Shawn Sedlacek

 

Shawn Sedlacek pitched 16 games for the 2002 Kansas City Royals.

Shawn Patrick Sedlacek was born June 29, 1976, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (online sources show him having been born in 1977, but a questionnaire he filled out in 1998 gives 1976 as the year, which fits better with his 1994 high school graduation). The first newspaper mention I found of him was when he was the ringbearer in a wedding at age four. He was a star pitcher at Kennedy High in Cedar Rapids his junior and senior years. In June 1994 he was hosting a graduation party at his home when a van full of 13-14 year olds crashed through the chain link fence and damaged seven vehicles parked in the yard. During the following summer he starred for an American Legion team that advanced to the regional tournament in South Dakota.

In 1995 and 1996 Shawn pitched for Indian Hills Community College in Centerville, where he was used both as a starter and a reliever; then he went to Iowa State for two years. He was chosen in the 14^th round of the 1998 free agent draft by the Royals. From the Cedar Rapids Gazette of June 4:

Neither Nate Frese nor Shawn Sedlacek considered himself a top pro prospect when the 1998 college baseball season opened this spring…

Sedlacek, meanwhile, said a strong campaign last fall had him hopeful he could get drafted this spring. He said those hopes never flagged, despite an 0-4 start.

“The first half of the season, I was pitching to get scouted,” said Sedlacek, who won five of his last six decisions and finished 6-6. He led the Cyclones in innings pitched (77) and strikeouts (65). “As the year progressed, I kept raising my expectations.”

Iowa State coach Lyle Smith said Sedlacek’s fastball was a consistent 85 mph when he reported to Ames, but was clocked in the low to mid 90’s this spring.

“I think he matured and got a little stronger, and he has more solid mechanics,” Smith said. “His first year he struggled and I’m sure he probably doubted himself. This year he blossomed.”

…Sedlacek signed a Royals contract Tuesday night. He reports June 11 to the Royals’ Northwest League affiliate at Spokane.

Shawn didn’t begin the season in the Spokane starting rotation, but he soon moved in and became their top pitcher. He had a 9-2 record and 3.45 ERA in 86 innings in 16 games (13 starts), with 62 strikeouts and only 18 walks. During the season he filled out a questionnaire, in which he gave his nickname as “Sed,” his size as 6-3 190, his off-season occupation as Cook Fence Co., and his hobbies as movies, golf, and tae kwon do.

For 1999 Shawn moved up from the Northwest League, Class Short Season A, to the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Carolina League, Class Advanced A (yes, a Delaware city in the Carolina League). He missed around two months after being hit in the back of his right thumb by a grounder in May, and ended the season with a 4-6 record and 5.28 ERA in 92 innings in 17 starts.

Shawn spent 2000 with the Wichita Wranglers of the Class AA Texas League. Only 16 of his 35 games were starts, but still he led the league in wins, and the team by a margin of five, with a 15-6 record. He had a 3.66 ERA in 140 1/3 innings.

In 2001 Shawn was invited to Kansas City’s spring training as a non-roster player, but was reassigned to the minor league camp on March 9. He split the season between Wichita and AAA Omaha, spending the middle half of the year with Omaha and starting and ending with Wichita, pitching 14 games for each. Between the two he totaled an 11-11 record and 4.29 ERA in 167 2/3 innings.

Shawn began 2002 in Wichita, but after a 1.47 ERA in his first three starts he was moved back up to Omaha. As of mid-June he was 6-5 with a 3.70 ERA in 80 1/3 innings in eleven starts; on June 14 he was called up to the Royals. From the June 18 Cedar Rapids Gazette:

Sedlacek plans to just stick with what works

Ex-C.R. prep to make big league debut at Montreal

By Mike Hlas

The Gazette

Here’s one difference between baseball’s minor leagues and the majors:

Last Friday, Shawn Sedlacek was a passenger in a bus that took the Omaha Royals from Portland, Ore., to Tacoma, Wash. Two days later, he was in a chartered jet that delivered the Kansas City Royals from St. Louis to Montreal.

After the O-Royals checked into their hotel this past Friday, Omaha manager Bucky Dent phoned Sedlacek, a Cedar Rapids Kennedy graduate. The call had come. Kansas City had summoned Sedlacek to the majors.

Less than two weeks before his 26^th birthday [see—1976], Sedlacek makes his big-league debut tonight when he is the starting pitcher for the Royals in their interleague game against the Montreal Expos. The fifth-year pro will try to do what he has done for Omaha the last several weeks.

“I’m just trying to give my team a lot of innings and a chance to win,” Sedlacek said from his Montreal hotel room Monday morning…

Sedlacek said the advice he received from Kansas City Manager Tony Pena and pitching coach Al Nipper over the weekend was identical to what he got from Dent and Omaha pitching coach John Cumberland on Friday.

