From sixth overall pick to seventh franchise: Pitcher Ross Detwiler’s journey comes to Tacoma

At this point in his career, there’s not really any such thing as a new team for Ross Detwiler. When he joined Tacoma Rainiers after being signed by the Mariners on June 2, the 12-year veteran pitcher walked into a clubhouse full of former teammates.

“You start running into the same guys, which is fun,” Detwiler said.

There was Jayson Werth, who had been Detwiler’s teammate with the Washington Nationals for three years earlier in the decade. There was Gordon Beckham, with whom he had played all the way back in rookie ball. Shawn Armstrong, Tucker Healy, John Andreoli — all former teammates from his travels through the minor leagues with the Indians, A’s, and Cubs, respectively.

He even knew Rainiers manager Pat Listach, who had spent two years as the third base coach for the Nationals.

“There’s familiar faces everywhere,” Detwiler said.

But the Ross Detwiler that walked into that clubhouse was a different Ross Detwiler than his former teammates may have known. Time and travel saw to that.

Drafted by Washington with the sixth overall pick in the 2007 draft, Detwiler worked his way through the Nationals organization, earning big league call-ups each year before becoming a full-time member of the pitching staff — moving between the rotation and the bullpen — for three seasons. But multiple trips to the disabled list slowed him down, and he was traded to the Texas Rangers after the 2014 season.

That’s when Detwiler’s odyssey really began. Since 2014, he’s pitched in six organizations, making appearances for 12 different teams.

Detwiler spent three and a half months in Texas, then finished the 2015 season in Atlanta. His 2016 started in Cleveland, then moved to Oakland, where he made seven starts with the A’s.

In 2017, he moved to the Chicago Cubs organization, and wasn’t called up for the first time in his career.

“That was a little different,” Detwiler said. “I kind of took pride in making it to the big leagues with all the teams, but that didn’t quite happen, and I was only there six weeks.”

Without a team, Detwiler began the 2018 season in indie ball, pitching for the York Revolution of the Atlantic League. Compared to his big league past, it was a stark difference.

“That was an experience,” Detwiler said. “It was different. It takes you back to your roots. You get whatever you want out of it; I saw guys that had big league time there that came in with terrible attitudes, and they were gone pretty quick.”

Away from the confines of pitching systems and organizational philosophies, Detwiler was able to experiment with his approach to pitching.

“You just get to relax and do your thing,” Detwilers said. “If it’s the end of the line, it’s the end of the line, and if it’s not, here we are.”

As it turned out, it wasn’t. Detwiler went 3-1 in six starts with a 2.70 ERA for York, and once again started getting calls from big league clubs. Multiple teams told Detwiler that they were interested in him, and would send scouts to his next start. The Seattle front office told Detwiler that they were interested in him, and would sign him immediately.

Detwiler picked Seattle, and was assigned to Tacoma.

“I never saw myself living in the Pacific Northwest, but now I am, and I’m enjoying it,” said Detwiler, who is schedule to start for the Rainiers in Reno on Wednesday.

Twelve years older than when he was drafted, Detwiler is a different pitcher. His velocity and raw stuff may have decreased, but his experience has shown him, in his words, how to stop throwing and start pitching.

“That change is basically mental,” said Oscar Marin, the Seattle organization’s pitching coordinator. “The way you pitch, the way you go about attacking hitters just changes a little bit. I think he’s done an extremely good job of making those adjustments.”

It’s been an up-and-down run in Tacoma for Detwiler, who has shown flashes of dominance across eight starts. His last time out was ugly — seven runs on 10 hits in five innings — but came on the heels of his second career complete game in which he allowed just two runs in Albuquerque, a launchpad of a stadium.

Heading into August, Detwiler (2-2, 5.67 ERA with the Rainiers) has not made it to the majors with the Mariners, even when back injuries to Felix Hernandez and James Paxton opened up two spots in the rotation last week. Although Christian Bergman and Casey Lawrence got the calls from the Rainiers this time, next time, it could be Detwiler’s turn.

“Obviously those are decisions that are made from upstairs,” Marin said. “But the way he keeps throwing, if he keeps progressing that way, we’ll see where we’re at from there.”