Mayflies & Big Flies

Tyler Schoff had already sat through the first two days of the 2021 Major League Baseball draft without getting selected. The 6-foot-4 pitcher didn’t necessarily expect to hear his name in the first 10 rounds.

Still, teammates Tyler Mattison and Liam McGill already had when they were picked in the fourth and ninth rounds, respectively.

Scouts had seen Schoff’s Bryant University squad and presumably noticed the senior’s 7-1 record in 12 starts while striking out 71 batters over 69.1 innings. Assuredly, the third day when teams selected the final 10 rounds of picks would be the day Schoff had dreamed about for so long.

The Washington Nationals even contacted him before the day’s proceedings began, and Schoff thought they would pick him. But round by round passed, and name after name called without his being one of them. When the Dodgers selected Charlie Connolly with the 612th and final pick, Schoff found himself on the outside looking in as one of many undrafted free agents left in the player pool.

It wasn’t the first time he was overlooked in his baseball career, but it stung all the same.

He was only available briefly as Nationals’ area scout John Malzone reached out in the late rounds and assured Schoff that he had a home in the Washington organization. So even though he wasn’t drafted, at the end of the day he was already with a team that felt like a good fit to Schoff and his agent.

Instead of wallowing in doubt or pity, he did what he had always done in these situations – he went back to work, determined to prove the skeptics wrong, now with a chip on his shoulder and using the slight as fuel.

“I was more than fortunate that I got a chance with the Nationals,” he said. “I’m forever grateful.”

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Schoff grew up in a baseball family in Lee Center, a hamlet of 3,300 residents in central New York.

His dad, Tim, was a pitcher in high school and beyond, eventually coaching his son and passing on his passion for the game. Tyler’s older sister Halie was no slouch on the softball field, either, helping St. John Fisher College to a runner-up finish at the 2016 Division III College World Series. 

“I just love baseball,” Schoff said. “Baseball was always it for me, and I knew from a young age that I wanted to play. This has been my dream since I was 4.”

The right-hander excelled at Rome Free Academy in the classroom as an A-plus student, earning induction to the National Honor Society and on the diamond, where he started on the varsity team in his final three years of high school. By graduation, Schoff had collected numerous accolades, including back-to-back Tri-Valley League Pitcher of the Year awards, All-CNY honors, and a selection to the Class AA All-State second team as a senior.

“I don’t know where it came from, but at a young age, he knew what he wanted to do and what it took,” Rome Free Academy head coach Evan Howard said. “I remember stories where we’d win a game, and instead of hanging out with his teammates, he’d go work out. He’s goal-oriented and knew what it took to play at the next level.”

“He’s been a kid that goes under the radar and just works, works, and works. He doesn’t take no for an answer. This is the kid you dream about coaching.”

But yet, he remained undiscovered by most college recruiters. Part of that may have been his own fault as he eschewed joining travel ball clubs and instead opted to play Legion ball in the summers for the local Smith Post under the tutelage of hard-nosed coach Tony Abone, a former third baseman who played two seasons in the minor leagues for the Montreal Expos organization in the early 1980s.
 
“I was under the perception that if I’m good enough, they’ll find you,” Schoff said. “If I had put myself out more, I definitely would have gotten more looks, but I was with my friends playing. I knew I would be developed under Coach Abone because he was such a great coach.”

He finally started drawing notice from some colleges at the tail-end of his junior season when he impressed on the mound during sectional playoffs.

One of those interested in him was head coach Steve Owens from Bryant University, a small Division I school in Smithfield, R.I.

Owens shared Schoff’s upstate New York roots along with a track record of winning and pedigree in developing players to play professionally. Schoff was sold on Owens and the school, so much so that he abandoned majoring in engineering, which Bryant didn’t offer, to switch to pre-med.

The transition to college can be daunting for anyone, but Schoff had a particularly tough time his freshman season.

His mother, Kris, was diagnosed with cancer, and the baseball field, the one place he could always rely on as a sanctuary, was betraying him as well.

He threw only one inning for the Bulldogs, a relief appearance in a 16-0 blowout at Fairleigh Dickinson in the middle of the season.

Schoff had developed a case of the yips, a sudden inability to throw accurately despite years of training and repetition, and had no idea where the ball was going when it left his hand. Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Steve Blass retired when he couldn’t overcome the yips in the mid-1970s, and Rick Ankiel famously converted to the outfield after his numerous struggles on the mound.