“They’ve all been pretty emphatic, telling me not to change anything I’ve been doing, to just pitch my game,” Sedlacek said.

“They don’t want me to think I have to do something different. They said to stick to my game plan, which is changing speeds and using all my pitches.”…

“I’ve always felt I was on the right path,” he said. “At times, it feels long because you might be in a hurry or want something better for yourself. But I was always learning, and the time was always constructive.”

Shawn retired the first seven batters he faced, and 16 of the first 17, the exception being a home run by Brian Schneider. He was removed with two out and two on in the sixth with a 4-2 lead, and though his two runners didn’t score the Expos got three runs in the seventh to win 5-4. After four starts he had four no-decisions, three where he left the game with a lead and the Royals’ bullpen blew it, and one where he left with a tie and the Royals’ bullpen blew it; at this point he had a 2.84 ERA.

In his fifth start, on July 15, Shawn got his first win, at home against Texas. He came out after six innings with a 7-3 lead and the bullpen hung on for an 8-6 victory. His next start was another no-decision where he pitched well and lowered his ERA to 3.05, but after that it started to rise; he stayed in the rotation through September 6, but at that point he was 3-5 with a 6.69 ERA over 14 starts. He was then moved into the bullpen, from which he made two more appearances before the end of the season, ending up with a 6.72 ERA in 84 1/3 innings.

Despite his shaky late season, Shawn was still highly valued by the Royals and was projected to be in the 2003 starting rotation. In the December 2 Sporting News he was described as “not overpowering but has a four-pitch repertoire topped by a sinker.” 

He spent January 2003 as part of the Royals Caravan, making personal appearances around the Midwest with other current and former Royals and members of the broadcast team. 

From an AP story, as it appeared in the February 14 Salina Journal:

Sedlacek looks to earn starting spot

Former Iowa State standout provided Royals solid innings before fading final two months

SURPRIZE, Ariz.—Shawn Sedlacek made a good first impression last year with the Kansas City Royals, but not a lasting one.

Sedlacek went 1-0 with a 3.05 ERA in his first six starts after being called up June 18. He easily could have been 4-0, but the bullpen failed to hold leads in three of his first four starts.

Sedlacek’s solid start did not carry over into the final two months, when he ran up a 9.37 ERA over the remainder of the season. His final two appearances were in relief.

When the Royals open spring training today with pitchers and catchers reporting, Sedlacek will be entering his fourth day in camp. He is among a pack of young pitchers trying to win a spot in the Royals’ rotation.

“At the end of the season, it was hard for me to keep up,” Sedlacek said. “I think I was fatigued. It was nice to be there at the end of the season and in the bullpen, getting experience. It gives me confidence to come into spring training.”

Sedlacek threw a career-high 173 innings [183] last year, including nearly 100 before his promotion to the majors.

“That’s the most innings I’ve pitched,” Sedlacek said. “I’ve added about 20 innings every year, from 140 to 160 to 180. Now I’m shooting for 200 innings.”

Sedlacek, who was drafted in the 14^th round in 1998 out of Iowa State, said he “searched for a lot of answers” on why his production sagged after the All-Star break.

“I just didn’t have the quality of all my pitches that I had earlier,” Sedlacek said Thursday. “I’m different than a lot of guys in I’ve got to do a lot of things right to have success.”

Sedlacek throws a two- and four-seam fastball, plus a curveball, slider and circle changeup. He and Mike Boddicker, a former Royals pitcher who lives in Kansas City and was successful many years in the majors without throwing hard, have created a bond. They talk often in the Kansas City clubhouse.

“We’re both from Iowa,” Sedlacek said. “He played for the same American Legion team that I played on several year before. Boddicker tries to keep it simple: high and tight, low and away, when they think you’re going to throw a curveball, throw a fastball. He’s definitely the type of pitcher I try to learn from.”

Sedlacek believes he will be in the rotation once the season starts.

“Definitely,” he said. “I’m coming into the season with a lot of confidence. I’ve had more rest this off season than every other off-season. I’m ready to go.”

Shawn made just two exhibition game appearances for the Royals before being sent down to Omaha, where on April 3 he was the opening night starter. On May 29 he was dropped from Kansas City’s 40-man roster to make room for Les Walrond, who was claimed off waivers from the Cardinals. This had no immediate tangible effect on Shawn, as he continued to pitch for Omaha, but it couldn’t have been a good sign, and in late July he was moved back down to Wichita; his Omaha numbers were a 4-11 record and 6.45 ERA in 96 1/3 innings in 27 games, 13 of them starts. He made five starts for Wichita and had a 5.60 ERA in 27 1/3 innings. In December he held a baseball camp for 5^th-12^th graders at his old high school.

