A.J. Achter overcomes long odds as 46th-round pick

DETROIT – It's a long father-son drive between Toledo and Cape Cod. It's an even longer return trip with a heavy heart and sour taste from rejection.

A.J. Achter's journey to the major leagues never came easy. And not making a summer college league team provided the first of those tribulations.

"For the first time in his life, he was told he was not good enough," the former Michigan State pitcher's father, Rod, said this week. "That was sobering. It was tough."

Rod Achter's drive from Toledo to Comerica Park on Thursday was much shorter, much more joyous. But without one, there wouldn't have been the other.

Other than his talented right arm, few things have come easy for A.J. Achter in his pro baseball career. Doubts about his velocity and "stuff" trailed him throughout the minors, despite strong numbers year after year, level after level.

For the past month, since being called up by the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 1, Achter has continued to do what he's done time and again: proven his naysayers wrong.

"I'd say if you're a first-round draft pick, they're gonna give you a lot better look because they have money invested in you," Twins broadcaster and Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven said of Achter. "He's had to fight for everything that he's been able to get so far, and I'm very proud of him that he's up here."

Right-hander Achter is the first Spartan called up to the majors since Mark Mulder debuted 14 years ago with the Oakland Athletics, who drafted him with the second overall pick in 1998. Mulder spent nine seasons in the majors and last pitched there in 2008. MSU had at least one former player take part in at least one big-league game during every major league season from 1947 until Mulder's retirement.

But Mulder's trek seemed preordained, being picked in the single-digit rounds and getting a $3.2 bonus. Achter, a 46th-round pick in the 2010 draft, met challenge after challenge to continue his rise through the Twins' system.

The native of Oregon, Ohio (a Toledo suburb) got turned down by the Cape Cod league after driving there for an open tryout in the summer of 2009 with his father. It was the first experience of rejection and dejection in the young pitcher's baseball career.

After a strong junior season at MSU, Achter got drafted by the Twins late in the 2010 draft. Achter's all-star showing in the Cape Cod League that summer as a reliever impressed scouts enough for the Twins to offer him a $50,000 signing bonus. He signed with a few hours left before the deadline to return to MSU.

"That was about as disappointing as it could get," Achter recalled of that first trip to Rhode Island. "I had my heart set for playing on the Cape, and it didn't work out. My dad drove back with me, and we had a lot of long talks. Thankfully, I got an opportunity the next year to go out there, play and prove myself enough for the Twins to sign me."

Achter bounced between starting and relieving in his five seasons with the Twins organization before settling in as a long middle reliever. He was an All-Star in each of the past three seasons, in the Single-A Midwest League in 2012, in the Double-A Eastern League last year and then again this summer with Triple-A Rochester.

Yet Minnesota did not place Achter on its 40-man roster in the winter, but no other organization selected him and he remained Twins property. During spring training, he learned he would return to Double A to begin this season. He also was left off Baseball America's Top 30 Twins prospects list, ranking as just the system's eighth-best right-handed pitcher. Slight after slight, yet Achter continued to do one important thing well, veteran Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said — he got guys out.

"You have to persevere," Gardenhire said. "A lot of people are saying, 'Oh, you don't have this' or 'You don't have that.' In stages in professional baseball, you get classified pretty early – prospect or not a prospect. Some people say, 'Well, he doesn't have enough stuff, he's not a major league prospect.' They put a grade on you, and you have to ride through that. And guys like him are riding through those things.

"At every level he's went to, he's done well."

When big league rosters expanded on Sept. 1, Achter finally got the call to the big leagues. And then he made the call to his parents, who were sleeping back home and didn't answer. He finally reached them the next morning.

"I was downstairs organizing some stuff for when he was going to come back. I was like, 'WHAT?!'" his mother, Cindy said. "I cried a few tears."

Achter has pitched well so far in his seven outings, owning a 3.27 ERA, five strikeouts and three walks in 11 innings. The 26-year-old earned his first major league win Friday night, getting two key outs and allowing two hits and a Miguel Cabrera home run in the Twins' 11-4 victory. He had plenty of friends and family in the stands, as he did all weekend at Comerica Park.

"It's rewarding to make the big leagues," Achter said. "But for me to go in the round I was drafted in, from a northern school, it's been a tough journey. But I wouldn't want it any other way. I know I've earned all that I've gotten, with a lot of help and support along the way."

Family and sports always have been important to Achter. Like his son, Rod Achter got drafted by a Minnesota team in a round that no longer exists, going to the Vikings in the ninth round of the 1983 NFL draft. He got cut after playing in some preseason games, returning to the Toledo area to start a family and become a teacher and coach.

The Achters followed A.J. throughout the minors, driving from town to town to watch him, and Rod always bought dinner when they did. When they went to see his debut in Minneapolis, a one-inning scoreless appearance against the White Sox on Sept. 3, it was his turn to pick up the check.

"Something small just to pay them back," Achter said. "It's got to be extra rewarding for him. He was drafted by the Vikings but never quite made a regular-season team. For him to know my dream since I was little and have a big part of seeing me reach my goal, it's pretty cool. A very emotional time."

Once today's season finale against the Tigers is over, he will drive home to spend time with his family. The Twins' season is done, and he plans to take a little while off from baseball after a logging a number of innings across three levels.

The plan from there is to spend the offseason living with his girlfriend in Ann Arbor before getting ready for perhaps his most important spring training ever – the one that could land him a full-time role in the majors.

"He's got a good breaking ball and a pretty good change-up," Blyleven said. "It's just a matter of conditioning himself to be in the best shape of his life. Hopefully, he'll come to spring training and fight for a job."

A.J. ACHTER FILE

• Who: Adam James Achter, Minnesota Twins right-handed relief pitcher

• Years at MSU: 2008-10 (turned pro after his junior season)

• Age: 26

• Hometown: Oregon, Ohio

• Height/weight: 6-5, 205

• Throws: Right

• Double A stats: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 6 2/3 IP, 11 K, 1 BB in 3 appearances for the New Britain Rock Cats

• Triple A stats: 4-4, 2.38 ERA, 72 IP, 69 K, 24 BB in 40 appearances for the Rochester Red Wings

• MLB stats: 1-0, 3.27 ERA, 11 IP, 5 K, 3 BB in 7 appearances for the Minnesota Twins