It's been one of the most memorable years of his life.
Before the 2013 baseball season started, there was no guarantee Andrew Albers would begin the season as high as AAA with the Rochester Red Wings. If he was, it was thought he might be in the bullpen, having bounced back and forth between relief and starting pitching roles in his career. By August, he was a Major League Baseball pitcher with the Minnesota Twins.
Since his promotion to the big leagues Aug. 3, Albers has been the talk of the Battlefords.
"It's been unbelievable. It's been really touching and it's been really humbling. And to have so many people send you messages of congratulations and tell you that they're rooting for you and to let you know that, pretty much an entire province is behind you and people are watching, it's been unbelievable," he said.
To find out just how much support Albers has received from his home province, look no further than the series the Twins played against the Toronto Blue Jays in early September. The seats at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minn. were dominated by neither Blue Jays nor Twins jerseys. Roughrider green had crossed the border and taken over.
"That was pretty neat to see and kind of made me chuckle a little bit," said Albers.
However, there was some confusion among his teammates, many of whom had no idea what the jerseys were.
"The CFL doesn't really get followed much down here … there were a couple guys who had heard of it, who had seen them, but for the most part there was a little bit of confusion as to why there was that much green in the stands," he said.
Closer to home, the massive mug shot of Albers pasted on a Territorial Drive billboard is evidence of who North Battleford's most famous current resident is.
"I kind of chuckled when I heard that and kind of shook my head. Obviously, another thing it's pretty neat, but at the same time I don't really know what to think about it," Albers said.
As a 27-year-old rookie, Albers pitched 60 MLB innings with positive results. He didn't allow a single run in his first two games, ended with a respectable 4.05 ERA, issued only seven walks and, for the most part, gave his team a chance to win night in and night out. However, Albers isn't as impressed by his play as most residents of the Battlefords.
"There were some good games and there were some games where I gotta get better and do a little bit better job out there. Overall it was fine, it was OK," he said of his performance through 10 games. "I think there's definitely room for improvement and I think I'm gonna have to improve if I'm gonna stay up here in the next year and beyond that. At the same time, it was a good starting block and nice to get my feet wet."
Not surprisingly, those first two games where he pitched 17 innings of shutout baseball to start his career stand out for Albers as big moments.
"To have that performance in your debut is pretty special. And to come back at home and throw a complete game shutout in your second game in front of the home fans, that's a pretty tough moment to top. That was a pretty special night and one of those nights where just everything went right and it was really special to be part of that," he said.
Albers isn't sure what the offseason holds for him as he looks to come back to the Battlefords in a couple weeks. He does know there are improvements that need to be made if he wants to be a big league pitcher again come April. Minnesota's starting pitchers combined for the worst ERA in baseball at a whopping 5.26, so he recognizes that could be an area the management looks to address over the winter.
"It will be interesting to see what happens in the offseason and I'm sure it will be pretty tough competition going into spring training for the spots in the rotation," he said.
Although it seems like old news, Albers dominated at the minor league level to start the season, earning him the title as the best minor league pitcher in Minnesota's organization.
"I was pleasantly surprised by it and just kind of another feather to add in the cap of just an unbelievable year. It's kind of been one of those years you dream about and luckily I was able to experience a lot of success this year and hopefully can build on that," he said.
Albers is looking to work on his command and improve his secondary pitches before the 2014 season comes. No matter what happens, it's not going to be easy to top 2013 - the year he went from middle-of-the-rotation minor leaguer to becoming Saskatchewan's first Major League Baseball player since websites were created.
