TAMPA — Maybe in your childhood, you took an annual visit to Six Flags Great Adventure, or Vernon Valley, or Rye Playland.
In Tommy Kahnle’s neck of the woods, you visited the place where every ballplayer wants to be someday.
“I remember growing up, when I was in the summer camps, there was a trip every summer to Cooperstown,” the Yankees reliever said recently at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “So I did that at least five or six times.”
Furthermore, “I’ve been there multiple times playing [tournaments] in that Dreams Park. I’ve had a lot of time in Cooperstown as a kid.”
It would be quite the stretch to suggest the 28-year-old Kahnle, a native of Latham in upstate New York, is on a path to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. For a guy whose future could include an All-Star Game and a World Series, though, getting a memento in the museum ranks as a more tangible possibility.
“Just something,” said Kahnle, whose father-in-law, Chris Peretin, works in maintenance at the Hall, further cementing his ties there. “When I was a kid, you look at it and you’re like, ‘Wow, it’s really old.’ It was cool seeing all that stuff. It may have propelled me to want to be great, I guess.”
If no one would describe Kahnle as a great pitcher, most would agree he carries the potential to be excellent in the wake of his finest major league season. A fifth-round selection by the Yankees in the 2010 amateur draft, Kahnle returned to his original team last summer in the July 18 trade that also brought Todd Frazier and David Robertson to The Bronx and proceeded to put up a 2.70 ERA in 32 appearances totaling 26 ²/₃ innings on top of his 2.50 ERA in 37 games (totaling 36 innings) with the White Sox. He totaled 96 strikeouts against only 17 walks.
In the postseason, he became one of Joe Girardi’s most trusted relievers, posting a 2.38 ERA in seven games totaling 11 ¹/₃ innings as he fanned 10 and walked two. Now he functions as part of Aaron Boone’s ultra-deep, smoke-throwing bullpen.
“I play catch with him. I see what he’s capable of,” Robertson said. “And he’s got an amazing arm. You just don’t see guys like that. He’s got different stuff. I feel like when you can throw 100 miles per hour, whatever he throws, and control it, with that changeup, it’s only an addition of a breaking ball to get to that next tier and make him unstoppable.”
Kahnle’s average fastball velocity of 97.9 mph ranked fourth last year among pitchers who threw a minimum of 60 innings, trailing only the Pirates’ Felipe Rivero (98.5), the Red Sox’s Craig Kimbrel (98.3) and the Astros’ Ken Giles (98.1).
“There’s no telling what Kahnle’s ceiling can be,” Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. “His stuff’s good enough.”
In accordance with Robertson’s analysis, Kahnle has been working to use his slider more regularly, Rothschild said.
“I just always wanted to be in the big leagues,” Kahnle said. “Same thing as my goals have always been: Stay in the big leagues and try to win a World Series. [That’s] my number one thing.”
He experienced a similar thrill vicariously this past winter when he watched his beloved Eagles capture their first Super Bowl. While his geographic location should have pushed him toward the Giants, Jets or Bills, Kahnle chose the Eagles because he liked the color green. He brought 16 Eagles jerseys as well as an Eagles helmet from Albany, where he lives now, to show off here in camp.
“You watch that, these guys have been grinding all year. Same thing as what we do,” said Kahnle, who followed his father’s lead and rooted for the Reds in baseball. “Just to see them, the way they celebrated, that excitement. I would love to have that over here.”
The better Kahnle pitches, the more likely he’ll get that and, in turn, be asked by the Hall for a glove, a cap, spikes — anything to complete those trips he made as a youngster.