Eric Gagne's injury paves the way for Steve Schmoll (BT 2000) to reach the Majors

April 3, 2005
By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com
From MLB.com

[Editor's note: Steve Schmoll attended Magruder High School and the University of Maryland and pitched for the Bethesda Big Train in 2000]

[Eric] Gagne's injury triggered the surprising addition of rookie pitcher Steve Schmoll to the 25-man roster submitted Saturday night...

Schmoll is a surprise for many reasons. A right-handed side-armer, he was signed as an undrafted free agent as a fifth-year senior out of the University of Maryland. He pitched in 2003 at the rookie level at Ogden and split 2004, mostly at Class A Vero Beach and one month at Double-A Jacksonville, with respective ERAs of 1.80 and 1.83.

He continued to impress in the Arizona Fall League with a 1.42 ERA, but was not invited to big league camp and reported to Dodgertown with the minor leaguers, who began workouts three weeks after the Major League pitchers. He's pitched three scoreless innings in three "A" game appearances this spring.

"He has devastating stuff, devastating deception, he's a strike-thrower and from what I've seen, I don't see this guy being intimidated by any situation," said Tracy. "We're going to find out relatively quickly."

Schmoll, 25, said he picked up the sidearm motion just messing around late in his college career but went to it exclusively only last year.

"I feel there's no limit where I can pitch," he said. "If I execute my pitches, I can get anybody out."

Copyright 2005, MLB.com