By Pete Cava

PBR Indiana Correspondent

Sitting in a Victory Field dugout for the first time, Ryan Strausborger was speculating on his profession.  “There's always room for improvement for all parts of your game, so you're never satisfied,” said the 29-year-old Elkhart, Ind., native.  “You're always trying to listen, learn and get better at everything.  You can never be your best.” 

Ryan Lee Strausborger is an outfielder for the Minnesota Twins’ top affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings of the International League.  Earlier in the day, the Red Wings had flown to Indianapolis to begin a four-game series with the Indians. 

Strausborger never had an opportunity to play at Victory Field when he starred at Elkhart Memorial High School and later at Indiana State University.  He wouldn’t get the chance this time around, either.  On July 23, the day prior to Rochester’s arrival in Indianapolis, the Red Wings placed him on the seven-day disabled list with plantar fasciitis in the left foot.  

As a result, Strausborger’s ticket request for the series dwindled to just a pair.  “I did have a lot of people coming, but now I’ve gotten word I’m not going to be playing,” he said.  “My mom and dad are coming down to say hello, and after Wednesday’s day game, we’ll go out to dinner.”  

Michael and Patricia Strausborger live in Osceola, Ind., where Ryan grew up.  “It was enjoyable,” said Strausborger of a boyhood in the town of about 2,500, some ten miles east of South Bend.  “It was a good mix of not like city life, but not like country life.  It was kind of in between, so it was nice.  Sports were pretty competitive.” 

Michael Strausborger signed up his son for T-ball when he was “about five or six,” said Ryan, “and I’ve played every year since.”  A two-sport star at Elkhart Memorial High School, Ryan set a record during his senior year with eight three-pointers in a basketball game against South Bend Clay.  “Our top scorer was sick with mono at the time,” he explained, “so someone else had to pick up the slack.  I started shooting, and I got hot.  I just kept shooting and shooting.  It was pretty cool.  It was a day I won't forget.” 

Strausborger also left his name in Elkhart Memorial’s baseball record book, batting .500 as a senior in 2006.  That mark has never been topped.  The right-handed hitter was a first-team all-state selection that season at shortstop.  

Although the Raiders never made it out of their 4A sectionals, college coaches were keeping close tabs on Strausborger.  “Bob Warn [Indiana State University’s legendary coach] came up to my home town and recruited me hard,” Ryan said.  “He wanted me down there and offered me a good scholarship, so I didn't mess around with anybody else.  I signed that first early-day period.” 

Warn, a future member of the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame, retired after the 2006 campaign.  “Bob recruited me, but I never played for him,” said Strausborger. “Lindsay Meggs came in for the next three years, and then I finished up with Rick Heller.  I was very happy with my decision.” 

So were the Sycamores.  As a freshman in 2007, Strausborger averaged .287.  He hit .322 in 2008 and .340 in 2009, his junior year, when he started playing the outfield.  He completed the transition as a senior in 2010, when his .344 average helped Indiana State to a 35-19 record.  In 2008, 2009 and 2010, Strausborger earned All-Missouri Conference first-team honors. “We played some good baseball there, especially my junior and senior years,” he said.  “When you're on a winning team, everybody seems to play well.” 

After his second year at Indiana State, Ryan joined the Cincinnati Steam of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League.  His manager was Ron Oester, who played second base for the Cincinnati Reds from 1978 to 1990.  “We had an awesome group of guys and coaches there,” he said.  “I went back and played three summers in a row.”     

During Strausborger’s junior year in 2009, major league teams passed on him in the draft.  Texas selected him in the 16^th round in 2010.  He found out while he was at home in Elkhart with his parents, listening to the draft on a computer.  “I was a little surprised when I was drafted by them,” said Ryan, who’d talked to scouts from several organizations, but none from the Rangers.  “I was expecting it, and being very hopeful because the year before, it didn’t happen.  It was nice to hear my name called.” 

Strausborger signed with Texas and reported to Spokane, Wash., of the Northwest League.  “I went straight to short-season, which is typically college players,” he said.  “I thought it was somewhat easy, because I had been in college ball for four years.”  

