It would seem like Corrales, N.M., native Cruz Sedillo can’t get enough of Dodge City.
He played two years at Dodge City Community College and when his eligibility was up, he joined the Dodge City Athletics National Baseball Congress summer-league team. After playing one year at Division-II New Mexico Highlands University, he came back to play one more season with the A’s.
But it was not the allure of Southwest Kansas that kept him coming back, it was the opportunity to play for coach Phil Stephenson, who as a player, was a college star at Wichita State as he held 13 NCAA hitting records. Stephenson spent four years playing in the Major Leagues, playing for the Cubs and Padres.
“The knowledge that he knows and how he teaches it (keeps me returning),” Sedillo said. “I have learned more baseball when I am not playing by just listening to him and how he knows the game and teaches it to players.
“Coach Stephenson is one of the guys that knows the most about hitting and you can just pick his mind and learn so much more about pitching by listening to what he has to say.”
When the 6-foot-1, 195-pound Sedillo agreed to play this season, he said he was not aware that Jeremy Irlbeck was going to be the head coach. He said he thought it would be Stephenson.
“I was a little disappointed, but it was not a big deal,” Sedillo said. “I knew like last season, I was going to get the interaction from coach Stephenson. Irlbeck helps the way he does it and coach (Jared) Howton is a good pitching coach that is from a school that wins a lot of games. So it wasn’t going to be a big deal because I was still going to get the help I needed.”
Midway through the season, Stephenson did become the head coach when Irlbeck was fired after losing 13 straight games.
Sedillo has played his best ball since Stephenson took over. In seven innings pitched since the coaching change, Sedillo has not given up an earned run and has allowed only three hits.
“I think probably more than anything else, he has a lot of confidence,” Stephenson said. “We have put him in situations to try and help build his confidence.
“In that game at Liberal (last Saturday) night, it is not a real pressure situation. We are down 7-1, but he goes in and puts up a zero and all of a sudden, we throw up a six-spot and tie the game. He throws up another zero to give us extra innings. We score and he puts up another zero, and that is a big confidence builder for him.
“Now he is in a position where he feels good about going into opportunities that are tight games and we feel that way as well now.”
Prior to Stephenson taking over the team, Sedillo had a 9.00 ERA. Since the change, it has dropped to 6.26.
“Obviously he needs to get more of an opportunity at the school he is at,” Stephenson said. “(He needs) to do everything he can to maximize his abilities. I think he is the kind of guy that is doing that. Whether that opportunity comes along for him, that is hard to tell.
“You don’t have to be the hardest thrower in the world to have an opportunity to play professionally, you just have to prove you can get people out on a consistent basis. I think with this being his senior year coming up, he is going to hopefully be able to do that. You know, where he is at, especially in that league, because it’s a hitters’ league in the RMAC
(Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference). If he proves he can get people out, he may get an opportunity.”
The right-handed Sedillo has a three-pitch arsenal, including a slider, fastball and changeup.
“What I have seen from him as a pitcher, is he is always around the zone,” A’s catcher and DCCC teammate Rick Lesperance said. “When I got to Dodge, he had a couple pitches he liked to work with and he has been very effective by throwing strikes and throwing three pitches for strikes. That is his key to success, is having three pitches he can throw for strikes.
“I would say his out pitch is his changeup because he throws it at the same arm-speed as his fastball.”
What Sedillo has been successful at this season, is not walking batters. He has allowed the fewest free bases among all A’s pitchers that have thrown more than 10 innings. Sedillo has walked only four hitters.
After two-years at DCCC, Sedillo went to play at New Mexico Highlands. In his first year, he had a 6.30 ERA in 10 innings pitched and had five strikeouts.
New Mexico Highlands was a different experience for Sedillo because it won games, going 41-13 overall and winning the conference.
In Dodge City, Sedillo never experienced a winning season with the A’s or the Conquistadors.
