Right now he is working for a paving contractor. But that is only a part-time job while he takes a short break from his full-time job. Eventually, if the Petaluma High School graduate keeps going the way he is going, he will be able to take a real vacation during the winter. For now, he has to make ends meet paying his minor league dues and that means working at whatever jobs are available during the off-season.
Schmidt, a success on the high school, junior college and collegiate levels, played last season for the Visalia Oaks in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. The Oaks are a high Single-A Division team and, after batting .329 last season, he has hopes of being promoted to a AA team this season.
The AA level is generally the spot for ?prospects? with a legitimate chance at getting at least a look with a Major League team.
Even as he progresses up the professional baseball ladder, Schmidt is quick to give credit to local coaches who have influenced his life.
He says it all started with Darryl Couey, the founder and owner of he Petaluma Batting Cages. ?I started hanging around the batting cages at age 10 and started playing baseball in fall ball. The Batting Cages are pretty special to me,? he explains.
He still works on his swing at the Batting Cages and offers tips to younger players who come to hang out with him and fellow professionals like Brandon Burgess and Louis Ott.
Another major influence in his life was his baseball coach at Petaluma High, the late Dan Fager.
?He was real special,? Schmidt says. ?A real high point of my life was my relationship with Dan. He really influenced me both as a player and as a person.?
After that, it was on to Santa Rosa Junior College, where Bear Cub coach Damon Neidlinger taught him to practice and play the game the right way.
?The things I learned at junior college gave me a huge advantage when I became a pro,? he explains. ?I would not trade my JC experience for any D-1 school experience.?
He lost a year to arm surgery, but came back to play on SRJC?s 2005 championship team.
He played a year at the University of Arizona and then transferred to the University of Nevada. ?Nevada was an awesome experience,? He says. ?It was a lot like SRJC. They do things the right way.
After Nevada, since he was a fifth-year senior, he did not have to wait for the Major League draft, but was free to sign with any professional team. Both the Diamond-backs and Baltimore Orioles pursued him, but he chose the Diamondbacks because ?they have a good Minor League system.?
He then went to work.
?It is a job,? he says. ?I love the game, but it is a job and you show up every day. We call it ?the grind.?
First there is five to six weeks of spring training, then about 140 games and then, for those fortunate enough to have caught the eye of people in the organization, another three to four weeks of fall instructional league baseball.
For Schmidt, the physical challenge is even greater because he is a catcher. ?I love catching,? he says. ?I love catching all the different styles of pitchers, and I love the challenge of trying to figure out how to beat the batter. There is nothing better than when you and the pitcher are on the same page.?
He says the higher he goes in the professional ranks, the more challenging batting becomes.
?The biggest difference in pitching (between the lower minors and higher leagues) is consistency,? he says. ?Everyone is around the strike zone and nobody throws only the fastball. Everything moves. The most difficult pitcher is a left-hander who can put it where he wants it.?
Schmidt?s original career plan was to be a firefighter like his father, and that may still be in his future, but for now and the foreseeable future, his profession is ?baseball player.
?As long as I?m on the rise, I?m going to stay with it,? he explains.
(Contact John Jackson at acsports@arguscourier.com)
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