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Monday, Aug. 03, 2009

Nuts' Schaeffer knows all about adversity

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Every time Warren Schaeffer strides from the on-deck circle to home plate at John Thurman Field, the scoreboard displays the photo, name, number and position of the Modesto Nuts' infielder.

It also flashes Schaeffer's batting average, although he could do without the latter.

Yes, it's true that Schaeffer is hitting .130 this season for the Nuts. But by no means is .130 the measure of Schaeffer the player, or Schaeffer the person.

"I have to give it my all, every single day and forget about what happened on the field, no matter how bad it is -- and it's never, ever been this bad for me," Schaeffer said. "Every day there are peaks and valleys. Those peaks keep you going, but this has been a struggle."

Schaeffer, a 25-year-old from suburban Pittsburgh, has several things going in his favor. There is his fielding ability, which is good enough to offset most of his woes at the plate.

But more than that is his attitude.

Look at any team during batting practice, or perhaps when it assembles on the foul line for the anthem. You'll generally see a few players whose minds are elsewhere, showing something in their body language that screams of their travails on the field.

But you won't see that in Schaeffer.

"He's an exemplary kid as far as not letting the situation control him," said Nuts manager Jerry Weinstein. "He's a team guy who is always positive. He's intelligent and an extremely hard worker. He hasn't gotten down once, and because of that has helped us. Just his presence on the team has helped us."

Besides, Schaeffer has seen first-hand how the true character of people emerges in the worst of situations, and hitting .130 isn't close to the worst thing he's been through.

That moment would have come on the morning of April 16, 2007, late in Schaeffer's final semester as a senior at Virginia Tech University, when a fellow student shot and killed 32 students and staff before committing suicide.

"There was a guy I had a class with who was killed, but I didn't know him," Schaeffer said. "You see the faces of the people who died, and you recognize them from around campus, even if you didn't know them. One of the guys was real popular on campus and was in a band, and I knew that face for four years. It was a horrible thing."

But from even the most horrifying experience imaginable, a special bond emerged among all who remained on campus.

"The whole campus came together with the shootings, and I've never seen anything like that, where everybody was trying to pick everybody else up," Schaeffer said. "The feeling of support from everybody was amazing, and that was an absolutely beautiful thing."

The first sporting event on campus following the school was a baseball game. Schaeffer, Hokies' team captain and two-time winner of the award presented to the team's most inspirational player, almost supplied a Hollywood ending.

"That whole day was so emotional," Schaeffer said. "Miami was in town and they were so much better than us. We were losing 10-8 in the last inning and I came up with a couple guys on.

"I hit a ball, and the outfielder reached over the wall and brought back a home run for the last out. It could have been the ultimate moment."

Two months later, Schaeffer was taken by Colorado in the 38th round of free agent draft. He played in 44 games for Casper that year, then hit .226 on 92 games last season for Asheville before being sent to Modesto this season.

Schaeffer has seen plenty of action filling in at shortstop for the oft-injured Hector Gomez, and on Saturday night came through with his biggest offensive game of the season.

His two-run single in the sixth inning gave Modesto a 5-4 lead, and he added an RBI single in the seventh as the Nuts went on to defeat Stockton 9-4. It was Schaeffer's first two-hit game of the season.

"I've been waiting for that day all year, and now I hope I can repeat it in my next game," said Schaeffer, who was not in Sunday's lineup. "I wake up every day and it's a new day. I have a lot of faith in Christ and every day my head's in The Word."

He knows there will be obstacles along the way -- hurdles he'll have to clear if he wants to keep playing baseball.

Like that number on the scoreboard. It will have to improve for Schaeffer to have a chance to play at the Double-A level.

"Sometimes I tell myself I've had four months of bad baseball at the plate and I've been playing baseball for 24 years," Schaeffer said. "It can turn around every day, but it's hard to look at that number.

"I know eventually, it will work out for me, whether on the baseball field or somewhere else. Right now, my calling is on the baseball field."

Bee staff writer Brian VanderBeek can be reached at bvanderbeek@modbee.com or 578-2300.