“It was a big difference and it was a lot of fun,” Sedillo said. “You could tell by just the way players prepared themselves day-in and day-out how they were ready come in and wanting to win all the time.
“That is hard to get with junior college kids because it is just the way they prepare themselves and look at the game. When you get to that level, you realize, I am coming down to my last years being able to play baseball, so I got to do the most I can to put myself in a position to get drafted.”
In his first season at New Mexico Highlands, Sedillo started the season just after recovering from a knee surgery in December.
That marked the second consecutive season Sedillo had surgery on his right knee and was able to return by the second game of the season.
“It was tough because I could not do a lot of stuff with the team,” Sedillo said, “so a lot of guys thought I was trying to get out of doing things on the baseball field because I could not do them. I just had to work harder through rehab and on my own to be able to show the guys on the team, that hey, if I am not out working with you, I am still working hard enough to be ready to play.”
Sedillo was not the first person in his family to play at New Mexico Highlands, as he father, Dave Sedillo, was a first baseman and outfielder at the university. Sedillo said following in his fathers’ steps was an afterthought in his decision to play ball there.
“Honestly I did not think about it until after I signed my letter of intent,” Sedillo said.
His hometown of a Corrales, a suburb of Albequereque N.M., is an hour and 45 minutes away from the New Mexico Highlands campus in Las Vegas N.M.
“I would have went and played anywhere,” Sedillo said. “The best opportunity for me was at New Mexico Highlands because I would go in and make a difference right away.”
It was while he was in high school that he met A’s catcher and former Conquistadors teammate, Lesperance. Both players were recruited to play for the Conquistadors at the same time.
“We were playing in, I think, the state tournament and
I was throwing down from knees to second base
in between innings,” Lepserance said. “The (DCCC) pitching coach Brian Cochran was really looking at Cruz, but saw me in between innings and that is kind of how I got my recognition here.
“Midland College was persuing me, but that kind of fell of the table when coach Cochran became really interested in me after that game. He told me I would have a starting spot.”
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It would seem like Corrales, N.M., native Cruz Sedillo can’t get enough of Dodge City.
He played two years at Dodge City Community College and when his eligibility was up, he joined the Dodge City Athletics National Baseball Congress summer-league team. After playing one year at Division-II New Mexico Highlands University, he came back to play one more season with the A’s.
But it was not the allure of Southwest Kansas that kept him coming back, it was the opportunity to play for coach Phil Stephenson, who as a player, was a college star at Wichita State as he held 13 NCAA hitting records. Stephenson spent four years playing in the Major Leagues, playing for the Cubs and Padres.
“The knowledge that he knows and how he teaches it (keeps me returning),” Sedillo said. “I have learned more baseball when I am not playing by just listening to him and how he knows the game and teaches it to players.
“Coach Stephenson is one of the guys that knows the most about hitting and you can just pick his mind and learn so much more about pitching by listening to what he has to say.”
When the 6-foot-1, 195-pound Sedillo agreed to play this season, he said he was not aware that Jeremy Irlbeck was going to be the head coach. He said he thought it would be Stephenson.
“I was a little disappointed, but it was not a big deal,” Sedillo said. “I knew like last season, I was going to get the interaction from coach Stephenson. Irlbeck helps the way he does it and coach (Jared) Howton is a good pitching coach that is from a school that wins a lot of games. So it wasn’t going to be a big deal because I was still going to get the help I needed.”
Midway through the season, Stephenson did become the head coach when Irlbeck was fired after losing 13 straight games.
Sedillo has played his best ball since Stephenson took over. In seven innings pitched since the coaching change, Sedillo has not given up an earned run and has allowed only three hits.
“I think probably more than anything else, he has a lot of confidence,” Stephenson said. “We have put him in situations to try and help build his confidence.
“In that game at Liberal (last Saturday) night, it is not a real pressure situation. We are down 7-1, but he goes in and puts up a zero and all of a sudden, we throw up a six-spot and tie the game. He throws up another zero to give us extra innings. We score and he puts up another zero, and that is a big confidence builder for him.
