Shepherd was in good spirits after coming off his best outing of the year on Wednesday on the road against the Durham Bulls as he twirled three scoreless innings, struck out five and only gave up one hit as the Tides picked up a 7-2 victory.
After being designated for assignment by the Red Sox he was claimed just a few days later by the Chicago Cubs and flown to Arizona to their spring training facility to be transitioned back to a reliever. Before he could even work out for the Cubs he was claimed by the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday May 22nd and was flown to Atlanta to meet up with Norfolk as the Tides played Gwinnett.
Chandler won’t pitch in the Columbus series because he is scheduled to be the starting pitcher this coming Tuesday at Home against Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre Railriders the Triple A team of the New York Yankees.
Norfolk Pitcher Chandler Shepherd
PLAYER’S COMMENTS
“… It’s been pretty hectic since I got the news from Boston I wasn’t really sure what to think about it. It was a lot of downtime for a few days. Once Chicago claimed there was a lot of travel going on during that week or so but I am super happy to be here in the Baltimore organization and I am looking forward to the future.”
“… I was happy with my outing in Durham. It was also good to help the team win. I needed a good one. I got the momentum going for that one and hope to keep it going. At this point it’s been five or six years I have kind of bounced all over the place. My first day I sat down with the staff here in Baltimore and as of right now they see me as a starter. They wanted to give me a week or two to work back in because of the couple of weeks I had off. The plan is for me to start Tuesday in the Opening game back home and see where that goes. As of right now they have projected me to be a starter.”
“… Moving cities is a little bit different. I am just going to be hoteling it for the rest of the season. It’s a nice place and I am 15 minutes or so from the beach and actually Louisa Native Ben Preston’s there so I have gotten to catch up with him. Nice City, good food, good restaurants, good place to be.”
Keeping in Touch with the Bulldogs back home
“…I keep in touch with Coach Feltner a lot. We talk quite a bit. My mom had texted me about Jackson getting close to my Home Run record and I texted Coach Feltner and said I hope he gets it. Records are meant to be broken and any of those guys coming up through Lawrence County I hope all my records get broken. We have a good program there and it’s special to me. I take a lot of pride coming from Lawrence Co. High School and the family and tradition they have established there. I couldn’t be more thrilled for Jackson. It’s been nice to see those guys grow up and when I go back in the off season to work out. Its super special to go back and maybe even be able to feed them a little bit of knowledge that I have learned over the past 8 years or so.”
“… With the news from Pawtuckett I went straight to Arizona where the Cubs have their spring training complex. The good thing was it was close to where I live at now, and got to spend some time with my Fiancé. I went out there for a couple days and kind a just hung out and ran but nothing serious and then on that third day I went to go do my first workout as a Chicago Cub and they said hey we got some news for you so I packed back up and within five days I had two cross country flights and back out to the East coast but I am glad to have the opportunities and fortunate to play a game that I love no matter where I am at the time. Goal is still the same. At the end of the day it’s still baseball and I am going to play the best I can and go from there. Having that week off gave me a chance to step back and take a recap on the first month and a half of the season. Which was good for me mentally to regroup. Things happen for a reason and if that reason is that this is where I am supposed to be to get the opportunities that I need then it will be and if not it will be somewhere else.”
“… I miss home. I appreciate all the support. When something happens it seems like my phone always blows up which is something I am never going to get tired of. I always know that the people back in Louisa are supporting me and rooting me on and at the end of the day it means more to me than they will ever know. I just want to say Thank you to everyone back home.”