But there were plenty of rocky moments. Like 2004, when he was put on the “phantom” disabled list for a season – meaning he was listed as injured even though he was healthy, only to clear roster space. Or the time he was demoted on his birthday. Or the spring training where he and his wife couldn’t pay next month’s rent.

Did he ever think about quitting? “How many times?” he said wryly, while driving to the Phillies’ stadium recently. “I think I’d be an idiot to not have thought about quitting.”

All that makes his first big splash in the majors this year – already made remarkable by his age, 32, and his background as a graduate of Division III ��ݮ���� – seem like a fairy tale.

Sure, he’s been called up to the big leagues before – for two weeks in 2010 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and again in 2011 for the Philadelphia Phillies. But he’s never stuck like this. With Philadelphia’s All-Star catcher Carlos Ruiz put on the disabled list in July, Kratz has played almost every day and produced at an All-Star level. He has seven home runs in 79 at-bats – that’s a homer every 11.3 ABs – he’s hitting .291 and he’s slugging .646. Of his 23 hits, 14 have been for extra bases.

He’s also thrown out 10 of 21 base stealers – a 47.6-percent clip, far exceeding Ruiz’s 37.2 percent before he got hurt. He’s allowed just one passed ball and has made only one error.

Now, with fellow reserve catcher Brian Schneider joining Ruiz on the DL Friday, the 6-foot-4, 255-pound Kratz is, for the first time in his life, an everyday major-league starter.

But after enduring the lifestyle most only know from the Crash Davis character in the movie “Bull Durham” for 10 years, Kratz still doesn’t believe he’s made it. He can’t afford to think that way. No matter how many home runs he hits today, he might get sent down tomorrow.

“If you don’t think that’s possible, then that’s when it’s going to blindside you,” he said. “You can always get sent down, you can always get released, and you can not find another team. That’s something that’s always very real, it’s always in front of me that it could always happen.”

He knows rejection all too well to forget it.

Kratz’s debut in varsity high school baseball was something of an omen.

As a junior – the first year he made the varsity squad at – he wasn’t supposed to be an everyday player. But one day, the team’s starting catcher was caught smoking a cigarette during school, resulting in a brief suspension. Kratz started in his place, hit an opposite-field homer in his first at-bat, and became a mainstay at catcher.

An injury opens up playing time, and Kratz fills in admirably…sound familiar?

Still, Kratz never became a hot-shot college prospect. He ended up at EMU because coach Rob Roeschley said he’d play every day there, and there weren’t many other schools interested.

“I matured late,” Kratz said.

When he did mature, he became the best player to ever play at EMU. His senior season (2002), he set single-season school records in nearly every major offensive category: batting average (.507), slugging (.993), on-base (.585), home runs (14), hits (72), RBIs (59) and runs scored (48, tied with Jimmy Pollard).

He is the only EMU athlete to be named the Player of the Year in baseball – he won it in 2001 and ’02 – and he led the Royals to two of the best seasons in their 44-year history: 23-16-1 in ’01, 29-13 in ’02. (The .690 winning percentage in ’02 is the school’s all-time best.)
“When I had him at EMU, I remember saying to assistant coaches, ‘If this guy can’t make it, what kind of talent level does it take to actually make it?’” Roeschley said.

After marrying his college sweetheart, Sarah – a graduate of and EMU – in his senior year, he was selected in the 29th round of the MLB draft by the Toronto Blue Jays, and a long, tumultuous pro career began.

As you might imagine for a minor-league journeyman, Kratz has plenty of colorful anecdotes. The first, when he received his first professional assignment, reveals just how little Kratz knew about what was about to transpire.

The Rookie League team he was assigned to was listed as “Medicine Hat, AL”. That didn’t make Kratz or his wife very happy – he had no interest in going to Alabama.

“My wife said, ‘Alabama? How are we going to get down to Alabama?’” Kratz recalled.

It turned out he wasn’t going there at all; AL actually stood for Alberta, Canada.

But even when Kratz – who also played for the and the during his college offseasons – didn’t know minor-league logistics, he could always hit. His first season with Medicine Hat, he hit .275 with four home runs in 44 games. By age 24, he had already been promoted to double-A New Hampshire.

“Twenty-four in double-A, that’s not bad,” Kratz said.

“But,” he added with a laugh, “then it was five years later, and I was 28, still bouncing back and forth in double-A.”

He finally made his MLB debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates at age 30, but hit just .118 over nine games and was sent back down. At that point, Kratz, who had just turned 30, had already spent plenty of time wondering if he’d ever really stick in the majors.

