PHILADELPHIA _ Spencer Howard walked on to the baseball team at Cal Poly in the fall of 2014. Three years later, he walked off the field to a standing ovation and into pro ball as the 45th player out of 1,215 to be selected in the 2017 draft.
And in the intervening 33 months?
"We did a lot of stretching routines and kind of some meditation stuff," said Austin Dondanville, Howard's college teammate and close friend. "I think there's something to say about it. I think it kind of clears your mind."
Oh, so that's how an unrecruited pitcher from a high school of about 800 students in a coastal city in central California turns into the Phillies' top pitching prospect on the cusp of making his major-league debut, likely Sunday against the two-time division-champion Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park.
"Well, he's also throwing 98 and got some good off-speed," Dondanville said last week, laughing through his phone. "He's just a super-level-headed kid. Doesn't get too high, doesn't get too low, but also loves to compete. I think that combination has set him up for success."
Indeed, Howard exudes a matter-of-factness about his meteoric baseball ascent. The 24-year-old right-hander doesn't come off aloof or cocky. He just seems, well, unaffected by it all.
Consider his reaction upon hearing a few weeks ago that none other than Bryce Harper pushed for his prompt call-up during a live stream on Twitch.
"It's cool, man," said Howard, who might never have known about it if his father hadn't told him the next day. "Obviously he's been one of the faces of baseball forever, it seems like. And for him to be a Philadelphia Phillie for (the next) 13 years or however long, I think he's definitely looking out for younger guys coming up in the system. I think it's really cool."
Howard maintains that he's "not super-big with social media." He seems almost unaware that he has generated more hype than any Phillies pitching prospect since at least Aaron Nola in 2015 and probably Cole Hamels in 2006. His friends and former coaches agree that he's driven to be elite but isn't defined by baseball. After all, he nearly quit the sport in high school to play volleyball.
Chances are, though, before Howard takes the mound Sunday, he will reflect on how he got there. And he probably will recall the quiet afternoons in Baggett Stadium at Cal Poly, where he and Dondanville worked on training their minds as much as their arms.
"Before practice would start, like hours before, they'd be out there on their yoga mats on the outfield grass," Cal Poly coach Larry Lee recalled by phone last week. "They had their app or something and they were doing their thing."