There have also been success stories like Daniel Bard and catcher Jarrod Saltalmacchia, who regained control and bested the condition.

Schoff persevered until he could add his name to the list of those who came out on the other side stronger.

“My freshman year was a year from hell,” Schoff said. “I had to go through some adversity to learn who I was as a player and person.”

After an up-and-down sophomore season as a swingman on the pitching staff, he was moved into the weekend rotation his junior year. 

He was learning to harness the natural cutting motion of his fastball, which caused weak contact and moved off the barrel of the bat.

Simply playing catch with him was uncomfortable for Bryant pitching coach Ted Hurvul because of the movement from the spin imparted on the ball.

“He was in a spot where there was a lot of good talent around him,” Hurvul said. “He was, if not the hardest, one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen. He had some psycho in him in the most positive way. He took himself to a whole new level. He loved that aspect of it. He was different in terms of work ethic and mentality.”

But his junior year would test Schoff once again as the COVID-19 pandemic put an unexpected and early close to the baseball season with him starting only four games, ending any hope he had to generate buzz and get his name out there.

He was also dealing with real-life problems as his mom got sick again, discovering a lump in her breast the previous fall.

As he faced the uncertainty of what college and baseball would be like his senior season, his mom aggressively fought cancer with conventional treatments as well as nutritional and holistic therapies.

But unfortunately for the Schoff family, Kris succumbed to the disease right after Christmas in 2020.

“I’ve grown as a person since that happened, but I very well could have given up,” Tyler said. “She loved to watch me play. She knows where I am now, but I think I’ve used it as motivation. I’ve done everything I could to get the positives out of it because it’s really easy to go in a hole and stop. It’s not easy to deal with mentally at all.”

In 2021, Mattison and Schoff established a formidable 1-2 punch at the top of Bryant’s rotation, which combined to win 17 of their 25 starts.

Schoff capped off the season with a stunning performance against rival Central Connecticut in the Northeast Conference tournament, where he allowed three hits and struck out 10 over eight shutout innings.

The Bryant athletics page calls it “one of the most inspired games in program history.”

“For him to go out there and be unconscious in that type of setting was amazing,” Hurvul said. “He’s just a kid you root for. For someone to go through as much adversity as he has at his age and have this success, it just made it much more special.”

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Schoff is back in Class AA Harrisburg for 2024 after spending half of the season with the club last year. He has steadily risen the levels of the Nationals’ organization, improving and posting better numbers at each post.

His arsenal includes a cut fastball that he can run against left-handed batters or sink into righties, a curveball that slows everybody down, and a slider that keeps hitters from sitting on either of those options. This off-season, Schoff also added a sinker to his repertoire while training at Tread Athletics, a baseball performance facility in North Carolina.

“It’s been refreshing to see his work ethic,” Harrisburg pitching coach Rigo Beltran said. “He really understands who he is as a person. He knows how to read hitters, understands his strengths, and he’s not afraid of anybody. He goes out and competes with the best.”

The 25-year-old has been a workhorse out of the bullpen for manager Delino DeShields, appearing in eight out of 19 games in the early going. He has allowed only five hits in 41 batters over 11.2 scoreless innings while striking out 13.

In their 20-year history, the Washington Nationals have never had a non-international undrafted free agent make it to the major leagues.

Schoff is looking to become the first.

“If you perform at every level, we’ll keep pushing you up until we find out if you can pitch, and eventually, you’ll find yourself in the big leagues,” Beltran said. “All we can do is control the controllable, and what he can control is his performance. I think he’s done a good job of focusing on that all the way throughout his career.”

Yet, he remains under the radar, unable to crack any Top 30 prospect rankings for the Nationals as he climbs closer and closer to his dream. If he keeps throwing zeroes up on the scoreboard, he’ll be tough to ignore and won’t be underrated much longer. In the meantime, he puts his head down and keeps working.

“Some people have God-given talent, and that gets them to the big leagues alone,” Schoff said. “I’m never satisfied with what I have. Whether it’s in the weight room, prioritizing my nutrition and sleep, or cold plunges – I do everything to maximize my body. Along with the mental part of dealing with adversity or bad outings, learning how to pitch out of the bullpen, and having that dog mentality. That’s why I think I’m continuing to improve. Seeing the results makes me want it even more.”