Righty Cory Wade was drafted by the Dodgers in the 10th round in 2004 out of Kentucky Wesleyan College “after setting the career record for strikeouts at Indianapolis’ Broad Ripple High,” according to Baseball America. He broke into the Majors in late April of 2008 as a 24-year-old, tossing a scoreless inning against the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.
As Wade’s stellar rookie season continued, he gained the trust of manager Joe Torre. He finished the regular season with a 2.27 ERA in 71 1/3 innings, ranking third among all relievers. Wade was a key part of the Dodgers’ NLDS sweep of the Cubs in ’08, pitching well out of L.A.’s bullpen in all three games.
Unfortunately, Wade’s Dodgers career was derailed by shoulder surgery. He battled to get back to the Majors, opting out of a minor league deal with the Rays in the summer of 2011 and signing with the Yankees. Wade jumped straight into the Yankees’ big league bullpen on June 15th, posting a 2.04 ERA on the season that was bested by only a handful of AL relievers, including pen-mates Mariano Rivera and David Robertson. Under manager Joe Girardi, Wade once again found himself getting crucial postseason innings, putting up two scoreless against the Tigers in the second game of the ALDS.
Wade moved around after his time with the Yankees, pitching in Triple-A for the Rays, Cubs, Mets, and Royals organizations. After retiring from pitching, Wade spent nine years as a pro scout for the Padres. He recently left that job to help start a sports scouting app called ScoutUs Pro.
Despite an average fastball velocity shy of 90 miles per hour, Wade showed impeccable control and wound up as one of the league’s better relievers in his work with both the ’08 Dodgers and ’11 Yankees. His strikeout victims included Chipper Jones, Bobby Abreu, and Todd Helton.
Cory answered questions from MLBTR readers for over an hour today, touching on topics such as modern baseball analytics, scouting, bouncing back from injuries, and much more. Check out the transcript here!
If you’re a current or former MLB player and you’d like to host an hour-long chat with our readers, contact us here! It’s easy and fun!
Finally! A good player who wants to chat
Honestly, I’m happy to hear about the experiences of all the players. They worked hard to get to that level. Even if they only lasted a few years, they’ve achieved skill level to play at the highest level of baseball.
It’s true. I definitely appreciate it, but I wish guys like Bonds, Rodriguez, Pujols, Beltran, Pedro, Griffen, etc. would chat too.
Is that within the budget of MLBTR? Plus, I doubt some of those PED users want to sit and answer internet users posting questions like: Do you feel terrible for having cheated? Honestly, if you think these guys are cheaters, do you also think the MLB and owners are cheaters? The commissioner and owners were happy to take all the money that came with it.
We don’t pay these guys. I put out the call, and those who are interested reach out.
I think the chats are best when the person really wants to do it.
Thanks for clarifying that.
The alleged PED users can just not answer those questions. Trust me, most questions probably aren’t the same “Why did you cheat.” Who would waste a question on that?
While it would be cool to hear the superstar story i think we can all appreciate the more “blue collar” working man type players sharing the experience of just how hard it is to get to the show and how quickly it can be over.
If we are going to name drop though two players that would probably be hilarious would be Kevin Millar and Mitch Williams
ZERO interest in an interview with A-Rod after listening to him on ESPN.
Who is Griffen?
Alfredo?
Griffey Jr gets autocorrected to Griffen for some inexplicable reason
Ah, makes sense. I thought I forgot about someone…lol. Thanks
deGrom is only worried about having the first no-substance comment on every article. Going back and changing Griffen to Griffey would cost him valuable seconds in his race to prove how annoying he is.
I refresh to make sure the comment loads once and doesn’t double post. That takes away the 5 seconds. You can choose to mute users just so you know.
You can mute on the desktop version. The app, ehhhh….
They’re all good players dude. They just happen to not be the best at major league level, but if we hold ourselves at that standard we all are not “good” at what we do for a career save for a few.
@Codeeg
Exactly. Most people are decent at their job but not superstars that move mountains. You put in your 40-year career and retire. However, given that we’re baseball fans, even hearing about the no-name guy’s experience helps shed some light that we don’t see when we’re at the park or watching at home.
@Old York
Nice post well put. We do our tours of duty and hope the lady wife and kids appreciate the effort. The only difference for me & you is that I never want to retire, but to go out with my boots on.
