the twelfth spherical of the 2011 draft by the Los Angeles Angels. Phillips was there when Krehbiel was drafted, there when the scouts flocked to Seminole High School to see a late-rising prospect. And simply as he watched Krehbiel skateboard after rolling by means of the competitors in youth baseball, Phillips adopted carefully behind. A yr later, he was picked within the sixth spherical by the Houston Astros.
“Especially our hometown, people thought it was easy,” Phillips stated. “Like, what Joey did, people were like, ‘Oh, everyone’s going to get drafted now.’ I never thought that, because I saw how good he had to play and I respected it. But the people around us, did you get that vibe?”
“It was almost like a given,” Krehbiel replied.
“Yeah, the parents and stuff thought their kids, ‘Oh, Joey got drafted,’” Phillips continued. “And then when I went through the process and had the scouts lined up, I was like, ‘Wow, this may happen.’ But no one’s gotten drafted since. I obviously saw Joey go about his business every day. I saw what he had to do to get drafted and perform, and I wanted that for myself and to follow in his footsteps.”
Following Krehbiel’s footsteps has led Phillips to the identical Orioles dugout, giving the lifelong pals an opportunity to sit down subsequent to one another and reminisce about each twist and switch of their journey.
What is it concerning the different that makes them so shut? After all this time and so many groups, how are they nonetheless just like the 9- and 10-year-olds with the Bieber hair, simply starting to kind a bond?
“We’re very similar,” Krehbiel stated. “Sharp-minded, always thinking, always finishing each other’s sentences kind of friendship. And what I lack, he has. And what he lacks, I have. It’s kind of like a —”
“It’s easy,” Phillips stated, leaping in. “I’ve never gotten tired of hanging out with Joey, no matter how many times we have spent, it’s that friendship that fuels you.”
“We also treat it as a friendship, as if we were going to work at another job,” Krehbiel concluded. “It’s not like we’re friends through baseball or because of baseball.”
But baseball has performed a central function regardless, they usually’ve completed what few different greatest pals have — made it to the highest of the sport with one another by their sides.
ORIOLES@RAYS
Friday, 7:10 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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Source: www.bostonherald.com