ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Detroit Tigers pitcher Warwick Saupold appeared cool, collected and confident as he took the mound against the Tampa Bay Rays last week at Tropicana Field.
Three days after being recalled from the minor leagues, the 27-year-old Australian right-hander was making his first appearance of the season for the parent club. He struck out two and threw first-pitch strikes to each of the four batters he faced, allowing one walk and no hits. The scoreless effort represented a small uptick along his career arc in a vastly unpredictable profession.
Two days after that, the Rays hit three solo home runs off him in 3⅓ innings, and he was optioned back to the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens.
It's a typical situation for baseball prospects, who traverse a vocational path as squiggly as any stock market chart. One step forward. Two steps back. Four steps forward. Three steps back. Buckle up tight because it's bumpy ride.
Like most rookies, Saupold was nervous and uncertain when he made his MLB debut on May 14, 2016, in Baltimore. He ran in from the bullpen with a flood of emotions and memories swirling between his ears, as he recalled himself pitching into a net as a teenager and countless hours of solo workouts as a young adult.
"I just remember walking out of the gate and running to the mound and having flashbacks to my childhood and what it took to get me here," Saupold said. "It was kind of surreal, actually, with everything going through my head. If someone would've said something to me while I was running to the mound, I literally wouldn't have heard them."
The occasion was even more special because his mother, Deanne, was able to make the trip from Perth, Australia, on short notice to be there in person. Saupold got two outs, allowing one hit and no runs, in mop-up duty. The following day, he earned his first major league victory by throwing 2⅔ scoreless innings against the Orioles in relief of Michael Fulmer.
Saupold appeared in six games in two stints with the Tigers in 2016, including four scoreless appearances. He was roughed up in the other two games, allowing eight earned runs in 2⅓ innings.
That initial nervousness is nearly a year behind Saupold. The pressure no longer comes from the moment and the environment. It's all about the ability to get major league hitters out. Saupold didn't allow an earned run in eight innings of work at spring training -- an encouraging sign, albeit in a small sample.
Although Saupold now must wait for his next opportunity in the majors, Tigers coaches and players say he has the talent and makeup necessary for success.
Fulmer, the 2016 American League Rookie of the Year, said Saupold was one of the first teammates he got to know after being traded to the Detroit organization in 2015. The two played together in Double-A and Triple-A, and Fulmer believes Saupold has made great strides.
"He commands the ball a lot better than what I saw in 2015," Fulmer said. "His fastball is electric, good cutter, great curveball, good changeup. I just think his stuff plays at this level."
Tigers ace Justin Verlander, a six-time All-Star, also likes what he has seen from Saupold.
"He's pitching with confidence. You see the poise and the confidence increasing every year. When he comes up here, he's not rattled. He's not scared. He just goes about his business like if it were any other game." Al Avila, Tigers general manager, on Warwick Saupold
"I think he's a guy that definitely could do very well at this level if he just gets comfortable and gets his time in," Verlander said.
The opinions that matter most, however, belong to Tigers general manager Al Avila and manager Brad Ausmus. Avila will decide when Saupold has earned a promotion back to the parent club, and Ausmus will dictate the role Saupold will play when he gets there.
"He's definitely a major league pitcher in my mind," Avila said. "He has poise on the mound. He's pitching with confidence. You see the poise and the confidence increasing every year. When he comes up here, he's not rattled. He's not scared. He just goes about his business like if it were any other game."
Said Ausmus, "He's got four pitches he throws for strikes. He's got movement on the ball in both directions, which can make it tough for hitters on both sides of the plate. He came up last year for a little bit and had some good outings. He looked real good in spring training. ... He's kind of a guy who has forced his way into our plans. Right now, he's a long man in the bullpen, but it doesn't mean he couldn't be a starter at some point."
Saupold began playing baseball as a young child. His parents were track and field athletes -- his mother was a javelin thrower, and his father, Tony, ran the 400 meters -- but they also followed baseball and encouraged young Warwick to give it a try.
He progressed through local and state competitions as he got older but also enjoyed playing Australian rules football. When he began showing promise as a baseball player at the Western Australian Institute of Sport, coaches Don Kyle and Steve Kirkham warned him that one unlucky hit to the shoulder playing footy could end his pitching career before it started. They advised him to choose between the two activities at age 16.
"I chose baseball because I had more fun doing it, and I thought I was better at it," Saupold said. "I thank those two guys for helping me make that decision."
Saupold kept working, playing and improving. When the current iteration of the Australian Baseball League began play in 2010, he signed on with the hometown Perth Heat. He was named MVP of the U25 national championships in 2011, and in the subsequent ABL season, he dazzled with a 1.41 ERA in 70 innings.
Saupold signed a contract with the Tigers a week after he turned 22 in January 2012. With two ABL seasons already under his belt, he skipped the rookie level of the minor leagues and began at Class A that season, thus beginning the long climb up the professional ladder. He reached Triple-A last season and pitched the first five innings of a combined no-hitter on the way to being named Toledo's Pitcher of the Year with a 7-2 record and 2.30 ERA in 74⅓ innings.
Back home in Perth, Saupold continues to pitch for the Heat during the American offseason. He has played for the club in all seven seasons of the ABL's existence, winning four Claxton Shield championships along the way.
Saupold bolstered his status as one of the top names in Australian baseball last month at the World Baseball Classic. He held a formidable Cuba lineup scoreless for four innings as the starter of a first-round elimination game in Tokyo. Although the Southern Thunder went on to lose 4-3, it was a much more satisfying effort for Saupold than the 2013 WBC, in which he allowed one run in two-thirds of an inning.
"I threw well and got myself out of a couple tough jams," Saupold said. "I got locked in and slowed the game down. I think that was the biggest thing: When things weren't going too good, I slowed the game down and tried to execute my pitches as best as possible, and I was lucky enough to do that."
There are two active major leaguers from Australia, and like Saupold, they both hail from Perth: Kansas City Royals pitcher Peter Moylan and Oakland Athletics pitcher Liam Hendriks. Moylan, 38, broke into the majors in 2006 and has appeared in nearly 400 MLB games. Hendriks, 28, has been in the majors since 2011.
Saupold knows Moylan and Hendriks well and obviously would like to boost the number of Aussies in MLB to three. Whenever he gets called up to Detroit, he knows exactly what he needs to accomplish.
"I've just got to do my thing and get people out and keep the team in it," Saupold said. "Get guys out and have some success."