Wilson: Resilient Sabrowski made Alberta proud in 2024
AHP Academy alum Erik Sabrowski (St. Alberta, Alta.) went from pitching for the Edmonton Prospects in the Western Canadian Baseball League to being the Cleveland Guardians’ go-to reliever against Juan Soto in this year’s American League Championship Series. Photo: Bally Sports
*This article was originally published on Alberta Dugout Stories on October 22, 2024. You can read it here.
October 23, 2024
By Ian Wilson
Alberta Dugout Stories
Don’t cry because it’s over.
Smile because it happened.
Although if the glimpse into what Erik Sabrowski is capable of is any indication, his Major League Baseball (MLB) career is far from over – it’s just getting started.
Plenty of baseball-inspired tears and smiles await the Albertan, who saw his 2024 season come to an end after the Cleveland Guardians were eliminated by the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series (ALCS) on Oct. 19.
It was an epic journey from the Edmonton area to the majors for the left-handed pitcher, who was a 14th-round pick of the San Diego Padres in 2018. Sabrowski impressed scouts as a two-way star at Cloud County Community College, where he went 7-2 with 117 strikeouts and six complete games over 12 starts and 66 innings. At the plate for the Thunderbirds, Sabrowski smacked 18 doubles, launched 11 long balls and batted .355 that season.
Excited to get to work in the minor leagues and begin his road to the majors, the St. Albert Minor Baseball Association (SAMBA) product received terrible news after reporting for duty in Arizona. He needed Tommy John surgery to fix his ailing elbow.
“To be honest, I was crushed. No kid dreams of starting their pro career sitting out for 16 months because they’re injured. But once I got over that hump, I realized that it was more than a year to get my body ready and get my mind ready to compete at a professional level,” said Sabrowski in a 2019 Alberta Dugout Stories interview.
More arm misery struck again in 2021 at spring training when Sabrowski experienced elbow pain during a bullpen session.
“I felt the same elbow discomfort again during my first rehab outing at the start of June and my elbow hurt pretty bad the next day,” Sabrowski admitted.
“That’s when I made the decision that I wasn’t going to tell anyone and push through it, feeling that I didn’t want to spend any more time in Arizona.”
The 6-foot-4 hurler pitched through the pain and made his professional debut with the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps. He went 2-0 with a 1.86 earned run average (ERA) and 41 Ks in 29 innings.
Despite his success, Sabrowski had delayed the inevitable – he required a second Tommy John procedure.
As he got to work on yet another comeback attempt, Sabrowski learned in December that he’d be continuing his rehab with a new organization. The Cleveland Guardians selected the southpaw in the MLB Rule 5 Draft, which allows teams that don’t have a full 40-man roster to select non-roster players from other clubs.
Erik Sabrowski makes his MLB debut in Kansas City on Sept. 4, 2024. Photo: Bally Sports
It was a stressful time for the Absolute Human Performance (AHP) alum, but he was excited to get back on track.
“There’s going to be some tough days and long hours involved, but I definitely think I can find some positives, as I learned quite a bit about my body and how I move during my first rehab,” said Sabrowski at the time.
“Cleveland’s rehab staff has a great track record of getting guys healthy and back on the field, as well as their player development staff is very good at developing and helping guys improve … I’m going to be in a really good position to fight my way into the big leagues come spring 2023.”
At one point during his recovery, Sabrowski contemplated leaving the game to become a teacher, but a pep talk from his agent – who threatened to fly from Toronto to Edmonton to kick his ass if he quit – helped convinced him to persevere.
He did just that and last year Sabrowski took the bump for the Double-A Akron RubberDucks.
“Eventually one day, I plan on pitching in the big leagues … I know I have the ability to do that,” Sabrowski said during a 2023 interview.
“There is no one path to success and success never comes in a straight line.”
He split his 2024 season with Akron and the Triple-A Columbus Clippers of the International League. Sabrowski went 8-2 with a 4.38 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 37 innings as a reliever with Columbus.
