Fitzsimmons' Unique Path To Pros

For Idaho Falls pitcher Jon Fitzsimmons, it was just another night at the office. In front of a crowd of 2,812, he was called upon in the seventh. He pitched for two innings giving up one hit and one earned run while walking one and striking out two batters during the Chukars game on July 18th.

For his parents, it was an entirely different experience. His mom sat anxiously in her chair with her small, black and white dog while his dad went up to the fence to take pictures not wanting to miss a moment of the action. They will never forget this game because it's the first time they were able to see their son pitch professionally.

Fitzsimmons played multiple sports growing up in Canada including hockey and soccer but he soon decided to pursue baseball after seeing a friend at a soccer game.

"Before I played baseball, I played soccer but I saw one of my friends show up to my soccer game and he had a hole in his baseball pants from sliding into second base," Fitzsimmons said. "I thought that was cool and something I wanted to do so I started playing baseball when I was six."

With no high school baseball teams in his native London, Ontario, Fitzsimmons tried out for summer travel teams hoping to play in tournaments and be seen by college scouts.

"I tried out and made the team. We traveled to the US and played in tournaments in Michigan and Ohio trying to get exposure so we could play in college," Fitzsimmons said. "We played in the Canadian national tournament that was 18 and under and we won it. It was our team from London, Ontario as opposed to all of the other provinces who had all-star teams."

Fitzsimmons said networking plays an important role in continuing on to play college baseball.

"Most of our opportunities came from coaches who knew college coaches and have played and have those connections. That's how I ended up at Canisius College," Fitzsimmons said. "It was my only Division I option. There were a couple of junior college options but I wanted to go to a four-year program. The head coach there is Canadian and he runs a really good program. He really knows what he's doing with the pitchers there and it was only three hours away from home so it was a pretty easy decision for me to go there."

While there, an issue came up that had a significant impact on how Fitzsimmons pitched. He had to get glasses.

"My freshman year of college we never really played any night games but when we did, I stopped being able to see the catcher's signs and the catcher would have to do a series of signs with his mask and his chest which my coach didn't really like," Fitzsimmons said. "It was even worse the summer before that because it got to where I couldn't even see the catcher's glove so I got a pair of glasses so I could see the signs."

With his image corrected, Fitzsimmons learned how to control his pitching and become more consistent under the direction of head coach Mike McRae. That guidance led to Fitzsimmons having a breakout year in 2012 that led to making the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Academic Team as well as being named the MAAC Relief Pitcher of the Year. During the 2013 season, the team made program history by not only winning the conference championship but making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Fitzsimmons also became the program's fourth baseball All-American. After a successful college season, Fitzsimmons went on to play for the Wilson Tobs of the Coastal Plains League, a collegiate summer league. He made the All-Star game and things started rolling quickly after he was spotted by a pro scout.

"I got picked up the day after the All-Star game. Casey Fahy, the Royals scout, asked if I wanted to play for them. I didn't know you could sign as a free agent as a junior but I said I wanted to so we drove to my host family's house and we signed the contract," Fitzsimmons said. "Then he drove me to Burlington, North Carolina and they flew me here (Idaho Falls) within a week."

Last season, Fitzsimmons pitched in 11 games allowing nine runs and 15 hits while walking eight and striking out 13 with an ERA of 4.00. So far this season, he has continued to improve pitching in six games allowing two runs and six hits while walking seven and striking out 11 with an ERA of 1.69. With improving numbers, Fitzsimmons said he's just glad his family finally got to see him pitch.

"The summer I signed, they were going to come down and watch me pitch in North Carolina where I was playing and all of a sudden I was coming here," Fitzsimmons said. "They've only seen pictures so I think they're really just happy to come out and be able to watch me throw."