NORFOLK — Harbor Park, it turns out, isn’t exactly what Colin Selby recalls from his youth. As his parents and other members of his extended baseball family worked the ballpark’s concession stands years ago to raise money for a team trip to Cooperstown, New York, the younger Selby marveled at the size of the venue. Now that it’s essentially his office, Selby is over it.
A native of Chesapeake who won a state title with Western Branch High in 2014 before starring for Division III Randolph-Macon College, the 26-year-old Selby is now working out of the Norfolk Tides’ bullpen. After stops with six minor league teams and two in the majors in three organizations, the workplaces blend together. “I remember when I was younger, I thought this place was a lot bigger,” Selby said.
“And you play in a couple different stadiums, and you come back and it’s the same size as all the other ones. But yeah, it’s been fun.” Selby, a soft-spoken right-hander with a curly red beard that would make any pirate proud, joined the Baltimore Orioles’ organization when he was traded by the Kansas City Royals for cash on July 11.
He entered Saturday’s game against Jacksonville with a 0-0 record, a 3.00 ERA and a save through three relief outings with Norfolk. For a parent club in search of bullpen help, Selby offers an intriguing level of experience.
Originally a 16th-round draft pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2018, Selby pitched in 21 major league games with Pittsburgh last season and two more with the Royals this year. He has an 8.67 ERA in the big leagues, but he’s walked 17 and struck out 30 in 27 innings.
Through 139 appearances in the minors, Selby has a 3.65 ERA with 126 walks and 309 strikeouts in 286 1/3 innings, a body of work that proves he’s a strike-thrower. As much as he’s defied the odds by reaching the major leagues from a D-III program, Selby has done it in another way by landing with his hometown team.
Since 1969, according to the Tides’ archives, just 13 players from Hampton Roads high schools have played for the team. On a roster frequently dotted with players from all over the world, it’s a rarity. “I think it’s always one of those things that go in the back of your head,” said corner infielder Coby Mayo, Selby’s 22-year-old teammate.
“It’d be cool to play where you grew up.” For now, Selby is living in his childhood home in Chesapeake. His parents are looking to sell the house and move to Northern Virginia, so he has to find other accommodations by mid-August.
The setup, no matter how fleeting, is a far cry from those at his previous stops, like Greensboro, Altoona, Indianapolis and Omaha. “You see your parents and your dogs every day, so I can’t complain about that,” Selby said. “It is weird going back home and being like, ‘All right, Mom, I’m going to work.
’ ” Should Selby pitch his way out of Norfolk, he’ll be thrust into an American League East race with the first-place Orioles. It’s something that, as he takes in Harbor Park in a different way, he’s trying not to think about. “I think that’s where a lot of guys get in trouble, is when they are kind of in awe when they get on the mound,” Selby said.
“I mean, it’s the same game you’ve been playing since you were a little kid. There might be an extra deck in the stands, but at the end of the day, you’re playing the same game. Just go out there and compete.
” David Hall, [email protected] Players from Hampton Roads high schools who have played for the Tides since 1969: Mike Ballard, Ocean Lakes D.
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