Sabrowski was getting closer to realizing his major-league dream but it wasn’t all smooth sailing. He suffered a concussion in June after an errant catcher’s throw to second base struck him in the back of the head.
GOING TO THE SHOW
After all the injuries, the rehab sessions and the years of waiting, Sabrowski still had to muster all the patience he could after he was called up by Cleveland.
The Guardians added him to their 40-man roster and designated Anthony Gose for assignment on Aug. 28, but Sabrowski didn’t make his MLB debut until Sept. 4 during a game against the Royals in Kansas City.
Entering the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Sabrowski fired his first pitch past the catcher, which allowed Bobby Witt of the Royals to advance from second to third base. He recovered, however, and struck out Yuli Gurriel to end the threat. Sabrowski returned for the eighth inning and by the time he was done had gone 1 1/3 innings with a pair of strikeouts and just one hit allowed during Kansas City’s 4-1 win.
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Listen to Alberta Dugout Stories interview Erik Sabrowski here.
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“It felt amazing,” Sabrowski said after the game.
“Yeah, it was a few days, but I just kept telling myself to stay ready and my time was going to come, and fortunately it happened tonight.”
Added Sabrowski: “There are so many people that are a part of today … I’m just fortunate to have all of them for a real special day.”
One of them was AHP president/founder Taylor Burns, who flew down to Cleveland after his former pupil was called up.
“I’m just so happy for him and it was just beyond surreal to get to witness his first few days being a big leaguer,” said Burns.
“I couldn’t be prouder of him and happier for him that he got to make a boyhood dream a reality.”
Sabrowski was all smiles following his MLB debut against the Royals. Photo: Bally Sports
Stephen Vogt, the manager of the Guardians, admitted that the coaching staff put Sabrowski in a tough spot to start his MLB career, but he liked what he saw from the relief pitcher.
“I think he sat in the bullpen for six days before he even made his debut. We threw him through the worst possible debut scenario that you can and that’s watch for a week and then come in mid-inning, just the way it happened. That wasn’t our intention. But Erik has been dominant, he’s been great and he’s confident,” said Vogt during a late-September media interview.
“Long road to get here, been through everything. It’s like, here’s my shot, I’m going to go have fun and that’s the attitude he’s had since day one. He has not looked big eyed, he’s looked confident.”
BIG LEAGUE STUFF
Sabrowski’s second assignment didn’t get any easier.
This time it was a call to the bullpen at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 7. Sabrowski logged 2 1/3 innings in front of 48,690 fans and threw 20 of his 31 pitches for strikes. During that outing former National League (NL) MVP Freddie Freeman was one of his three strikeout victims and he was able to get Shohei Ohtani out on a pop fly.
The bullpen phone continued to ring with more calls for Sabrowski – in Chicago against the White Sox and at home against the Rays and the Twins.
On Sept. 20, he picked up his first career save after going two-plus innings against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Sabrowski struck out the side in the third inning of a Sept. 25 matchup against the Reds at Progressive Field and he recorded another three Ks against Houston in 1 1/3 innings pitched when the Astros paid a visit to Cleveland on Sept. 27. That was his last regular-season appearance.
His final numbers for the season showed 12 2/3 innings over eight games, along with one save, 19 strikeouts, four walks and six hits allowed. Sabrowski had still not surrendered a run, earned or otherwise, on his watch.
Entering October, the Guardians had clinched the American League (AL) Central division title and a first-round bye in the postseason.
Sabrowski was relishing the celebrations and his place among them.
“Who’s got it better than me?” he asked Zack Meisel, a reporter with The Athletic.
“That’s what I think. Like, first-place team, popped champagne twice, best bullpen ever. It’s been incredible.”
PLAYOFF PERFORMER
Not surprisingly, Sabrowski was named to Cleveland’s 26-man roster for the Guardians’ opening series against the Detroit Tigers.
