Tempe, Arizona, 5:45 a.m. — Conor Lillis-White’s alarm clock goes off. He stirs and hits the snooze button. But then he remembers why he has to wake up and slowly rises out of bed. Lillis-White’s roommate, Arizona native Mike McDavid, has to wake up for the same reason. But he hasn’t quite remembered that yet, so Lillis-White reminds him until he does.
Minutes later in the empty lobby of the extended-stay hotel the pair live in, they grab coffees before exiting to the parking lot outside. It’s already light and quite warm. The two get into McDavid’s car and begin the short drive to the LA Angels’ training complex for breakfast, followed by 10 hours of meetings, practice and games.
Lillis-White, UBC’s 2015 Male Athlete of the Year, was drafted by the Angels in the 32nd round of the MLB draft this June, becoming the 19th T-Bird to do so. Ever since then, he’s been down in Arizona training and playing in the MLB’s rookie league, beginning his long-stretch to the majors.
But as there are over 1,000 players taken in the draft each year, most draftees never see a major league field. Even players taken in the first round spend a number of years working their way up through the minors. So as a 32nd — out of 40 — round pick, what’s next for Lillis-White?
Following the draft on June 10, Lillis-White flew down to Arizona and played in his first rookie league game against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 20. “That was nerve-racking,” said Lillis-White. “But I think once I threw a couple of pitches, I realized it’s kind of the same game I’ve been playing since I was a kid.”
It may be the same game, but it’s on a whole other level. “I would say from a talent level perspective, that’s probably been the biggest adjustment,” said Lillis-White. “There are guys that can hit the ball a mile. There are guys that can throw the ball 95 miles an hour.”
And as the talent rises, so does the work. For 10 hours a day, six days a week, Lillis-White worked on his game this summer in the Arizona heat as he got his first taste of professional baseball. But all that work caught up with him when he suffered a forearm strain at the end of July that sidelined him for the rest of the summer.
Lillis-White was fortunate to have played well enough while he was healthy to be invited to this fall’s “instructional league” — five weeks in September and October where the most promising recruits are given a chance to isolate their weaknesses and work on them before the long winter break.
Once instructional league finishes this month, Lillis-White will have a few months off which he plans to spend back home in Toronto where he will potentially spend the winter coaching his old high-school team. Throughout the break, he’ll also be in constant contact with the Angels making sure his forearm is healing and that he’s in shape for April’s all-important spring training.
Lillis-White and 160 other players will gather in Arizona next spring to compete for a very limited number of spaces on the various minor-league teams affiliated with the Angels. In order for new recruits to make it to the major leagues, they must first advance out of the purely developmental rookie leagues to the single A minor leagues. Here, they can then showcase their talents and work their way up to double A, triple A and finally the majors.
Those who impress the coaches enough at spring training then fly off around the country to affiliate teams. Those who don't make the cut stay in Arizona for extended spring training and another summer of rookie ball. “My goal is to, next summer, not be playing in Arizona,” said Lillis-White. “To begin next season at low A would mean I’m heading in the right direction.”
As Lillis-White thinks about his future, he remembers how he got here and recalls the role UBC had to play in it all. “I [came] to UBC because I thought that it would give me the best chance to get drafted,” said Lillis-White. “I knew that the best way to get noticed was to win games and I was fortunate enough to play on a team that did win a lot of games.”
Lillis-White also believes that, when he arrived at UBC, he was by far the worst player on the team. But by the time he graduated, he’d led the entire nation in lowest earned run-average and made two successive NAIA All-West teams in a row. He’ll face another up-hill battle as a late round draftee as scouts usually pay the most attention to early rounders, but Lillis-White remains hopeful.
“I think what I’m more confident in than my actual ability is my ability to consistently improve,” said Lillis-White. “If I face challenges, I’m able to say I’ve faced them before in my career. So it’s not something that I can’t overcome.”
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