Former Fitch High star Jesse Hahn has played eight major-league seasons for four different organizations. He’s trying to make it back with a fifth, currently pitching in relief for the Buffalo Bisons, Triple-A affiliate of the Blue Jays.
Buffalo Bisons Baseball
Former UConn standout Pat Gallagher is dealing out of bullpen for Buffalo, Triple-A affiliate of the Blue Jays.
David Borges/Hearst CT Media
CT’s Jesse Hahn gets replaced on the mound by Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider during a spring training game in February.
Chris O’Meara/AP
WORCESTER, Mass. — On Wednesday evening, after a matinee game at Polar Park, home of the Worcester Red Sox, Jesse Hahn hopped in a car for a 90-minute drive down memory lane.
Hahn took 395 South down to his old haunts in Groton, where he was a three-sport star playing for his father, Fred, and an ace on the Fitch High baseball team alongside teammate Matt Harvey.
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It had been a while since Hahn had been back to Groton. Since his last visit, the press box at Roger Bidwell Field and a dugout at Groton Little League’s Calvin Burrows Field had been dedicated and named after Fred Hahn, who passed away from brain cancer in 2020 at 63. Jesse had seen pictures, but wanted to see in person the plaques commemorating a man who was “probably everybody’s favorite coach growing up” in Groton.
Family, after all, is what Jesse Hahn is all about. It’s what he misses most now at age 36, pitching for Triple-A Buffalo some 2,000 miles away from his Arizona home and his wife and four young sons (including a newborn). And it’s what will ultimately lead him to call it a career, one that’s seen him pitch in parts of eight major-league seasons for four different teams and dozens of minor-league outposts.
But that time hasn’t come yet.
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“When my family says it’s time, that’ll be when,” Hahn said on Friday afternoon from the visitors dugout at Polar Park. “I still enjoy it, still have fun. I still love being in the clubhouse, on the field. As long as my body allows me to do it, I could do it for however long I want to.”
It helps that the minor leagues offer better pay, travel, lodging and scheduling than they did just a few years ago.
“It’s still the same grind, though,” Hahn pointed out. “Being away from the family for a long time, that’s the most challenging obstacle for me. If it gets in the way of my family, that’s when it’s time. So far, it hasn’t.”
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On the other side of the spectrum with Buffalo, Triple-A affiliate of the Blue Jays, is another pitcher with Connecticut ties, 10 years younger. Pat Gallagher, a former UConn ace, has spent most of this season pitching in a variety of ways out of the Buffalo bullpen. He’s struck out 17 in 14 innings and allowed seven earned runs in 10 outings.
On Friday night at Polar Park, he was about 20 minutes from his Leominster, Mass. home. Friends and family had watched him work a scoreless inning of relief the night before. He’s also one level away from achieving his big-league dream.
“The closer you get, the more you want to get back home to what makes you who you are as a pitcher,” said Gallagher, 26. “You don’t want to go outside of yourself, especially knowing that what you’ve done got you to this point. There’s no need to change. You just want to get better and continue to grow at the things you’ve already been doing. The goal remains the same: attacking hitters, staying ahead and putting guys away.”
Gallagher is making his way up the ranks, as Hahn did in the Tampa Bay organization some 15 years earlier. He’s found a great sounding board in Hahn.
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“He’s been around the game for a long time,” Gallagher pointed out. “We bond a little bit over the Connecticut stuff. He has a lot of wisdom. It’s awesome at Triple-A, having a lot of guys who’ve played for a while and being able to pick their brains on what it takes to get to the next level.”
There’s been a virtual mother lode of such brains to pick in the Bisons’ clubhouse lately. Cy Young Award winners and future Hall of Famers, all on rehab assignments and hopeful to soon rejoin Toronto.
On Thursday night, Blue Jays free-agent ace Dylan Cease started for Buffalo. On Saturday night, it was Shane Bieber, the 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner with Cleveland.
In between on Friday night was Max Scherzer, only a three-time Cy Young Award winner who is destined for Cooperstown five years after whenever he decides to call it a career.
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Gallagher hasn’t had a chance to pick Scherzer’s brain much in between his two starts for Buffalo thus far, but he’s made sure to keep an eye on how he goes about his business, works in between starts and utilizes his bullpen sessions.
“Anytime you’ve got a future Hall of Famer out there,” Gallagher reasoned, “you want to take advantage of that and get a front-row seat.”
Hahn has pitched against Scherzer, Bieber and Cease in the majors: as a rookie with San Diego in 2014. Three seasons with Oakland, three more with Kansas City. After missing two full seasons due to injury, he returned to the bigs for a few outings last season with Seattle.
Hahn currently sports a 6.65 ERA in 18 relief outings for the Bisons. The numbers aren’t great, but he’s not too worried.
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“I came here to be bullpen depth in a good organization and have a chance to compete in the playoffs,” he reasoned. “I think that’s what this organization is all about right now. I would have liked to get off to a better start, but it’s a long year, things are improving.”
Hahn got rocked in a few outings in April. He’s been much better since, save for a May 20 outing at Syracuse.
“I got off to a rough start, and mentally I felt like I’ve had to dig myself out of a hole all year. You kind of lose track of what’s important. What’s important is being available, good quality innings, continuing to progress, and being able to go about your daily routine, without worrying about what your numbers look like, what kind of hole you’re in. I think I might have gotten caught up in that a bit early on.”
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But he’s pitching better lately. More importantly, he still loves what he’s doing, even if he misses his young family in Arizona. So there he was on Friday evening inside the Polar Park visitors’ dugout, about 90 minutes up the road from the Little League dugout in Groton that now sports his father’s name, taking it all in, savoring every moment, happy and content.
“That’s why I love it so much,” Jesse Hahn said. “You get to see Max Scherzer on a Friday night in Worcester. That’s pretty cool.”