CLEARLAKE — Five years ago, the road to the majors for Ray Silva was all about the magic he could work with the bat. Five years later, it”s all about what he can do with his right arm.
Silva, 23, the son of Ray and Mary Silva of Clearlake, has taken the first step toward becoming a Big Leaguer by signing as a free agent with the Johnson City Cardinals, a Rookie-level team in the St. Louis Cardinals” minor league organization.
Through action Thursday, Silva, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound relief pitcher, had appeared in four games and pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and two runs for a 4.91 ERA with three strikeouts and three walks.
“The bat was kind of taken out of my hand,” Silva said of his journey from high school ball, where he rewrote Lake County”s record book as a hitter in 2002 while a member of the Kelseyville Indians” varsity baseball team, to the Johnson City Cardinals, with stops in between at Santa Rosa Junior College and the University of Texas Pan-American in Edinburg, Texas.
Silva learned the art of pitching at SRJC and actually became an unlikely hero in the Bearcubs” state championship run in 2005 when he went 2-0 in the playoffs with a 1.77 ERA. Although he had pitched only 17 innings in the regular season, he threw three critical shutout innings in SRJC”s 8-7 victory in 13 innings over Cosumnes River in the four-team Super Regionals.
Silva credits Damon Neidlinger with his pitching success even though it was Neidlinger who sent Silva to the bullpen after making the decision that it was Silva”s arm, and not his bat, that would help the Bearcubs the most.
“No doubt about that,” Silva said of Neidlinger”s contributions to his current success as a pitcher. “Without him I wouldn”t be here. I probably wouldn”t be in baseball.”
Silva”s odyssey from Kelseyville to Johnson City, which is located in Tennessee, hasn”t followed a straight line, that”s for sure.
Though a Clearlake native, Ray played his high school ball at Kelseyville High, following in the footsteps of his older sister Tara. He helped the Indians, now the Knights, earn a share of the North Central League I championship in 2001. He was tied for the team lead in hits (40) but had only one home run and 19 RBIs.
Then came 2002.
In one of the best seasons ever a Lake County player, Silva again led the Indians to a share of the league title, this time with a power barrage that included a Lake County-record 11 home runs and 41 RBIs. He did appear in two games as a pitcher, recording four innings and striking out four.
After graduation from Kelseyville that year, Silva was off to Sierra College in Rocklin, but when it became apparent that he wasn”t in the team”s plans, he transferred to Solano College and played there for a season. He red-shirted at SRJC in 2004 before helping the Bearcubs win a state championship in 2005.
After graduating from SRJC, Silva continued his college career at UTPA in 2006. He appeared in 11 games, started one, posted a 2-1 record, and struck out 24 batters in 25 1/3 innings.
While at UTPA, Silva caught the eye of a scout in the St. Louis organization, Joe Almarez, who is now the coach at Johnson City. Invited to participate in a tryout for the Cardinals in San Antonio, Silva took part just two week before the first-year player draft and thought he had a shot at being selected.
“I was hoping I would go in the late rounds, but it didn”t happen,” Silva said.
But the Cardinals were still interested in him.
“I was at home, just after 12 o”clock (noon) when they gave me a call,” Silva said. “It was almost three weeks after the draft (June 7-8) and they told me they wanted me to report here (to Johnson City) and that they were sending me a (plane) ticket).”
So Silva packed his bags and was off to the airport, his baseball career still very much alive and kicking. He arrived in Tennessee on June 28.
“I was excited but I can”t get too excited,” Silva said. “I mean I have a job to do and I can”t be thinking about that (playing in the majors one day). I just go game to game.”
Silva said minor league ball is a big step up from collegiate ball.
“Every level is different and harder,” Silva said. “Here they”re grading you all the time. They watch you when you”re working out, warming up in the bullpen … they send a report on you in every day. You can”t screw around or you”ll be out. They want to see how you conduct yourself.”
And while winning is im-portant, even in Rookie ball, it”s not the most important thing, according to Silva.
“They”re looking to see how you”re developing, progressing,” Silva said.
And the former Kelseyville star said he has almost no margin for error when compared to his younger teammates.
“I”m only 23 and I”m the oldest player here,” Silva said. “The organization has its big boys (players they”ve drafted) and they get the first shot, so I have to make my chances count when I get them. I don”t have as long to impress them as some of the younger guys.”
Silva describes his delivery as three-quarters (as compared to over the top or sidearm).
“I throw a fastball, slider and changeup. I live off the ball sinking,” he added.
His role out of the bullpen is pretty simple … clean up whatever mess he”s inherited.
“They kind of use me to get out of jams,” said Silva, who worked a combined 2 2/3 scoreless innings in his first three appearances. In his fourth outing, he allowed two runs in one inning in a 4-3 Johnson City win over the Danville Braves.
Johnson City competes in the Appalachian League and, through Thursday, was sitting at 8-13 (third place) in the Appalachian League”s Western Division.
When the 2007 season concludes at the end of August, Silva will find out what the Cardinals have in store for him.
“I could go to short-season A ball or to a high-level A team,” Silva said. “It depends how I do.”
Silva is happy to be a member of the Johnson City Cardinals right now and equally thrilled to be playing for one of Major League Baseball”s most-storied franchises in the Cardinals, who are the defending World Series champions.
“It”s a very classy organization,” said Silva, who added he doesn”t mind the long bus trips.
“They”re very nice buses and they have small TVs so you can watch ESPN,” he said.