While he was an unknown postseason presence at the MLB level, he had proven himself in the playoffs years ago as a member of the Edmonton Prospects in the Western Major Baseball League (WMBL), a summer collegiate circuit which now goes by the name of Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL).
Sabrowski showed the ability to elevate his game when the games mattered.
In 2016 with the Prospects, he had a .216 batting average and 15 RBIs in his 30 regular-season games as a hitter. On the mound, Sabrowski was 4-1 with a 4.46 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 40 1/3 innings.
When the playoffs rolled around that summer, Sabrowski upped his batting average to .395, scored six runs and even stole a base during Edmonton’s 11-game postseason run to the WMBL championship final, which they lost to Swift Current. He pitched in three games, including two starts, that August and went 1-1 with a save, a 0.91 ERA and 16 Ks over 19 2/3 innings.
“I’ve always prided myself on being a guy that can perform in pressure situations,” an 18-year-old Sabrowski told Edmonton Journal reporter Katt Adachi at the time.
“Nothing gets bigger than the playoffs.”
Sabrowski played alongside another two-way star on that Prospects team.
Kody Funderburk was a hard-hitting, strong-throwing infielder and relief pitcher who joined the powerhouse Okotoks Dawgs in 2017.
Funderburk, who is now a bullpen arm with the Minnesota Twins, helped the Dawgs become the top regular-season team with a 35-12 record. The lefty slugger and pitcher led the WMBL in homers (15) and RBIs (54) that summer and was selected as the league’s MVP.
The ex-teammates squared off in the opening round of the playoffs in a best-of-five series that went the distance. It was the second straight year that the Dawgs and Prospects met in the first round of the playoffs.
“We’re confident. If you ask anyone in the clubhouse last year, it wasn’t an upset,” Sabrowski told the Journal before the postseason got underway.
“We knew we were the team to beat in that series. We had a game plan and we executed, and we plan to do that again this year.”
The Dawgs claimed Game 1 by an 8-2 score and Sabrowski started on the mound for Edmonton in the second game, which took place at Seaman Stadium in Okotoks. The lefty went 6 2/3 innings, struck out nine batters and allowed just one unearned run in a 2-1 triumph that evened the series.
Okotoks punched back with an 11-1 triumph in Edmonton, thanks in large part to six scoreless innings of starting pitching from Graham Brunner.
Sabrowski (No. 23) shakes hands with the Okotoks Dawgs after a WMBL series win for the Edmonton Prospects at Seaman Stadium in 2017. Photo: Ian Wilson
The bats did the talking in Game 4, a 9-8 win for the Prospects at ReMax Field. Sabrowski was 2-for-4 with a run and a pair of RBIs, while Funderburk was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer in the fifth inning that tied the game.
Pitchers on both sides locked in for the fifth and deciding game in Okotoks, which saw Josh Fisher and Michael Gahan hold the home squad to just one run during a 3-1 win for Edmonton.
Sabrowski and the Prospects, who were a .500 team during the regular season, delighted in the opportunity to celebrate their playoff triumph at Seaman Stadium for a second straight summer.
Edmonton made another push for a WMBL championship but fell short yet again to their Saskatchewan rivals from Swift Current. For his part, Sabrowski went 2-1 with a 1.92 ERA and 15 strikeouts over 18-plus playoff innings. In addition to his clutch win over Okotoks in Game 2, he delivered a complete-game shutout victory over the Medicine Hat Mavericks in the next series. At the dish, he batted .293 with a home run and eight RBIs in 10 games.
POETRY IN THE POSTSEASON
As battle-tested as his time with the Prospects made him, Sabrowski had to take his game to a whole other level than what he experienced even in the MLB regular season.
The Guardians opened their playoffs against the Detroit Tigers, a plucky club that knocked off a much more experienced Houston team before lining up against Cleveland.
