For the love of the game: Midview alum Ryan Feierabend still wants to play at the highest level, but playing the Lake Erie Crushers is still special

AVON — Ryan Feierabend pitched for Seattle, Texas and Toronto in Major League Baseball. He made appearances in Yankee Stadium, Chicago and Anaheim. He played in Korea for four years and spent the first half of last season in Taiwan as part of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound left-hander hasn't taken the mound in a game in Lorain County since he was a senior at Midview High School in 2003. That will change tonight when he starts for the Lake Erie Crushers in their season opener in Avon. "I literally have aunts and uncles that have never seen me play," Feierabend told The Chronicle-Telegram on Tuesday at media day. "My mom and dad haven't seen me play since like 2014 because my mom's not in the greatest of health. So to be able to be here and be able to play in front of them, if this is my last time doing it, then at least I'm going out with family and friends seeing me do it." Feierabend, 35, said the main reason he signed with the Crushers is to try to get back to the majors. But he wouldn't have chosen the Frontier League if it didn't have a team so close to home. While his motivation is proving to scouts he's still got what it takes to get out major league hitters, for the moment he loves the idea of standing in the center of the diamond with a bunch of familiar faces in the stands. "They used to babysit my kids," Columbia Schools superintendent Graig Bansek, who coached Feierabend at Midview, said of him and wife Sarah (Maxwell), his high school sweetheart. "And Thursday night I'll be in a suite watching him throw his game." Bansek remains close to Feierabend and has traveled to see him pitch as a professional, but many area fans who've supported him throughout his long career have done so from afar. "So I'm happy to be able to present that opportunity, to let them see me," said Feierabend, who lives in Grafton and can watch 11-year-old son Trey and 9-year-old daughter Sienna play baseball and softball this year. "To be close to home and just play in front of hometown fans and family is the ultimate thing, it's why I'm here." A lifer Feierabend almost walked away from baseball nearly a decade ago. Now he can't quit the sport that's taken up residency in his bones. "I love this game and that's why I'm trying to continue to do what I do," he said. "I know personally I don't have too many more bullets, as they say, in my left arm, so I'm hoping to make these last few years memorable and get back to the big leagues one last time." Feierabend made his major league debut as a 21-year-old with the Mariners on Sept. 13, 2006. He's pitched in 32 big league games since, including 20 starts, going 2-12 with a 7.34 ERA and striking out 72 in 119 innings. He'll turn 36 on Aug. 22 and keeps chasing the dream. He came back from Tommy John surgery and spent years overseas with the hope of becoming a regular on a big league staff. "I set two goals before I even got drafted out of high school. I said I want to be in the big leagues when I was 21 and I wanted to play for 20 years," Feierabend said. "I got to the big leagues two weeks after my 21st birthday and I'm in Year 19 right now. Do I wish I would've had more success at the big league level? Absolutely. I struggled at the big league level, there's no question about it, look at my stats. "But where that path led me was to having a second career, if you will, overseas that actually helped pay the bills." And earned him another shot at the majors. He won an ERA title in Korea in 2017 throwing a knuckleball and returned to the majors in 2019 with the Blue Jays. He's a vastly different pitcher than the one rushed to the majors as a youngster. "I'm glad I got to the big leagues at 21, don't get me wrong," Feierabend said. "But when I got there I was a two-pitch pitcher, fastball and change-up." Without a refined breaking ball, he didn't have the variety to keep hitters' off-balance. "He was a young kid that threw the crap out of the ball. He didn't have any command at that point in time," said Crushers manager Dan Rohn, who was a Triple-A manager with the Mariners when Feierabend was coming up. "He's gone 180 degrees with his stuff. He's honed his craft to be a pretty crafty left-hander right now." During the transformation, Feierabend brought out the knuckleball his dad, Don, taught him as a teenager. He still uses it but only as a secondary off-speed pitch to go with his sinker, slider, curveball and change-up. He and Rohn believe his stuff is strong enough to work in the majors. "He can be a fifth starter for some clubs right now," Rohn said. "It's obvious his stuff is still that good. He's got a nice repertoire." Feierabend is like any pitcher who doesn't throw 95 mph. He must live at the bottom of the strike zone, hit his spots and keep hitters guessing. "I would definitely describe it as me being a control pitcher," he said. "I feel like I can get guys out at the big league level, absolutely." The optimism had disappeared in 2012. He was in the Atlantic League, wasn't having fun and missed his wife and young children. His wife, who played college softball, talked him into giving it one more shot. "I think I stopped worrying about everything," he said. "I just went out and had fun, remembered it was a kid's game. "I wasn't worried about if I'm getting called up, I wasn't worried about what my stats looked like, I wasn't worried about what this person thought of me. Just go out and do what I've done my whole life, go out and pitch. And I think that's the big reason my career continued, I just stopped worrying." Older and wiser The distress is gone, but the desire remains. "He's still hungry, still wants to prove that he can do it," Rohn said. "This is the year he's going to have to prove that he can do it or he'll start his coaching career. In either aspect he's going to be very good for the game of baseball." The career move after playing seems inevitable. Feierabend acts as a second pitching coach for the Crushers and has no intention of spending his summer days anywhere besides a ballpark. "I plan on hopefully getting a coaching position or being some type of instructor in professional baseball," he said. "That's how much I love this game. I'm not just going to be like, hey, you gave me 20 years, peace out. The love of the game's there and I think it'll always be there." Feierabend is more than 10 years older than many of his Crushers teammates and volunteered to be called Grandpa. Rohn said he's great to have in the clubhouse and bullpen. After all, he's seen a ton and once picked off Alex Rodriguez. "Guys look up to him," Rohn said. "Younger guys have a lot to learn from him, so it's nice." "I've seen him work with kids when he goes up to Midview and throws, he works with my own son, he works with his kids, he's got a knack for it," Bansek said. Feierabend benefits, too. "It's rejuvenating being at the ballpark," he said. "It makes you feel like a kid. When I'm at the ballpark, I get to have fun, I joke around." Local legend Feierabend felt the love of his hometown May 14 when Midview retired his No. 11 jersey. Basketball player Anthony Stacey, Class of 1995, is the only other Middies athlete so honored. Bansek wrote an essay to start the process then pushed it through to completion. "He's just a great representative," Bansek said. "Everybody is always more important than him. "There's only a certain number of people that get a chance to play at that level and he always can say that he has done himself and his family right by what he's done." Feierabend led the Middies to three straight league titles and a district finals appearance. He was All-Ohio and finished with 23 wins, 347 strikeouts and a 1.55 ERA. He choked up a bit when talking about his 84-year-old grandfather Bob attending the ceremony after three surgeries following a broken hip. "To see him there, my mom and dad, it was very emotional but very grateful at the same time," Feierabend said. The feelings will likely be similar tonight. And in a perfect world, the outing will be the next step toward realizing his ultimate childhood dream. After all, the Indians need rotation help with the struggles of Triston McKenzie and Logan Allen and Zach Plesac's broken thumb. "Would I love to be playing for my hometown team before I retire? Absolutely," Feierabend said. Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @scottpetrak on Twitter.