An emotional day for Spenser Watkins ends with him in the majors

If we ever forget how special it can be for a player to reach the big leagues, we can go back and check out today's interview with one of the newest Orioles: pitcher Spenser Watkins. Signed by the club as minor league free agent Feb. 3, the 28-year-old right-hander earlier today got the call he has always waited for.

He was added to the Orioles active roster from the taxi squad in Houston. After eight seasons - most spent in the Detroit organization - and more than 600 minor league innings, he is officially an Oriole.

Watkins, Detroit's 30th-round pick in the 2014 draft out of Western Oregon University, got choked up today, especially when he talked about telling his wife, Brittany, that he is in the big leagues now.

We've seen the Orioles shuttle through a bunch of pitchers lately, and who knows if Watkins' stay will be long or short with this club? But he earned a call, and a long journey to get there culminated today.

He got there.

Watkins almost retired to become a high school coach during a 2020 season that was without minor league baseball, during which the Tigers released him. With Triple-A Norfolk this year he went 1-2 with a 3.58 ERA over seven games and 32 2/3 innings with a .205 average against and 1.10 WHIP. His ERA was 2.89 in his last four Norfolk games.

From almost retiring to joining a new organization to getting the call he was uncertain would ever come.

"You know, I think it was pretty close," he said during his emotional Zoom interview today. "Going through 2020, just like everybody else did, there was a lot of uncertainty. And there was a lot of pressure for me to figure out a way to provide for my family, in a sense. It was an option for me to kind of step away at the time and pursue coaching and things like that. And I was lucky enough to get the call. So, something like this and getting to the big leagues after the years I put into this, and it's honest, I can't put words (together about it). I think I've been shaking since I got the phone call. It means everything to me and my family."

Watkins was asked how he found out today's news, and who he most wanted to share that news with.

"That one caught me and got me a little emotional right there already," he said. "So, Kevin Buck (director, baseball administration) gave me a call this morning and it was a Baltimore number. I didn't have his number saved yet. So, I kind of had a feeling maybe this was the call. It was around, like, one o'clock this afternoon when I was in the hotel room. Kevin gave me a call and he was kind of nonchalant about it. And then he goes, 'Yeah, so we're going to select your contract today.' It was a I couldn't believe it almost thing.

"When I got an opportunity to call my wife," he said, becoming emotional. "Sorry. That was a really special moment. To tell my wife. All the time she sacrificed with me being gone and me doing this for eight years. You know we've been together for six now. Being able to tell her and hear her be excited for me was an amazing feeling."

Getting the call-up after years of trying to make the majors can lead a player to reflect on the journey to the bigs and to remember all those who helped along the way.

"You know, I've been kind of thinking through that," Wakins said. "Is that going to hit me? And I think I'm still just on cloud nine. It hasn't really sunk in yet. My phone is lighting up every two seconds with people congratulating me and saying how thankful they are that they were a part of the journey. That is starting to hit me now that I'm seeing all the people that have been a part of this journey with me and have helped me along the way. I think here in the next 24 hours it will start sinking in for me. But right now it's still surreal."

He saw several of his Norfolk teammates get calls and get their chance and thought his own could be coming. Getting here is one thing, and staying is another challenge. He'll try to pull that off too.

"For me, when I am on, my four-seam fastball is kind of the bread and butter," Watkins said. "I can ride the top part of the strike zone with that and then use my curveball off that. The addition of a cutter and working on a changeup this year has helped a ton, as well, when it comes to east-west. But when I'm on, I think my north-south pitches, fastball up in the zone and curveball down, that's what really gives me the success," he said.

Very cool: RHP Spenser Watkins, 28, who was set to be a high-school baseball coach this season before the #Orioles signed him as a free agent, had his contract purchased by the Orioles and will be in uniform tonight. He has spent eight years in the minors before reaching #MLB.

-- Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 30, 2021