“I always felt like I was good enough to move on to the next level – whatever that level would be,” he said. “But I see a lot of people that think they’re better than the next person, and it’s easy to see that on the outside and be like, ‘Hey, you’re not really better than that person.’ You think to yourself, ‘Could that be? Am I blind to what my real ability is?’”

Now, it certainly doesn’t appear that way.

Kratz’s teammates are beginning to notice the big, red-haired catcher from EMU.

After Roy Halladay pitched to Kratz for the first time Aug. 5, he said to the media of Kratz, “He’s very intelligent. He does a great job of calling a game.”

After Kratz hit his most recent home run Aug. 20 against the Reds, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was asked whether Kratz has become a “building block” for the organization.

“Kratzy’s doing a tremendous job,” Manuel responded. “Kratzy’s showing that not only can he handle big-league pitching, but he can catch and he can throw. And that’s good – that’s tremendous.”

With his big-league success and the praise, Kratz – who spends his offseasons with his wife and two children in Harrisonburg, and eventually with a third child who’s due in a month – still doesn’t feel comfortable saying that he’ll be with a big-league club next season. He said the Phillies’ management hasn’t given him any indication that it will keep him. And with Ruiz and Schneider expected to come off the DL in September, Philadelphia – hardly a contender at 61-67 – will eventually have one catcher too many.

But whether Kratz is released, or whether this is the start of a multi-year major-league career, he’ll be prepared.

“The one thing that I don’t have that I can’t go out and get in a hot second is years and years of experience in the big leagues,” he said. “…I don’t ever feel like I’ve done enough.”

Courtesy Daily News Record, August 27, 2012

For the past 30 years EMU alumni reunite to banter, share familial updates, and participate in an annual fantasy baseball league, “Shenandoah’s Major Minor League.”

“It’s great to see guys come back and the continuity we’ve had in the league has kept the energy up,” said Clair Mellinger ‘64, professor emeritus of and one of the longest tenured members of the league.

Watching the box scores

Fantasy baseball is a predominantly online game where statistics accumulated by all Major League Baseball players are tracked. Points are awarded in one format of fantasy baseball, Rotisserie, while the other format, Head-to-Head, tallies the total number of statistics in any one category, with the highest or lowest number winning, depending upon the rules, according to .

“Having statistics available online makes it more efficient and keeps everyone involved on a daily basis, compared to when we had to snail mail everything and not receive updates for weeks,” said Tom Baker ‘81, former EMU men’s basketball coach and current physical education teacher at Lacey Spring Elementary School.

The EMU alumni draft features an auction system where players are selected based on dollar figures. While no actual money is exchanged for rights to the player, the auction-style bidding lends itself to “heckling on a price of a player and the possibilities to acquire a talented player,” says Mellinger.

“Shenandoah’s Major Minor League”

For Shenandoah’s Major Minor League, connections go deeper than a love of statistics. Eleven of the 12 “owners” either attended, graduated or taught at EMU. Several members were students when the league began in 1982.

The composition of the league members changed from year to year until the early 90’s when a majority of the current group joined. Some teams have co-owners, while others are run by a single member.

“We’re a core group of guys who just love baseball,” said Ted Swartz ’89, MDiv ’92, a professional comedian who is one of the leagues’ longest tenured members.

The league holds the annual draft on campus in April. Most members live around the Harrisonburg area. Brian Hill ‘92, MD, a urologist with Urology Specialists of Atlanta, LLC, has the farthest drive to attend the league draft, making an eight-hour commute.

In addition to Mellinger, Swartz, Baker and Hill, other league owners include: Ian Swartz (son of Ted); Mark Deavers ‘89; Phil Lehman ‘89; Lawson Yoder ‘91; Jeremy Nafziger ‘91; Rob Roeschley (former EMU baseball coach); Gary Messinger; Doug Friesen ‘91; and Mike Yoder ‘91.

Ron Vogt, the owner not personally connected to EMU, got connected when he worked with Doug Friesen at Philhaven Hospital in Mount Gretna, Pa.

Previous members of the league include John Horst, professor emeritus of physics, Jon Kauffman-Kennel, former manager of EMU’s public radio station, and Bill Hawk, former academic dean.

“Getting involved with the league renewed my interest in baseball, especially the National League,” said Mellinger. “I really enjoy the research involved in getting prepared for the annual auction.  I have read more baseball-related books and web articles than I should have in the past 20 years but it has been a very good source of entertainment and relaxation for me.

“It’s been great to keep connected and share a love for baseball.

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