On January 26, 2004, Shawn was traded to the Mets for Jaime Cerda, a left-handed reliever who had had a 2.45 ERA in 2002 but jumped to 5.85 in 2003. He started spring training with New York but was reassigned to the minor league camp early in the exhibition season. He began the regular season with Binghamton of the Class AA Eastern League, but the Mets released him on May 8 with an 11.20 ERA in eight games. Three days later he was signed by the Cubs and sent to AAA Iowa. He did much better for the Cubs in AAA than for the Mets in AA: a 10-7 record and 4.32 ERA in 131 1/3 innings in 22 games, all starts. In October it was announced that Shawn would be getting married in November; his wife-to-be was a Royals employee, and they are still married.

Also in October Shawn became a free agent, and in January 2005 he signed with the Colorado Rockies; that same month he was inducted into the Hall of Fame at his old high school. He began the season with the Rockies’ AAA team in Colorado Springs and made a start for them on April 14, allowing two runs in five innings. Three days later he was sent to the Cardinals “as part of a conditional deal,” whatever that means, and was assigned to their AAA team in Memphis. For Memphis he had a 10.80 ERA in 15 innings in five games, and he was released by the St. Louis organization on May 18. Quickly he was signed by the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the independent Northern League, managed by Hal Lanier, and he made his first start for them on May 27. From the June 18 Winnipeg Free Press:

Lanier has confidence in his right-hander and knows what he’s going to get from him when he sends him out.

“He knows what he’s doing, he’s going to be a very good pitcher and probably has an opportunity to get with an organization, if he just gets everything together,” said Lanier.

Soon he was being called the ace of the staff. From the “On Deck With Sheri Lamb” column in the June 27 Free Press:

Goldeye treasures his gift for game

Fish pitcher savours chance to play ball

Accepting the hand fate has dealt him, a confident Shawn Sedlacek hopes his time with the Northern League’s Winnipeg Goldeyes will turn into a royal flush.

After toiling in the minor leagues for several years with the Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals, the Goldeyes starting pitcher isn’t afraid of a little hard work to get back to the big leagues again.

Sedlacek (2-3, 3.64) knows what it truly means to work hard and he knows his gift for baseball makes him one of the lucky few who can work at a profession he loves.

While in college Sedlacek spent a couple of summers building fences and learned to appreciate the hours of working out and the practice it takes to play pro ball.

“Working for the fence company, I could work 10-12 hours per day and just come home beat, tired and hands covered with blisters, I really learned what hard work is,” said Sedlacek who grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Sedlacek realized when he was in high school he may have an opportunity to actually take his love of baseball and make a career out of it.

Always a small, skinny kid growing up, Sedlacek didn’t make a lot of teams. Then in high school he met a coach who helped mold him into the player he is today.

“By the time I got to high school there was a coach who was very motivated and he made us practise a lot,” said the Goldeyes workhorse, who has worked three complete games this year. “When I started to play for him, I played really well my last years of high school and if it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have been that motivated to go to college and play.”

Once he started playing college ball he continued to improve and was drafted by the Royals in 1998.

After bouncing around in the Royals system, from single A to triple A, Sedlacek finally received the call from the Royals in 2002. The Royals were a struggling ball club and despite Sedlacek’s efforts wins didn’t come easy (3-5, 6.72).

“I didn’t play on a very good team and we finished in last place,” said the 27-year-old Sedlacek, who will celebrate his 28^th [29^th] birthday on Wednesday. “I should have won a lot more games than what I got credit for, but you get what you get and I try to get back there everyday and prove myself.”

After getting cut by the Cardinals affiliate in Memphis in May, Sedlacek returned home to Cedar Rapids, spending time with his parents, younger sister and new wife of six months, Joy.

While at home, Sedlacek played in a couple of baseball games with an old high school buddy.

“It was fun to just go out and play baseball and not have to worry what the coach or anybody thinks, just like you’re in the backyard,” said Sedlacek.

Two weeks later the Goldeyes contacted him and he quickly decided coming to the Northern League would be his best move to accomplish his goal of getting back to the majors.

Whether it’s his experience or his age, Sedlacek has a quiet, confident personality and he knows what he wants and what he has to do to get it.

“I’m married and I have a wife and I want to be the best that I can be, not just as a baseball player, but as an all-around person and husband. I want to get things done right,” said Sedlacek.

On July 12 Shawn was named to the Northern League all-star team, and the next day he pitched a five-hit shutout with 15 strikeouts, which got him named the league’s pitcher of the week. He had a 6-5 record and 3.38 ERA in 127 2/3 innings in 17 starts, striking out 92 and walking just 23, when the Goldeyes sold him to the Baltimore Orioles on August 26. He was assigned to the AAA Ottawa Lynx of the International League; their season was almost over but he started two games, and gave up 11 earned runs in nine innings. On October 15 he became a free agent, but no one picked him up and that concluded his professional baseball career. For years Shawn has been a partner in a baseball instruction facility in Kansas.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/S/Psedls001.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sedlash01.shtml