Home is where the plate is for Wild Things’ Balego
For almost two decades, from his youth baseball days in the Greenfield section of Pittsburgh to his professional career in the Chicago Cubs organization, the Wild Things’ Cam Balego was an infielder.
He was good enough with the glove to play any position in the infield and his hitting skills were significant. Balego was a three-time all-PSAC infielder at Mercyhurst and was drafted in the 30th round in 2017 by the Cubs.
Balego had worked his way up to Class A ball in Chicago’s farm system when he was informed that his future in baseball might be helped if he settled on playing only one position – catcher.
“I attended a predraft workout here (at Wild Things Park) for the Pirates and did some stuff behind the plate. I had never caught before,” Balego recalled. “Once I was drafted, the Cubs called me and asked if I had ever caught. I said no. They asked me if I wanted to catch and I told them that I just wanted a chance to play baseball. After getting drafted, that was the long-term plan – for me working to catch.”
For most players, such a position change would be troubling. After all, spending summers catching groundballs and popups a few times per night is much easier than having pitchers hurl 90 mph fastballs at you more than a 100 times each game.
Catcher, however, is a position that had always intrigued Balego.
“My sophomore year at Mercyhurst, we were going to the Division II World Series and nobody wanted to catch bullpens, but I thought of it as a challenge so I caught some. … With me being a bigger guy (5-11, 205), everybody said I looked like a catcher, I have big hands.”
Today, Balego is part of a unique catching duo for the Wild Things along with Devon Fisher. Balego started his pro career as an infielder while Fisher was a pitcher in the Boston Red Sox farm system.
The Wild Things will begin the Frontier League’s best-of-3 West Division playoff series Friday at the winner of last night’s wild-card game, either Evansville or Schaumburg. Game 2 and Game 3, if necessary, are set for Sunday and Monday at Wild Things Park. Both games will begin at 6:05 p.m.
A former standout at Central Catholic High School, Balego made his debut behind the plate in 2018 for Class A South Bend. He played 12 games at catcher, then played five different positions at Class A Myrtle Beach in 2019. He started four games at catcher that year, when he also played 69 games at third base and batted .247 with 12 home runs.
“I had a good 2019 campaign and the next year was supposed to be full-blown catching. I was supposed to be transitioning to catcher,” Balego said.
The only problem with that plan was there was no 2020 season. The COVID-19 pandemic caused minor-league baseball to cancel its season.
After catching at the Cubs’ instructional league in the fall of 2020, Balego was to finally make the position change in 2021. Injuries early in the season, however, put those plans on hold again. He played in only 24 games including four behind the plate.
This year, Balego began the season with the Tennessee Smokies, the Cubs’ Class AA affiliate in Kodak, Tenn. He played in 16 games – 15 at catcher – before being released in late July.
Balego analyzed his career options and realized that his best shot at returning to affiliated baseball was as a catcher.
“This was supposed to be a catching year and I really didn’t get many opportunities to do that. Once I got released, I decided I wanted to show teams that I can catch,” Balego said.
That was about the time the Wild Things were searching for an upgrade at catcher. Alex Alvarez had made the West Division all-star team and had eight home runs, but his batting average was hovering around .200. Washington signed Balego.
Balego and Washington have been a perfect match. He has been an impact hitter, batting .304 with four home runs and 19 RBI in 22 games and playing solid defense behind the plate, throwing out 26 percent of opposing basestealers. He has been more than adequate as a defensive catcher.
“I had a bunch of independent teams reach out to me after being released,” Balego said. “My agent and I decided that if I was going to do this, then it was to get back to affiliated ball. Some teams wanted to see what I could do catching.
“I always told myself that if I would get released, then I’d give myself the rest of the year to play indy ball. If I was going to do that, then the only place I’d play would be with the Wild Things. It was a no-brainer to play close to home and be the so-called hometown kid.”