Hellweg Hurling Way Back Toward Majors

INDIANAPOLIS - We interrupt the redemption tour of Johnny Hellweg - he's the 6-foot-7-inch flamethrower currently stacking up scoreless innings and saves for the Indians - to take a quick tour through his memory bank.

Warning: A lot of it ain't pretty.
We know the happy place Hellweg is at the moment. One run allowed in 15 appearances through this past Tuesday, with nine saves in nine chances - blowing through one ninth inning after another with a 98 mile-an-hour fastball. Any day the phone should ring, when the Pirates need bullpen help in Pittsburgh. Or as Indians pitching coach Stan Kyles said, "It just seems like it's his time now."
This is remarkable. This is special. But to understand how much, we should know where Johnny Hellweg has been. We need to share a few memories of the man who has paid so many dues to this game.
This is June 28, 2013 . . .
It is the night he has waited for all his life. The Milwaukee Brewers have summoned him to start against the Pirates in Pittsburgh. "It was a mixture between a grown man and professionalism, and a young boy whose dream is being lived," he says, looking back.
But baseball is not always a fairy tale. He doesn't get out of the second inning, gives up seven runs. It is a harbinger for the hard times to come -- eight appearances with the Brewers, four losses, an absolutely horrific 26-9 walk-strikeout ratio.
Hellweg now: "It's something you don't want to dwell on, but you take the positives out of it. Obviously, it's every kid's dream. It's your debut. It didn't go as planned or how I would have drawn it up, but there are some good things in it and some bad things. You take it for what it is."
There would be one bright moment - he'd get his first (and so far only) big-league win in Wrigley Field, with a lot of his family from St. Louis in the stands. His mother still has the ball.
This is 2014 . . .
First comes Tommy John surgery and nearly a year of rehabbing, which is followed by an oblique injury, which was followed by shin surgery. The disabled list becomes home.
Hellweg now: "That got drawn out to about two years' worth of not being where I wanted to be."
This is 2016 . . .
The low point for Hellweg? That's an easy one. He is barely hanging onto his career as a member of the New Jersey Jackals in the Canadian-American Association, an independent league that is light years from where he once played.
Hellweg now: "The first inning I threw, I think I walked four guys, hit somebody, didn't get an out, didn't get out of the inning. I'm like, I didn't get an out in a non-affiliated baseball game. I think that was the lowest point. It was kind of all up from there."
He had always understood baseball can dispense adversity like a ballpark vendor tosses out bags of peanuts. He had always looked at the bumps in the road as things to get over. Don't get distracted, don't get discouraged. But that was getting harder.
"It became not as pure as it used to be when I was younger. It became more of a grind. But I've always loved baseball, I've always watched baseball. It's been good to me. I kind of feel like I've paid my dues a little bit more."
It is 2017 . . .
His path has wandered through Cedar Rapids and Huntsville and Biloxi and El Paso. Through New Jersey of the Canadian-American Association and Obregon of the Mexican Pacific Winter League. He once was a starter but now is a reliever. He is 29. Time is running out. He's even shrunk, or so the rosters say. Listed 6-9 earlier in his career, for some reason it been changed to 6-7. Somehow, that fits his ordeal.
And then then Pirates call in August with a job offer at Altoona. His performance is promising, and he is sent to Indianapolis in 2018 - the 17th different uniform he has worn as a professional. Look at him now, putting up zero after zero after zero on the board.
That's why it's remarkable. That's why it's special. It always is when an athlete refuses to take no for an answer.
"Radar guns don't mean a lot to me," Hellweg said, but he saw his velocity, saw the smoking MPH numbers of 98, 99, 100. Saw his stuff. "I knew all I need to do is hone it, command it, get in the zone, it's going to play.
"I told my mom when I was eight I wanted to play in the big leagues. My first time didn't go how I wanted it. I've always had the dream I wanted to be the best. So I felt like I had a lot left to prove from my previous stint. I wanted to show that I was more than I did show.
"(A second chance) doesn't happen for everyone. This is my time to run with it, there's nothing else left to do. So I'm just going to give it everything."
In his first 15 appearances for the Indians, he struck out 13 in 17 innings and walked six, allowed that one lonely run, and stood second in the International League in saves. What an extraordinary second wind, and his pitching coach has loved watching every minute.
"It's one of the nicest things you can see," Kyles said. "A guy that's gone through what he's gone through and continues to stay at it, continues to chase his dream, and let's not forget he still has terrific stuff. So he knows that he can pitch at the next level, and he knows he has to make some adjustments, and he's made them."
The difference in Hellweg? "There's no better thing than gaining experience," Kyles said. "Sometimes you've got to go through a lot of trials and tribulations. I think he's at peace with going through some things.
"Now he's trying not to get there (to the big leagues), he's trying to prepare himself for when he gets back. And I think that's been the biggest thing for him. He's out of the rat race and just saying, `You know what, the next time I get an opportunity I'm going to take full advantage of it.'''
It takes a certain edge to walk to the mound in the ninth inning of a tight game and put a stake through an opponent's heart. Maybe all the tough times downloaded a closer's mentality to Hellweg.
Kyles: "Iron sharpens iron, we like to say around here. It's like going into the gym and lifting weights. It doesn't feel good, but you know it strengthens you. One of his demons has always been, will he throw enough strikes? Now he's got a plan, he's not just going out there and hoping he'll throw strikes, he expects to throw strikes. It's nice to see a guy come to that place.
Hellweg: "You've seen only so many bad things can happen, so it's not that big of a deal. It helps."
Consider the irony, should he get to Pittsburgh. He might well return to the ballpark where it all went south in a Brewers uniform so many years ago. "My family's brought it up," Hellweg said. "I don't know if it's destiny or fate, or what it is. Whatever it is, it's there."
That's the great circle of baseball life. Think what the moment could mean, to a young man who has traveled so far.