“Now he is in a position where he feels good about going into opportunities that are tight games and we feel that way as well now.”
Prior to Stephenson taking over the team, Sedillo had a 9.00 ERA. Since the change, it has dropped to 6.26.
“Obviously he needs to get more of an opportunity at the school he is at,” Stephenson said. “(He needs) to do everything he can to maximize his abilities. I think he is the kind of guy that is doing that. Whether that opportunity comes along for him, that is hard to tell.
“You don’t have to be the hardest thrower in the world to have an opportunity to play professionally, you just have to prove you can get people out on a consistent basis. I think with this being his senior year coming up, he is going to hopefully be able to do that. You know, where he is at, especially in that league, because it’s a hitters’ league in the RMAC
(Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference). If he proves he can get people out, he may get an opportunity.”
The right-handed Sedillo has a three-pitch arsenal, including a slider, fastball and changeup.
“What I have seen from him as a pitcher, is he is always around the zone,” A’s catcher and DCCC teammate Rick Lesperance said. “When I got to Dodge, he had a couple pitches he liked to work with and he has been very effective by throwing strikes and throwing three pitches for strikes. That is his key to success, is having three pitches he can throw for strikes.
“I would say his out pitch is his changeup because he throws it at the same arm-speed as his fastball.”
What Sedillo has been successful at this season, is not walking batters. He has allowed the fewest free bases among all A’s pitchers that have thrown more than 10 innings. Sedillo has walked only four hitters.
After two-years at DCCC, Sedillo went to play at New Mexico Highlands. In his first year, he had a 6.30 ERA in 10 innings pitched and had five strikeouts.
New Mexico Highlands was a different experience for Sedillo because it won games, going 41-13 overall and winning the conference.
In Dodge City, Sedillo never experienced a winning season with the A’s or the Conquistadors.
“It was a big difference and it was a lot of fun,” Sedillo said. “You could tell by just the way players prepared themselves day-in and day-out how they were ready come in and wanting to win all the time.
“That is hard to get with junior college kids because it is just the way they prepare themselves and look at the game. When you get to that level, you realize, I am coming down to my last years being able to play baseball, so I got to do the most I can to put myself in a position to get drafted.”
In his first season at New Mexico Highlands, Sedillo started the season just after recovering from a knee surgery in December.
That marked the second consecutive season Sedillo had surgery on his right knee and was able to return by the second game of the season.
“It was tough because I could not do a lot of stuff with the team,” Sedillo said, “so a lot of guys thought I was trying to get out of doing things on the baseball field because I could not do them. I just had to work harder through rehab and on my own to be able to show the guys on the team, that hey, if I am not out working with you, I am still working hard enough to be ready to play.”
Sedillo was not the first person in his family to play at New Mexico Highlands, as he father, Dave Sedillo, was a first baseman and outfielder at the university. Sedillo said following in his fathers’ steps was an afterthought in his decision to play ball there.
“Honestly I did not think about it until after I signed my letter of intent,” Sedillo said.
His hometown of a Corrales, a suburb of Albequereque N.M., is an hour and 45 minutes away from the New Mexico Highlands campus in Las Vegas N.M.
“I would have went and played anywhere,” Sedillo said. “The best opportunity for me was at New Mexico Highlands because I would go in and make a difference right away.”
It was while he was in high school that he met A’s catcher and former Conquistadors teammate, Lesperance. Both players were recruited to play for the Conquistadors at the same time.
“We were playing in, I think, the state tournament and
I was throwing down from knees to second base
in between innings,” Lepserance said. “The (DCCC) pitching coach Brian Cochran was really looking at Cruz, but saw me in between innings and that is kind of how I got my recognition here.
“Midland College was persuing me, but that kind of fell of the table when coach Cochran became really interested in me after that game. He told me I would have a starting spot.”
