Bradenton's Gaffney continues experiment

Tyler Gaffney found himself a long way from a previous dream as he set out across the Florida panhandle Thursday morning.
It was a scene appropriate of his self-described "gypsy lifestyle."
Four years earlier, on the third and final day of the 2014 NFL Draft, he was with his parents and then-girlfriend Kristen at home in San Diego. It was there that Gaffney, a former Stanford running back, got the call from the Carolina Panthers that he'd be selected with the 28th pick in the sixth round -- 204th overall.

"It's an exciting -- yet draining -- process until your name is called," the now-27-year-old remembered. "Once you get that name, you get the monkey off your back and it's time to go to work."
The current-day Florida road trip paints a perfect picture of his grand experiment as a professional athlete.
The constants come from the personal side: He and now-wife Kristen travel with their children, 22-month-old Jaxon and 2-month-old Conway, in the 2004 Toyota Tundra he's driven since high school.
But the variables show the hectic nature of his path to the Florida State League. After all, it's once again Draft Day in the NFL, but he's driving from Bradenton to Jupiter to play Minor League Baseball.
To borrow a phrase from the Marauders outfielder: "It's funny how things come full circle."

Tyler Gaffney ranks ninth all-time in rushing in Stanford history. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)
Gaffney, a two-sport star for two years at Stanford, spent the summer of 2012 in the New York-Penn League, batting .297/.483/.441 with six triples, five doubles and 11 stolen bases in 38 games with Class A Short Season State College.
He stayed in touch with the Pirates organization over three injury-riddled seasons in the NFL. When he eventually decided to walk away from the sport last August, he left as a well-decorated, scout-team darling with a pair of Super Bowl rings from two seasons with the New England Patriots.
Sometime in January, Gaffney decided he was ready to shift his focus back to baseball. Unfortunately, he'd almost be starting from scratch.
"I didn't play any baseball," he said. "I did nothing. Didn't throw -- my shoulders weren't meant to throw when I was playing football. I definitely didn't hit because I didn't see any reason at that point."
Some light tee work and time in a batting cage brought him back to his old high school, Cathedral Catholic, and his former coach, Gary Remiker.
"He came out a handful of times with our guys … and just kind of knocked the rust off a little bit," Remiker said. "I'm not sure he was ever comfortable when he was working out with us. I think still, kind of in the back of his mind, he was curious to find out if he was invited to Spring Training with Pittsburgh, and once he got to that level of competition, could he still hit a 95 mile an hour fastball?"
Gaffney did some additional work at local Palomar College -- an alma mater of his current skipper in Bradenton, Gerardo Alvarez. Buck Taylor, Palomar's current manager, welcomed Gaffney to participate in some of the team's preseason activities.
"[Taylor] really helped propel my game by letting me just be around baseball everyday," Gaffney said. "They were in the thick of it starting the season, and so I just got the mentality of being out there all day throwing-hitting, rinse and repeat."
He made it back to pro ball in time to get one at-bat in Major League Spring Training before the assignment to Bradenton. He caught on quick with the Marauders, batting .278/.381/.426 with five extra-base hits -- including his first professional homer -- and five steals in 15 games.
"I would say, for 99.9 percent of the population, if they stepped away from the game of baseball for six years they would have no chance," Remiker said. "So, in that way, I'm a little bit surprised. But on the other side of the coin, nothing that Tyler Gaffney does athletically surprises me anymore."
Gaffney noted some changes in pitcher approaches in the FSL and notes the uptick he's seeing in strikeouts and home runs, a departure from the "small ball" he'd grown accustomed to before his football detour. The change has also made him take notice of an emphasis on physicality in baseball that may not have been as pronounced a short time ago.
"Guys are swinging, what I think is, a little harder," he said. "Now these dudes are just taking hacks and they got five home runs at this point, and 25 strikeouts. … Baseball is just more competitive, and I think the best athletes are starting to figure out that they can compete here and you're seeing more athletic bodies in MLB than you used to."
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His initial baseball pursuit in 2012 left his football dreams on the back burner until his decision to return to college for his senior season.
"I wanted to play one more year [of football] with my friends and teammates," Gaffney said. "It was either now or never, and I wasn't just ready to hang up the football cleats and never play football again."
Also citing a desire to finish his degree in sociology, he returned to Palo Alto in 2013 as a fifth-year senior. His final year on the gridiron did not go as planned. In fact, it went much better.
The 6-foot-1, 225-pound Gaffney --who rushed for a combined 791 yards from 2009-2011 as a backup in his first three seasons with the Cardinal -- ran for 1,709 yards on 330 carries as a starter in 2013, scoring 21 touchdowns on the ground.
"The plan was to go play football, win a Rose Bowl and come back to baseball," he said. "It didn't end up playing that way because I had a better year. I just had to ride it out the way the cards were dealt."
Stanford fell to Michigan State, 24-20, in "The Granddaddy of Them All" that year, but, statistically, his season was fourth-best by rushing yardage in Stanford history. He shot up to the No. 9 spot on the school's list of all-time rushers and fell seven short of Toby Gerhart's single-season touchdown record.
The monster year forced his name into the draft conversation, which was something he'd already experienced. Gaffney had been selected by the Pirates in the 24th round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft less than two years before.
"I knew I wasn't getting drafted in the first couple rounds for football or baseball," Gaffney said, "But once you start to get toward the zone that you think you may be drafted, you start to keep up with who's getting [picked].
"You end up comparing yourself to certain guys who are similar in their style of play -- whether it be football or baseball. Why them? Why not me? So, you get that competitive edge and you're just thinking, 'I want to prove to everybody that you drafted these guys in front of me and that was the wrong move.'"
Gaffney said the brevity of the seven-round NFL Draft made for a somewhat more "fulfilling" experience than its 40-round MLB counterpart, which he took in by himself in his dorm room as he finished out the baseball season at Stanford.
"You have all these projections and you have all these people telling you this is probably where you're going to go, and those days go by," Gaffney said of the baseball Draft. "With the [NFL] draft, that was a somewhat similar process. … You get slotted somewhere. People tell you this is what's going to happen and then that goes by."
Despite being pushed back in the draft further than he'd anticipated -- thanks in part to a competitive year for running backs -- Gaffney remained intrigued by immediately competing against the best. This notion also brought back a sense of urgency that he didn't feel with baseball, and he decided to forge ahead through what he saw was a window that closed a little more rapidly for football.

"There's no Minor League organization, so you're right in the thick of it," Gaffney said. "It's just a little more ... of a boost of adrenaline. … You're right on their team and you're ready to see where you shape up."
His early success in the FSL shows he will have additional time to contemplate the differences between professional baseball and football beyond the Draft process. One thing he's carried throughout his career in both sports is a toughness that was praised by Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
How it translates to baseball in one way is comically simple. Gaffney was hit by a pitch 20 times in 38 games in 2012 and, just 15 games into the 2018 season, he's already be plunked seven times.
"It's a mentality: Any way to get on base is a style of play. Guys are throwing inside all the time, and a lot of times they brush guys back off the plate," he said. "That's their way of throwing you off-balance or trying to get your eyes inside, but if they throw inside to me, I'm not moving.
"It's just a little bruise, no big deal."