Left-handed pitcher Quintin Torres-Costa produced eye-catching numbers, especially with his strikeouts, in his debut season in the Milwaukee Brewers farm system, which led to a coveted reward.
The 2012 Waiakea graduate and 35th-round draft pick out of UH-Manoa went a combined 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA in 32 innings with 35 hits allowed, eight walks and 43 strikeouts in two stops over 14 games in the rookie league.
Torres-Costa, 21, was first assigned to the Arizona Rookie League, where pitched 20 2/3 innings, and walked just five and whiffed 26. He was then sent to the Helena (Mont.) ballclub in the Pioneer League, and tossed 11 1/3 innings.
He is currently taking classes at UH to finish his communicology degree, and will likely graduate next year.
Torres-Costa will have to leave school early, and finish his classes online because he earned an invitation to the Brewers’ fall instructional league in Arizona, where some of the organization’s top prospects receive detailed fine-tuning and play games, flying out Sunday.
“It’s for whoever the organization wants to invite,” he said. “I’m thankful for the opportunity, and that there’s interest in me. But I still have a long way to go, and prove myself in the organization.
“I had a good learning experience in my first half-season. It wasn’t a full season, but I got a little taste and got my feet wet. Hopefully, next year I can make a full-season team.”
Torres-Costa will be joined by Waiakea teammate and 2014 first-round draft pick Kodi Medeiros, who will return home and rest his arm after the league, which runs Sept. 23 through Oct. 12.
“It’s going to be awesome. We both grew up throwing with coach Jerry Meyer,” Medeiros said. “It’ll remind me of the high school days when we won states my sophomore year (in 2012). We made a great duo. It will be fun getting to play with an old teammate.”
The way the minor league ladder works is after a player is drafted in June he’s assigned to a rookie league team (organizations have two) to develop the routine of playing every day, facing tougher competition, and traveling.
Instructional league is where technical aspects are worked on, such as tightening a curveball or eliminating a mechanical swing flaw. Under the watch of top instructors, it’s a helpful step to, perhaps, the most important jump in the minors — advancing to full-season Single-A ball.
The 30 MLB clubs have two Single-A clubs (Advanced A and Single A), and one Double A and one Triple A affiliate. The high-revenue clubs, like the New York Mets and Yankees, have a short-season A-ball team; the Brewers don’t have a short-season A-ball club.
With an annual farm crop of fresh talent from the June MLB draft, there’s fierce competition for roster spots, and players are invariably released in spring training, which starts in March.
Torres-Costa understands the cutthroat aspect of the business, but he keeps in the back of his mind the joy of playing the game.
“Now it’s a job. It’s my dream to be a professional baseball player,” he said. “I know I’m one step closer to being in the major leagues. But you still have to have fun. I remember playing since I was a little kid, going out in the back yard and just playing.
“But it’s my job and I want to do my best and be successful at my craft. Like anybody, you have to work at your craft and do what you have to do to move up.”
Bullpen ace
During his time at UH, Torres-Costa’s fastball topped out at 92 mph. It wasn’t his velocity, rather the movement on his pitches that produced 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings for Milwaukee’s rookie league teams.
He had a fabulous strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.38-to-1. An ideal rate is 3-to-1. His numbers suggest he was sharp with his control, and efficient with his pitches — part of a required package for effective bullpen arms, especially with stellar strikeout stats.
Still, he’s going to instructs (the short-cut lingo) to refine his changeup, and let the Brewers decide what path his breaking ball should take. With his three-quarter arm angle, Torres-Costa throws a slurve, a cross between a curveball and slider.
The 6-foot lefty didn’t start any games this summer. He allowed only one homer, at Helena, another star to his resume. Torres-Costa only pitches from the stretch (as if there are runners on base), so it’s obvious the Brewers are grooming him for a bullpen role.
Three’s company
When Torres-Costa was promoted to Helena, he found a familiar face in Jordan Yamamoto, a 12th-round pick in 2014 out of Saint Louis in Honolulu. Yamamoto outpitched Medeiros in the HHSAA state semifinals, but had a tough time in his second pro season. Yamamoto was 1-6 with a 7.84 ERA in 62 innings.
“Helena had a higher talent level, but it was still about me going out there and doing my job,” Torres-Costa said. “It was great to have Jordan there. It made the transition a little easier when I got there. He was the first to congratulate me and say, ‘Hi.’ It was nice to have another local there.
“We were trying to find a Hawaiian restaurant, but all we got was a sushi restaurant. That was it.”
Yamamoto will attend the instructional league, too, and the trio of homegrown products can go searching for a Hawaiian restaurant together.
When they sit down and share philosophies, Torres-Costa can talk about the focus that helped land him in Arizona, and a step closer to his ultimate goal to reach the big leagues.
“You always want to be better, and strive for perfection,” he said. “That’s the way I see it. You want to focus on that every day that you need to get better. Whether it’s school work or developing your craft, I want to pursue excellence in everything that I do. That’s my life motto.”
