CHICAGO –
“Emotional roller coaster.”
“It is an emotional roller coaster.”
You might forgive David Sandlin’s parents if they’re confused on what day it is, or what city they are in. It’s been quite a whirlwind journey this past month since David made his Major League debut for the Chicago White Sox.
“When’s the next game? We’re looking at the schedule, trying to work it out. Ok, will this work out for us, and what are we going to do here,” says Bill Sandlin, David’s father.
The wild ride for the Sandlins began on May 24th, when the White Sox called up 25-year-old from Triple-A Charlotte. And for Jan and Bill Sandlin, that meant receiving a phone call they’d never forget from their son.
“He says you need to call in work on Wednesday and tell them you’re not coming in to work. And I said, well I’m on vacation. He says, well that’s even better cause I just got called up. I said oh man you’re kidding me. From there it went everywhere,” says Bill.
“It was chaos,” adds Jan.
His emotional parents jumped in the car and made the 10-hour drive to the Windy City.
“Tears.”
“He worked so hard for it for so long. It’s a dream and it’s finally happening.”
“He fought this whole thing the whole time. He never gave up on himself.”
After a having a day to get acclimated to the big leagues, the former Owasso standout took the mound on May 27th in his debut against the Minnesota Twins.
“To get there to Rate Field and seeing your son pitch was amazing.”
After giving up the home run on his second career pitch, Sandlin settled in to make White Sox history. He retired the next 18 batters in a row, the most consecutive hitters retired by a White Sox pitcher in their MLB debut over the last 100 years. He only threw 61 pitches, 41 for strikes, to get through six innings. That’s the fewest pitches per inning of any pitcher to throw at least six innings in their debut since 1988.
“I’d seen it before. He can get locked in. You can almost see it in his face,” says Jan.
“His tools were working for him. The sliders were working, the fastball was working, everything was working for him. This was the same way. These guys hit him hard, and he’s got these pros out there with him, they were making the plays,” says Bill.
Sandlin finished his first big league start by giving up just one hit and one run, while striking out four and walking none in the White Sox 15-2 victory.
“I think that was the biggest thing, was knowing that he got him a win. First time out.”
“It was humbling too.”
“Yeah he was tough. It’s emotional. The kid worked really hard, and to see that.”
Sandlin made two more appearances for Chicago before getting optioned back to Triple-A earlier this month. But from just one year of vasity baseball at Owasso, to getting a shot at Eastern Oklahoma State College, to helping lead the Sooners to a College World Series runner-up finish. His story of determination inspires the next generation of pitchers across Green Country.
“A kid that almost gave up, and now he’s debuted in the majors and hopefully he can live his lifelong dream of playing in the majors. Cause that’s one thing he said, I just don’t want to get there, I want to play there,” says Bill.