Former FieldHouse Pirate Caleb Feuerstake (Waterdown, Ont.) plans on switching to the mound this winter in Puerto Rico.

August 26, 2023

Lefty Feuerstake switches from the outfield to the mound

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

The moral of this story is that you do not give up on your dreams.

Caleb Feuerstake is reversing field, hoping to change his fortunes.

Feuerstake, 25, was an outfielder for many years but this month, decided to turn to pitching in the hope he might be noticed by a major-league club.

Feuerstake (Waterdown, Ont.), a lefty, played 14 games for the Trois-Rivieres Aigles in the independent Frontier league before recently catching on with the Intercounty Baseball League’s Welland Jackfish. 

“I had people who knew I threw 91-93 mph from the outfield trying to convert me to get some velocity off the mound,” he said in an interview. “I want to do everything in my power to get looked at. It was early August when I began thinking about the switch. I’ve been thinking for close to a month.”

Feuerstake attended Southeast Missouri State University, Mineral Area College in Park Hills, Missouri and McPherson College in Kansas and plans to better himself in the upcoming Puerto Rican winter league with the help of Roberto Alomar, the former Blue Jays star, and his RA12 team.

Feuerstake certainly has the athletic pedigree. His uncle is former NHLer Dave Andreychuk, who is the brother of his mother Sandra Andreychuk.

“Maybe I should have been a hockey player,” Feuerstake said, jokingly.

“When I joined Welland for their last regular game, the manager, Brian Essery said he didn’t have any plan to use me as a pitcher. But when the score got up to 15-1 in favour of Welland, I asked him one more time.

“This was the very, very last (regular season) game. So he put me in for an inning and I did all right. I got a strikeout.”

Some people who saw Feuerstake pitch for Welland that game said a TV announcer used a radar gun and clocked him at 101 and 103 mph but Feuerstake said the gun must have “malfunctioned,” because he was only throwing “90-91”

Feuerstake said when he arrives in Puerto Rico, he will engage in “pre-season work” with the team’s coaches before the real winter league begins.

“The professional coaches want to get me on the mound and smooth out some mechanical issues,” he said. “I’m going to be down there for four-to-five months. Roberto Alomar’s team [has] got some connections. I met Roberto one time. I owe him, a mutual friend of his, and the team a lot for settling me down there and getting me a place to stay. I’ll pay my own way there.

“That’s the least I can do. If things go good, really good, the best-case scenario is to have teams look at me and see me. If teams don’t see me, I will continue with the season. I’ll probably play again next season in Trois-Rivieres.”

Feuerstake said the switch to pitching has been an eye-opener, because he’s going to be in the action more.

“It’s been a fun ride so far,” he said. “In the outfield, you might get three balls hit to you each game. In the outfield, you don’t really do much in a game. It’s been a turn of change from maybe three balls a game to pitching. It’s an interesting topic ... the change from position player to pitcher.

“I have a cutter and a sinker. My favourite pitch is actually a slider. I’m also working on my changeup.”