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Pittsburgh, PA - When Pat Vickers was drafted out of UCLA in 2014, he slipped under the radar locally because of the blockbuster trade that took place for the Millers to move up in the draft and select CF Jamie O'Hearn. That didn't change his determination to be one of the better players selected in the draft. He said after he was selected: "I'm excited to be joining the Millers, as a rust belt guy myself, I can't wait to play against my former favorite team in Indy in a couple years." The young man from Indianapolis was referring to the Clowns, who at the time were division rivals of the Millers. While they are no longer division rivals, the two will still square off quite a bit this season.
Now a year into his BLB career, Vickers wants to make sure he can have similar results to his strong rookie campaign.
"We had a really good group last year but they weren't the type of guys who just welcomed you with open arms. To a lot of the veterans in the room, they were sick of seeing young guys coming up taking jobs from their friends." Vickers said. "I just wanted to be myself. Baseball is number one for me, and I want to work as hard as I can to become a fixture for this franchise."
So much so, that this offseason he purchased a home right outside of Pittsburgh in Squirrel Hill, PA. "It's been a while since I had to deal with the snow after being in SoCal for a while...I have to be careful with my words but I kind of missed it so I want to be here all year round."
That's the opposite approach of Jamie O'Hearn who originally planned on living near the Spring Training site in South Florida.
"Pat kept telling me to live with him in the offseason in Pittsburgh so we could train together. I kept telling him no because I'm from New York and now that I'm able to I don't want to deal with the snow...but he was persistent and eventually I caved and agreed to stay in the Burgh for the whole year." O'Hearn said.
"Yeah Jame was against it at first, but he told me that if I win the New Brew then he'd stay with me. I showed his ass!" Vickers said with a big smile.
The two have a very strict routine that they follow in preparation for the season, it begins at 6 am when they go for a 5 mile run down the river before heading to Blondie's diner for breakfast.
"Shoot man, Jamie's like a god in this town, wherever we go there's like 10 people lining up to talk to him...he'd tell you that they're gals but there's about a 80/20 break down of old dudes asking for photos and signatures mainly" Vickers said laughing.
The two are inseparable. Both guys are gym rats who have nothing on their minds except baseball. Both players are key pieces for the future as well. Their teammates notice this too.
"I always take pride in being the 'first in the office and last to leave'" Star Hitter Dave Shook said, "But damn these two make me want to get in the gym and cages earlier. I wanna be like Jamie and Pat." Shook was laughing when he said this.
After they have their breakfast, usually they head down to the field where local Pittsburgh East HS coach Kevin Rhymes has them come in and throws BP to them during his breaks.
"It's not a bad deal for me...I've got two kids that are pros who want to come spend time with my team and just having them around the players is beneficial for my guys." Rhymes said. "But it's scary as all hell. I almost wanna go full screen instead of the L screen because when the ball comes off the bat it's usually right up the box."
Then they head to the gym where they take a local cross fit class to get their bodies right. They have a lot of respect for the teacher of the class...outfielder TY McKay.
"Ty's a tri-state guy like me so when he started talking about cross fit I wanted to punch him...you know what they say...people who do cross fit only talk about cross fit...but he was really cool about it and told us to try it out to see if we like it...it's a great workout and there's a lot of oblique and core aspects to it that are beneficial to guys who swing a bat for a living." O'Hearn proclaimed.
Locally the two are always together. Sometimes they do a bit too much together... As fellow young player Cy Mock tells us.
"One of them is gonna be pissed at me but I don't care it'll be hilarious...they always go out together and Jamie is a Tinder fiend...if he's not playing baseball he's swiping, but he won't go anywhere by himself so every time he goes on a date, it's usually a double date with Pat." Mock said, unsure if he's going to have to answer to one of the two eventually. "It would be nice to get an invite that's for sure, the girls Jamie usually goes out with are stars."
Eat, Train, Date...is there anything these two don't do together?
"I mean outside of the obvious...not really. Pat and I got really close in the minors and the offseasons we've spent together. We played against each other a lot growing up in showcases and stuff so we were tight before but he's probably my best friend now." O'Hearn said. "I don't care about anything other than winning...I thought for the longest time that nobody hates losing more than I do but that guy is a psycho when it comes to losing. Usually I have to calm him down if he goes 0-3 in a game or makes an error that's costly. It eats him up...but you should see what happens when I whoop his ass in a race. If he drives, sometimes I let him win so he doesn't make me uber home!"
Vickers disagrees.
"That's cute that he says that...but he's never beat me in a race, and he ain't ever gonna beat me in a race so we won't have to cross that bridge. I can't let him have all the success."
The two young stars for the Millers have a bond that's deep. And fortunately for the fans, it's all to make sure they win.
"At the end of the day, Jamie's probably the best player I've ever seen play. There really isn't anything that he can't do. So I'm lucky to be around him, to work with him, push him and have him push me to be great. We want to bring a title to Pittsburgh and when we do...all of the work will be worth it."
