I didn’t know it then, but back in 2001, I was interviewing teens who would move on to careers that put them in the spotlight. In addition to Candace Dold, who I featured in my most recent “Where are they now” blog post, I also had an opportunity to meet the talented Gavin Floyd.
Fourteen years ago, I described Floyd as a teenager with “boyish looks and a ready smile” who could heat up the filed as he “hurls a 93-mph fastball toward home plate.”
Others were well-aware of the Mount St. Joseph High School student’s pitching arm, and Floyd was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies that same year.
He went on to make his major league debut in 2004 with the Phillies, and his career took him to the Chicago White Sox, the Atlanta Braves, and most currently, the Cleveland Indians.
Now 32, Floyd is on the Indians’ 60-day disabled list after reinjuring himself during spring training.
Maybe the mantra he shared with me as a Mount St. Joseph senior will hold true as he tries to battle his way back to the pitching mound.
Gavin Floyd in 2001, as a senior at Mount St. Joseph High School in Irvington.
“To never give up is pretty much my philosophy,” Floyd said, who recalled coming from a 0 to 8 deficit to beat Calvert Hall College High School with a score of 10-8 in a game during his sophomore year. “You know how the other team tries to taunt you? Well they can talk all they want because I don’t really pay attention to that.”
Floyd acknowledged that baseball is one of the toughest sports to play because the failure rate is so high.
“You probably experience failure every single day because you’re not going three for three every single time,” he said.
Longtime Mount St. Joseph coach Dave Norton said at that time, “If you want to make if professionally, you better love the game.”
The retired coach has a few players who love the game, including Catcher Steve Clevenger, ’04, who recently was on the roster for the Baltimore Orioles and was just optioned to Triple-A Norfolk, and Mark Teixeira, ’98, of the New York Yankees.
Good luck to them all this baseball season!