Fifty years after Dave Winfield was drafted, some of the best pitchers to come out of Minnesota of late are getting their starts in the eastern metro.

By Patrick Reusse

July 8, 2023 at 11:32PM

Marlins starting pitcher Max Meyer, center, walked off the mound with elbow discomfort in his second major league start in 2022. The Woodbury native underwent Tommy John surgery two weeks later. (Gene J. Puskar, AP/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The numbers are flabbergasting for a pair of St. Paul guys who grew up four years apart in age and closer than that in mileage.

Dave Winfield was taken fourth in the 1973 MLB draft behind pitcher David Clyde, catcher John Stearns and shortstop Robin Yount. Winny probably lasted that long because teams were conflicted as to whether the 6-6 super athlete should be a pitcher or a hitter.

Perhaps if he had been allowed to do both, baseball would not have been so stunned a half-century later by Shohei Ohtani.

The Padres brought Winfield directly to their outfield. His pro career would be 22 seasons, 2,973 games (plus postseason) and none were in the minors. He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2001 with 84.5% of the votes (75% required).

Paul Molitor was taken third in the 1977 draft behind outfielder Harold Baines and pitcher Bill Gullickson. Molitor played 64 games in the low minors with Burlington, Iowa, that summer.

He made the Brewers the next spring. He would play 21 seasons, with 2,683 games in the majors and with three rehab games in the minors. He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2004 with 85.2% of the votes.

Draft-wise as a Minnesota Gopher, this was the company pitcher Max Meyer found himself in when taken third overall in 2020. That was the MLB draft shortened to five rounds as a reaction to the COVID-19 shutdowns.

Meyer signed with the Marlins on July 2, three weeks after the draft, for $6.7 million. There was no minor league ball and nowhere to pitch that summer.

The righthander made 22 starts with excellent numbers in 2021. He made 13 last season, then was called to the Marlins for a big league debut on July 16. He lasted 5⅓ innings against the Phillies, who were heating up and got him for five runs.

One week later, Meyer started against Pittsburgh, and on his 10th pitch, he felt discomfort in his right elbow. Two weeks later, he was undergoing Tommy John surgery.

What's up now with the pitcher who equaled Molitor as the highest-ever Gophers draft choice?

He's still going through the rehab process at the Marlins' complex in Jupiter, Fla. He does his work at the complex, and then takes his boat (bonus money) to the endless nearby waters to catch varieties of bass.

Kent Meyer, his father and a general contractor in Woodbury, was given Max's proxy to update where he stands with his recovery.

"The Marlins are saying Max is a little ahead of schedule in his rehab," Kent said. "He's not going to pitch this season, though. The idea is to make it a normal winter, and then have him ready to go at the start of spring training."

Meyer will be 25 next March. He has the advantage of being an outstanding athlete. He's a lefthanded hitter and was occasionally in Gophers coach John Anderson's lineup as a non-pitcher.

"Max could hit, and he had amazing hands," Woodbury High coach Kevin McDermott said. "He could have been the best shortstop on a lot of Big Ten teams."

Meyer has a chance to be the featured attraction in quite a baseball legacy that has been occurring in St. Paul's east suburbs. You can start with the basics:

Four of the past five Class 4A state championships have been won by Stillwater (2018, 2022) and East Ridge (2019, 2023). There was no tournament in 2020 due to COVID and Farmington — sorry, a south suburb — was the champion in 2021.

Woodbury has produced two Big Ten Pitchers of the Year in this decade: Meyer for the Gophers in 2020, and Adam Mazur for Iowa in 2022.

Mazur was a second-round draft choice for the Padres and signed for $1.25 million last summer. He's 22, pitching extremely well with high-Class A Fort Wayne in Indiana and has been rated sixth among San Diego prospects.

East Ridge opened as Woodbury's second high school in 2009. Brian Sprout, St. Olaf superstar and former infielder for the independent St. Paul Saints, has been the baseball coach from the start.

The Raptors won a second title last month when lefthanded junior Max Arlich beat Rosemount 1-0 in the final. Arlich was in Cary, N.C., last week participating in the Pipeline Development Program's four-team tournament for 100 top 2024 draft prospects chosen by MLB.

Long-range planning: If you want to develop a pitcher over there in Woodbury, mom and dad, naming him Max might be the way to go.