So to my valued reader, there's a few takeaways from this.
1. The Millers are lucky to have two important players who care about winning and working hard.
2. If you have a 21-25 year old daughter who isn't currently dating...be careful. She might just end up on a date with two of Pittsburgh's favorite sons!!
Now a year into his BLB career, Vickers wants to make sure he can have similar results to his strong rookie campaign.
"We had a really good group last year but they weren't the type of guys who just welcomed you with open arms. To a lot of the veterans in the room, they were sick of seeing young guys coming up taking jobs from their friends." Vickers said. "I just wanted to be myself. Baseball is number one for me, and I want to work as hard as I can to become a fixture for this franchise."
So much so, that this offseason he purchased a home right outside of Pittsburgh in Squirrel Hill, PA. "It's been a while since I had to deal with the snow after being in SoCal for a while...I have to be careful with my words but I kind of missed it so I want to be here all year round."
That's the opposite approach of Jamie O'Hearn who originally planned on living near the Spring Training site in South Florida.
"Pat kept telling me to live with him in the offseason in Pittsburgh so we could train together. I kept telling him no because I'm from New York and now that I'm able to I don't want to deal with the snow...but he was persistent and eventually I caved and agreed to stay in the Burgh for the whole year." O'Hearn said.
"Yeah Jame was against it at first, but he told me that if I win the New Brew then he'd stay with me. I showed his ass!" Vickers said with a big smile.
The two have a very strict routine that they follow in preparation for the season, it begins at 6 am when they go for a 5 mile run down the river before heading to Blondie's diner for breakfast.
"Shoot man, Jamie's like a god in this town, wherever we go there's like 10 people lining up to talk to him...he'd tell you that they're gals but there's about a 80/20 break down of old dudes asking for photos and signatures mainly" Vickers said laughing.
The two are inseparable. Both guys are gym rats who have nothing on their minds except baseball. Both players are key pieces for the future as well. Their teammates notice this too.
"I always take pride in being the 'first in the office and last to leave'" Star Hitter Dave Shook said, "But damn these two make me want to get in the gym and cages earlier. I wanna be like Jamie and Pat." Shook was laughing when he said this.
After they have their breakfast, usually they head down to the field where local Pittsburgh East HS coach Kevin Rhymes has them come in and throws BP to them during his breaks.
"It's not a bad deal for me...I've got two kids that are pros who want to come spend time with my team and just having them around the players is beneficial for my guys." Rhymes said. "But it's scary as all hell. I almost wanna go full screen instead of the L screen because when the ball comes off the bat it's usually right up the box."
Then they head to the gym where they take a local cross fit class to get their bodies right. They have a lot of respect for the teacher of the class...outfielder TY McKay.
"Ty's a tri-state guy like me so when he started talking about cross fit I wanted to punch him...you know what they say...people who do cross fit only talk about cross fit...but he was really cool about it and told us to try it out to see if we like it...it's a great workout and there's a lot of oblique and core aspects to it that are beneficial to guys who swing a bat for a living." O'Hearn proclaimed.
Locally the two are always together. Sometimes they do a bit too much together... As fellow young player Cy Mock tells us.
"One of them is gonna be pissed at me but I don't care it'll be hilarious...they always go out together and Jamie is a Tinder fiend...if he's not playing baseball he's swiping, but he won't go anywhere by himself so every time he goes on a date, it's usually a double date with Pat." Mock said, unsure if he's going to have to answer to one of the two eventually. "It would be nice to get an invite that's for sure, the girls Jamie usually goes out with are stars."
Eat, Train, Date...is there anything these two don't do together?
"I mean outside of the obvious...not really. Pat and I got really close in the minors and the offseasons we've spent together. We played against each other a lot growing up in showcases and stuff so we were tight before but he's probably my best friend now." O'Hearn said. "I don't care about anything other than winning...I thought for the longest time that nobody hates losing more than I do but that guy is a psycho when it comes to losing. Usually I have to calm him down if he goes 0-3 in a game or makes an error that's costly. It eats him up...but you should see what happens when I whoop his ass in a race. If he drives, sometimes I let him win so he doesn't make me uber home!"
Vickers disagrees.
"That's cute that he says that...but he's never beat me in a race, and he ain't ever gonna beat me in a race so we won't have to cross that bridge. I can't let him have all the success."
The two young stars for the Millers have a bond that's deep. And fortunately for the fans, it's all to make sure they win.
"At the end of the day, Jamie's probably the best player I've ever seen play. There really isn't anything that he can't do. So I'm lucky to be around him, to work with him, push him and have him push me to be great. We want to bring a title to Pittsburgh and when we do...all of the work will be worth it."
So to my valued reader, there's a few takeaways from this.
1. The Millers are lucky to have two important players who care about winning and working hard.
2. If you have a 21-25 year old daughter who isn't currently dating...be careful. She might just end up on a date with two of Pittsburgh's favorite sons!!
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