With the series tied 1-1 and the Tigers leading 2-0 in the third game of the best-of-five matchup, Sabrowski entered in the fourth inning and put up 1 1/3 innings of scoreless service. He struck out two batters, surrendered no hits and permitted just one walk. Detroit went on to a 3-0 win, but Sabrowski had proven to be a reliable reliever again.
The Guardians tied things up with a 5-4 victory in Game 4, and the two clubs had just one game left to determine their American League Division Series (ALDS). With a runner on second base, Sabrowski was called upon to get the final out of the fourth inning of Game 5 and, after giving up a walk, he induced a groundout that left the game scoreless. The Guardians struck for five runs the next inning and advanced to the ALCS with a 7-3 win.
To this point of his brief MLB career, the rookie had still managed to not allow a run when he was on the mound.
He was gaining notoriety on social media, earning admirers among fans of the Guardians and other baseball watchers.
Rob Friedman – an analyst and mound guru who goes by “Pitching Ninja” online – began isolating clips of the Cleveland hill topper’s filthy pitches.
Friedman also photoshopped an image of the southpaw’s face overtop of actor Jeff Bridges and dubbed him “The Big Sabrowski” as an homage to the 1998 cult classic film about a rug-seeking dude, entitled The Big Lebowski.
It really tied the rookie pitcher’s sensational emergence together.
“It’s been awesome. People I knew in high school or who I’ve barely crossed paths with, have reached out. I’m definitely feeling very fortunate and feeling the love,” Sabrowski said in an interview on CTV Morning Live Edmonton.
BIG SABROWSKI IN THE BIG APPLE
Sabrowski was now taking his game to the biggest stage that baseball has to offer: Yankee Stadium in the playoffs.
There were 47,264 people in attendance for the opening game and another 3.82 million people tuned into the game on TV and screens.
With the Guardians trailing 4-1 in the opening game of the ALCS, Sabrowski was summoned in the sixth inning with two outs and he struck out Juan Soto. He then got 2024 MLB home run leader Aaron Judge to line out to start the seventh. After he struck out catcher Austin Wells, Sabrowski finally revealed himself as a mortal. Giancarlo Stanton took an 0-1 offering and launched it into the left-field bleachers. The solo shot marked the first earned run of Sabrowski’s career and gave the Yankees a 5-1 lead. The Edmontonian then ended his night by striking out Jazz Chisholm Jr.
He was leaned on again in the bottom of the sixth inning of Game 2 with the Guardians trailing 3-2 in New York. Chisholm Jr. smacked a double off of Sabrowski and Anthony Volpe followed that up with a walk. Sabrowski was able to pick off Chisholm Jr. at second base but a fielding error by right fielder Will Brennan allowed Volpe to score when Anthony Rizzo hit a double.
The Yankees prevailed by a final score of 6-3, but the Guardians responded with a dramatic Game 3 win thanks to a 10th-inning, two-run homer from David Fry that sent the Cleveland faithful into hysterics.
“It was incredible. If there was a roof on that place, it would have popped off,” Sabrowski told CTV.
Game 4 featured Sabrowski’s final game of the campaign. He replaced pitcher Gavin Williams midway through the third inning with one out. Once again, Sabrowski was facing the best hitters the Yankees have to offer. He got Soto to ground out and then Judge struck out swinging to end the inning. When he returned for the fourth inning, Sabrowski struck out Chisholm Jr. and Stanton before Rizzo hit a single. A Volpe pop fly to centre fielder Lane Thomas ended the frame and Sabrowski’s postseason.
While the Yankees won that contest 8-6 and finished off the series with a 5-2 victory in Game 5 thanks to a three-run homer from Soto in the 10th inning, this season was an unmitigated success for Sabrowski, who had eight strikeouts and a 1.69 ERA in his five playoff appearances.
As far as his pitching career goes, Yogi Berra would tell us that “it ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
So hold off on the crying for now, but keep the smiles coming because the dude abides.