Baseball wise it is always more interesting and inspiring to listening or read from the guys that fought like tigers to get their few days in the sunshine. Much more affirming than the superstars.
Take care, Peter in London
You’re not allowed to say that here. You must love every chat they do or you will get dogpiled.
Yes, we love every chat they do!
Reasing comprehension must not be your strong suit, Old York.
What is it that you wrote that I did not comprehend? Plus, I notice that you edited your post after I replied… Do you do that often?
*Reading
I do it sometimes, Old York. Thanks for asking. And I appreciate the correction on reading, I am sure readers were unaware of what I meant.
I’m not sure but I think there is a difference between loving every chat and feeling the need to disparage the player/chat in an ill-mannered way.
It’s a good thing I never did that then, riffraff.
That’s my view on it!
Wasn’t claiming you did
Appreciate you taking the time to post comments here Tim
Must be hard for you to tolerate that from a free website you don’t pay for.
It’s great to have these chats, but I was just surprised that stars wouldn’t have an interest in interacting with fans. I’m not complaining about an optional chat on a free site. You are misunderstanding me.
It is honestly just a pretty rude comment to make. Especially the first comment on a post that I feel the player is very likely to see. What is the point of it? Attention?
More of a compliment than an insult, the way I had expected it to be received
My mistake then. I read it as sarcasm, a complaint that it is not an MLB All-Star
You don’t think he is good? I liked his #s. He was fun to pitch with on MLB the Show. He had K/BB ratios far better than many guys at that time, though many more are catching up to that level now. Even starters are pretty high, with Chris Sale being the all time leader at 5.35.
you got it @Jon… it is 100% for attention, that’s all deGrom really cares about. For someone who clearly spends hours per day refreshing articles on this site, you’d think he’d be able to come up with something a bit better than a complaint about Barry Bonds not joining the chat.
I’d say it’s more that stars aren’t reading the “looking for MLB players” post and sending me emails.
To determine whether they actually have interest if asked, I’d have to up my effort a bit and reach out to their people.
I could try to arrange that through agents, but sometimes agents want to trade favors and I don’t want to. But there is nothing stopping me from contacting Dodgers PR to see if Mookie Betts would like to participate.
So, I could reach out to the 20 most popular players in MLB, probably through their teams, and then see what happens.
John Coppolella just turned me down, sadly. I assume this is a high rejection process. He would have been a great guy to have on here, and he seems more interactive and friendly than you would expect.
Good ol’ Sid enjoys stirring the pot!
Sure, if expressing sympathy for someone about what a free site offers is stirring the pot. Doesn’t seem that controversial to me. He explained what he meant, I take it at face value.
Thank goodness you were here to be a white knight though.
The soup was getting thick, you had to stir it again didn’t you!
For the record, this was not sarcasm. I do think he is great and it’s good to have everyone on here, but I prefer more talented guys like him.
great! we’ll definitely take your preferences into consideration. Thanks for your input.
Who are you lol. I don’t think the term “we” applies to you here!
You are literally trying to incite conflict. You are the one trying to seek attention. I will not give you any further attention after this comment.
Does MLBTR have interest in former executives too, or just players?
I think so, yes. Former execs could be fun, and possibly agents.
All. Anyone connected with the game at the right level would be of interest.
Nice chat, I enjoyed it very much.
Looks like Baseball America somehow neglected to put the ‘broad’ in Broad Ripple High School. Like more famous alums, such as David Letterman and Wayne Gretzky, I too somehow failed to record a strikeout during my time there.
Interesting & insightful chat session – Corey Wade seems to me a quality & thoughtful person & professional. Enjoyed reading the transcript..
Sad I missed this one! Would have loved to try to get a question answered.
What’s on second?
Joe Torre blew his arm up his rookie year
I love these chats with guys who actually made it this far. I come from a generation when every male child was almost expected to play little league ball to see what kind of talent he had. The unspoken goal was making it to the bigs. By high school it was clearly evident that I should just stick to being a fan. Some of us appreciate hearing about the paths these guys take to get to the Show.
What a good dude.
When he signed with the Mets, I was mistakenly tagged on Twitter by multiple sites. My first-middle name is Cory Wade so it through accounts off.
I love these chats and the players behind them. Much appreciated.
This was really cool. My first time participating, with a former Dodger, and he responded. That tickles me pink.
Cory Wade was terrific