Moving up to Myrtle Beach of the high-A Carolina League in 2011, Strausborger joined Frisco (AA Texas league) for 2012.  In 2014 he went from Frisco to Round Rock, Texas, one step away from the majors in the Class AAA Pacific Coast League.   

At Round Rock in 2015, Strausborger was having his best season with ten home runs, 34 runs batted in, 27 stolen bases and a .278 average.  He was 27 years old by now, with some 2,600 minor plate appearances under his belt, still waiting for a chance to play in the major leagues.  On August 4, Round Rock skipper Jason Wood called Ryan at around 9:00 a.m.  “He told me, 'Pack your stuff up now.  You need to get to Arlington ASAP!’  I was still half asleep. I was hoping it wasn't a dream.” 

Strausborger made his big-league debut that night against the Houston Astros.  "I’m excited, I’m ready to get out there and get my feet wet,” he told reporters.  "It's the opportunity of a lifetime.”  Playing right field and batting second, he laid down a bunt that led to a Houston error in the Rangers’ three-run first inning.  He also made a diving catch in the fourth to stave off an Astros rally, and Texas went on to win 4-3.

In 31 games with Texas, Strausborger batted .200 (9-for-45).  Sent outright to Round Rock after the season, he was hitting .288 after 45 games in 2016 when the Seattle Mariners acquired him on July 9.  Assigned to Tacoma (Pacific Coast), he hit .153 in 40 games and became a free agent in November.  The Twins signed him last January 26.  “Every time with a new team, you could look at it as a fresh start,” he said.  “And it felt like that for me this spring.” 

Strausborger opened the 2016 season with Chattanooga, Tenn. (AA Southern).  In mid-June he went on the seven-day disabled list.  “Running to first base, I felt a little tweak in my groin,” said Ryan, who was batting .286 at the time.  “I knew it wasn't right, so I let them know and they DLed me for a week.  I ended up in Rochester when I was healthy.” 

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Strausborger, who can play all three outfield positions, appeared in 11 games for Rochester before landing on the DL again.  “You control what you can control, and just keep playing,” he said.  “Base running, speed and defense have always been parts of my game that I excelled at.  Hitting is something that I always strive to be consistent at, but still haven't quite gotten there.” 

Strausborger said he spends part of the offseason in Elkhart with his parents.  “And the other half, it'll be down in Frisco, Texas, area,” he added, “with the girlfriend and her family.”    

A construction management major at Indiana State, Ryan was one semester short of a degree when he left school.  He said he plans to finish his studies “at some point,” but still isn’t sure if he’ll earn the remaining credits in the classroom or online.  “I haven't decided,” he said.  “I could do it either way.” 

Most of Strausborger’s former Indiana State teammates are no longer playing organized baseball.  “Other than Jake Petricka and Jeremy Lucas, I don't think any still remain,” he said.  Petricka pitches for the Chicago White Sox and Lucas is a catcher with Columbus (International), the top farm club of the Cleveland Indians. 

“That might be it,” Ryan continued.  [Brady] Shoemaker's in indy ball [with the St. Paul Saints of the independent American Association] and [Nick] Ciolli no longer plays.  I think he's a police officer.”  Shoemaker and Ciollo, both outfielders, spent their entire careers in the minor leagues – Shoemaker from 2009 to 2016, Ciollo from 2009 to 2012.  

Strausborger says he’s not ready to make plans for life after baseball.  “You have that thought here and there,” he said.  “But I'm going to enjoy it and stay young while it lasts.  I'm not quite to that point of looking beyond baseball.” 

Ryan Strausborger wasn’t the only player with Hoosier connections who came to Victory Field with Rochester.  The Red Wings roster included right-handed starter Aaron Slegers, who was drafted out of Indiana University by Minnesota in the fifth round of the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft. 

An Arizona native, the 6-foot-10, 245-pound Slegers pitched for IU for three seasons.  As a junior is 2013, he won nine and lost two for the Hoosiers with a 2.04 ERA. 

On July 24, Slegers was named International League Pitcher of the Week after going 2-0 with an 0.67 ERA.  Against the Toledo Mud Hens one day earlier, he ran his scoreless streak to 23 innings while picking up his 11^th win of the season.   

Pete Cava is the author of “Tales From the Cubs Dugout” and “Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players:  A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014.