Trevor Hildenberger plans to buy John Riley an adult beverage if the two ever run into one another in San Jose. If it hadn’t been for Riley, a catcher in the San Francisco Giants farm system, Hildenberger’s baseball career as we know it never would have happened.
An over-the-top hurler at Berkley, he had struggled in the PAC-12 and was contemplating a career as a film critic. He had a year of eligibility remaining at the University of California, but he was close to graduating and no longer had a scholarship. Then John Riley made a fateful decision to sign with the Giants as a 31st round selection and give up his scholarship. Hildenberger still nearly gave-up on the game. At a recent intra-squad game, he took over in the ninth inning with an eight-run lead and the end result was Hildenberger being struck with two hard-hit balls and allowing nine runs, including a walk-off, three-run homer to a teammate "with no pop." He decided to play and to concentrate on changing his delivery.
He had tinkered with a sidearm approach but in his final year at Cal, he perfected it. He struck out 48 batters in 47 2/3 innings and posted a 2.83 ERA in 2014. He tied a school-record with 10 saves. And more important, the pitcher who used to surrender 2-to-3 homers a weekend in intrasquad games only yielded one. Part of it was the odd angle and part was the improved velocity. Hildenberger went from throwing low-to-mid 80s to touching 92 from the side. Intrigued, the Twins selected Hildenberger with the 650th overall pick of the draft, taking him in the 22nd round. He received a $1,000 signing bonus, which came out to $571 after taxes. He made his major league debut in 2017. - paraphrased from an article by Dan Hayes, The Athletic
Redid the facegen. Never use the smiling picture to make an fg if you can avoid it, say I
