Weekend Special: Long Hard Climb to the Show

  
This morning, I noticed that Jeremy Bleich made his major league debut with the A's on Friday, capping a 10-year journey through the minors.
A 2008 first round draft of the Yankees out of Stanford, the New Orleans-born lefty (who attended Isidor Newman High School, the same alma mater as Eli Manning) was projected as a starting pitcher. But he was held back by injuries and inconsistent performance.
After moving through the Pirates, Phillies and Dodgers organizations, and even a short 2017 stint with Somerset NJ's indy ball team, Bleich did well recently as a reliever for the A's top farm club in Nashville.
I last saw Bleich five years ago, when he was pitching for the Yankees' AA club in Trenton. Working his way back from an injury he seemed to do well as a bullpen lefty. But the Yankees -- whose minor league organization was run quite differently in 2013 -- were anxious to return him to the starting rotation, where he did not succeed. 
You have to give a ton of credit to a 31 year old who went to a top college for sticking with his baseball dream. For all the setbacks he endured and hopes unfulfilled, Bleich has MADE IT. He has pitched in a major league game.
His future remains a blank piece of paper; no one knows if it will feature bullpen success, a long run with the A's, or perhaps a chance to play in the post-season. The one thing for certain is that after 239 minor league games, Jeremty Bleich can forever call himself a major leaguer.

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