{"id":1357,"date":"2020-04-20T21:10:08","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T21:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=1357"},"modified":"2025-02-07T16:25:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T21:25:16","slug":"a-new-dream-for-this-retired-pitcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2020\/04\/20\/a-new-dream-for-this-retired-pitcher\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Dream for this Retired Pitcher"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column1357_4fc220-87 > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column1357_4fc220-87 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column1357_4fc220-87 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column1357_4fc220-87 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column1357_4fc220-87 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column1357_4fc220-87 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column1357_4fc220-87 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column1357_4fc220-87{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column1357_4fc220-87 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column1357_4fc220-87 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column1357_4fc220-87 dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1357_85a312-cf, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1357_85a312-cf[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1357_85a312-cf\"]{font-size:1.5rem;line-height:30px;font-weight:500;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;color:#808080;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1357_85a312-cf mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1357_85a312-cf[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1357_85a312-cf\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1357_85a312-cf img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1357_85a312-cf[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1357_85a312-cf\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading1357_85a312-cf p1 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1357_85a312-cf\">Growing up, <span class=\"s1\">Sam Kmiec<\/span> nurtured a dream not uncommon to boys <span class=\"s2\">throughout America: to&nbsp;<\/span>play Major League Baseball. But unlike most aspiring big leaguers, young Sam showed the potential to actually make that dream come true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Encouraged and tutored by his father, Kmiec (pronounced \u201cKametch\u201d) became a shutdown left-<span class=\"s3\">handed pitcher. With a fastball in the mid-80s and an excellent curve, he made All-State in both his junior and senior years of high school in West <\/span>Virginia, then went on to pitch in college. After a red-shirt freshman year at Wake Forest University, he transferred to Winthrop University, in Rock Hill, South Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">In 2016, despite a senior season as Winthrop\u2019s top pitcher, he was passed over in the baseball draft. But the morning after the draft ended, the St. Louis Cardinals called, offering<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>to sign him as a free agent. Excited, Kmiec quickly accepted, and in late June, the Cardinals flew him to their training site in Jupiter, Florida. There, he hoped, his journey to the Major Leagues would begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">But first he had to pass a physical. \u201cWe got our lockers, and then they took all the pitchers to get MRIs on their arms,\u201d he says. <span class=\"s2\">Afterward, he and the other players spent the night in a hotel. As he tried <\/span>to sleep, Kmiec remembers being mildly worried because he had experienced some arm problems during his senior season, but he had pitched through them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIn the morning we all went back to the locker room,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re waiting around to sign our contracts, and then they pulled me out, took me aside and told me the MRI showed my elbow was torn and I needed Tommy John surgery and they couldn\u2019t sign me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">The surgery, named after the pitcher who first underwent the operation and formally known as ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction, is a procedure to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament inside the elbow. Recovery takes nine months to a year. The Cardinals weren\u2019t willing to make that investment in Kmiec, who was an undrafted free agent, not a top prospect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cTotally understandable,\u201d Kmiec says of the decision. \u201cNo ill will towards them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">But it was devastating, his dream of a big league career gone, snatched from him in the space of less than 36 hours. By the next afternoon, he was flying home to his parents\u2019 house in Middletown, Delaware. There, he sat on the couch and contemplated his future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">He had no Plan B. \u201cI did OK in school,\u201d he says, \u201cbut I was always pretty much focused on baseball my whole life.\u201d Fighting off depression, he soldiered through the summer, but says, \u201cI couldn\u2019t watch baseball the rest of that season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">He had a girlfriend in Charlotte, so he moved there and worked at a sales job for about a year, but the relationship ended, and the job proved to Kmiec that he was not cut out for sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">He moved back in with his parents in the summer of 2017 to, as he says, \u201creset, get a breather and figure out what I was going to do now that baseball was over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">He had a degree from Winthrop in Mass Communications with a focus on Broadcast Journalism, and he had made what he calls \u201ccool stuff while I had the camera in my hand\u201d at Winthrop. He enjoyed the creative process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">It was serendipitous, then, when his mother introduced him to Scott Shaw, chair of Game Design and Development and Video and Film Production in Wilmington University\u2019s College of Technology. Jennifer Kmiec knew Shaw through her work as executive director of The Committee of 100, a non-partisan, nonprofit association of Delaware business leaders that promotes responsible economic development and Delaware\u2019s economic health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Shaw showed Kmiec around campus and told him about WilmU\u2019s video and film program. Kmiec was immediately intrigued. \u201cI\u2019ve always had this creative hunger and I wanted to make art,\u201d he says, \u201cbut I never really had the tools to do it because I was so focused on baseball. After Scott told me about the program, and without doing really much more research, I decided this is what I wanted to do, and I hit the gas pedal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">That was in the fall of 2017, and it\u2019s been full speed ahead ever since. Working with Timothy Day of the Video and Film Production program while pursuing his second bachelor\u2019s degree, Kmiec soon found many opportunities to use his growing skill set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Day was immediately impressed with his new student. \u201cI first had Sam in a 100 level Video and Film Production course (VFP100 Camera and Cinematography),\u201d he says, \u201cand I quickly realized he was extremely motivated and hard-working, always asked good questions, and put a lot of effort into every assignment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Under Day\u2019s guidance, Kmiec went to work in WilmU\u2019s Freelance for Media Co-Op. There he developed professional projects for external groups like U.S. Sen. Chris Coons\u2019 office, Christiana Care, Nemours\/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, the New Castle County Police Department, the YWCA and many more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cSam joined the crew ready to learn and soon became one of the leaders of the group,\u201d says Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Kmiec then interned for about a year with NCCTV, New Castle County\u2019s public access channel, getting valuable on-the-job training by doing event videos and what he calls \u201cmini-documentaries.\u201d That led to a part-time job with NCCTV, and then, last December, he landed a full-time gig as a video producer with Delaware\u2019s Government Information Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">The job, which involves creating videos for all state departments, has clearly energized him. \u201cIt\u2019s great to have a lot of creative freedom and drive projects from concept to finished product,\u201d he says. \u201cThey want to do storytelling and cinematic things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\"> As for his former dream, he says, \u201cI\u2019ve played a couple of games in an adult league here and there, but my passion for baseball has been replaced at this point with the passion for creating art through visual storytelling. I view myself as an artist who is trying to hone his craft, but is still in the early stages of developing his voice in the creative world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Kmiec is on track to graduate, and Day says he definitely will be in attendance. \u201cI\u2019ve seen Sam grow both professionally and technically in his video productions, and I couldn\u2019t be more excited to see what he works on in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Growing up, Sam Kmiec nurtured a dream not uncommon to boys throughout America: to&nbsp;play Major League Baseball. But unlike most aspiring big leaguers, young Sam&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[632],"class_list":["post-1357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-magazine-spring-2020"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":632,"label":"Magazine Spring 2020"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Luminary-RGB-720x480.jpg",720,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Rebecca Slinger","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/rebecca\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":632,"name":"Magazine Spring 2020","slug":"magazine-spring-2020","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1189,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":17,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15284,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357\/revisions\/15284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}