Ross Stripling: The pursuit and happiness
(Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in the sixth edition of the Dodger Insider magazine. To subscribe, visit Dodgers.com/magazine.)
by Cary Osborne
“Nice guys finish last.” — Former Dodger manager Leo Durocher
Do they?
In his first two years in the Major Leagues, Ross Stripling’s teams finished first in the National League West. One of those years, they reached the World Series.
The guy who greets everyone he sees with a smile and a handshake. The guy who sits at his locker and sings. The guy who his father, Hayes III, struggles to recall ever doing something bad (he finally remembers that Stripling wrecked his truck one time). He hasn’t finished last yet.
The 28-year-old right-hander has been one of the most valuable pitchers in the Dodger organization as arguably its most versatile one since he made his spectacular Major League debut April 8, 2016. He arrived as a fifth starter when the team was without one. He made a successful conversion to the bullpen last season. And this year, when injuries befell the Dodger starting rotation, he stepped in and stepped up.
“You get used to (his consistency), but you can’t take it for granted. Everybody in here appreciates what he’s doing and everybody knows how huge he’s been,” says Kiké Hernández, the position player version of Stripling in terms of versatility. “Everybody loves him. He’s a cool dude. He’s always happy. You never see him angry, never see him frustrated or mad. Whenever guys like that have success, you get really happy for them.”
The Texas native and Texas A&M alumnus says his nature is natural. He’s a good Southern boy. But his effervescence might come from another place.
“It could be I never expected to be here, so every day is icing on the cake,” Stripling says.
Ross Stripling was a three-sport athlete at Carroll High School in Southlake, Texas, playing baseball, football and basketball.
“He was usually smaller and not as heavy (as his classmates),” Hayes recalls. “But he still managed to compete and do fairly well.”
Fairly well doesn’t get one beyond high school sports. But his fortune changed because of misfortune. He came down awkwardly trying to dunk a basketball in pregame warm-ups and broke his knee. His senior year on the basketball team was done. And because he wasn’t as mobile, he played the middle infield less and pitched more.
Stripling had a strong season on the mound, but only garnered the attention of junior colleges. His only interest was going to Texas A&M, where his brother, Hayes IV, was studying nuclear physics and where Hayes III and his grandfather, Hayes Jr., graduated from.
“I went to sign up for my classes and my dad says, ‘Let’s just go talk to the baseball coach,’ and I was like, ‘Dude, he doesn’t want some Joe Blow walking into his office. How do we even know he’s going to be there?’” Stripling recalls.
Head coach Rob Childress was in his office. Stripling introduced himself.
“‘I’m gonna be an Aggie, and I’d love to play baseball. Is there any chance?’” Stripling asked Childress. “He googled me, right in front of me.”
That conversation turned into Childress offering Stripling a preferred walk-on spot. But the first fall was rough.
“I did terrible. Just got slaughtered,” Stripling said of the beginning in fall ball. “Every time I took the mound, I felt like it was a laser show. When I went home for Christmas break, I was like, “There’s no way they’re keeping me on this team.’ But I’ve always been able to spin a curveball, which Childress loves. Thankfully he saw potential, kept me around, and I developed as we went and got better every year.”
During Stripling’s freshman year, his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. The family urged Stripling to stay in school and focus on his education and baseball while Tammy battled some three hours away at the Stripling home. Stripling says he regrets not being around the family more often during his mother’s battle.
“That’s how his mother wanted it,” Hayes says of her desire for her sons to focus on school. “We had plenty of help, and he had an opportunity there, so it worked out how it should have, and his mother is fine now. … I would sincerely say our kids handled the situation remarkably. It’s a blessing. They both went to A&M and never looked back. Ross had a big challenge to see if he could make that team, and he worked every day to see if he could. And my older son, all he knew to do was make good grades and study and he did that, too.”
After six chemotherapy sessions, the cancer was gone. On the mound, Stripling got better every year. He decided, after being drafted in the ninth round of the MLB Draft as a junior by the Colorado Rockies, he wanted to stay in school and complete his bachelor’s degree in finance. In 2012, the Dodgers selected him in the fifth round, and his professional career began.
In 2014, he went into Spring Training as a dark-horse candidate to make the Major League club. But in his first game, he felt a terrible pain in his right elbow. He called his father.
“I remember the phone call like it was yesterday,” Hayes says.
Stripling tore his ulnar-collateral ligament and needed Tommy John surgery. Stripling was closer than most professionals ever get to the Major Leagues, yet he says he was 70 percent sure he wanted to quit baseball.
“I knew I was good and had a chance to maybe make the big leagues, but when you have a year of rehab getting paid a minor league salary, sitting in the heat of an Arizona summer is extremely daunting,” Stripling says. “Especially for me, a guy who had a degree, something to fall back on and maybe didn’t know if I could make it to the big leagues for sure. What is it, 1 percent of the guys who are in pro ball make it to the big leagues? So as a math guy, it’s (thinking), ‘Is it even worth it?’”
Hayes convinced his son to give it another shot. And after rehab, 14 minor league starts in 2015 and a 2016 Spring Training in which he was in big league camp, sent to minor league camp, then brought back to big league camp, Stripling was rewarded with a spot on the 2016 Opening Day roster.
It was one of those misty San Francisco nights.
The innings flew by. The Giants were unable to touch the 26-year-old making his Major League debut. Through seven innings, Stripling had thrown 91 pitches and the Giants managed no hits.
Stripling started the eighth by inducing a flyout off the bat of Brandon Crawford. On his 100th pitch of the game, Stripling walked Angel Pagan. Though history and a special story stood in the way, Dodger manager Dave Roberts didn’t hesitate to remove Stripling from the game. Stripling has a scar that curves around his inner elbow like seams curve around a baseball. For the well-being of his pitcher, Roberts made the move.
The next day, Hayes saw Roberts in the lobby of the team hotel. He waited patiently as Roberts finished a conversation, then approached him.
“I want to tell you thanks for taking Ross out,” Hayes told Roberts.
The road since has been far from easy. After eight more appearances in the big leagues, Stripling was sent to the minors. After nearly two months away, he was back in a big league uniform.
Last year, his role changed. With no room in the starting rotation, Stripling became a relief pitcher.
“The transition to the bullpen was tough,” Stripling says. “I had a really hard time finding a routine.”
But he was one of the most dependable long relievers in baseball last year. Stripling made 18 appearances out of the bullpen, where he earned at least six outs — second most in the Majors. His ERA in those games was 2.72.
Yet Stripling quietly craved a return to the starting rotation. With a rash of injuries to start the season, the first opportunity came April 30 in Arizona. But Stripling allowed eight hits and four earned runs in four innings. Then he got his footing. In eight starts since, he has a 1.53 ERA and has struck out 59 batters to four walks in 47 innings.
“Confidence. For Ross it’s confidence,” Roberts says. “And just his ability to attack the strike zone with any of his four pitches. He had great tempo. He gets the grounder when he needs to. He gets the strikeout when he needs to. The mound presence has always been good, but the confidence is real.”
Stripling agrees.
Confidence is something he says has evolved since he made his Major League debut. What’s remained steady since that first game in San Francisco and in his life is his happiness.
“I’m going to enjoy this while I’m here,” Stripling says. “Who knows? It might be another two years. It might be another 10 years that I’m up here. So the last thing I want to do is look back and feel like I spent it stressed and worried about my job. Certainly, there is stress, but this is awesome. It’s hard not to be happy.”
