MYSTIC, Conn. — Growing up in nearby Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, Mike Adams has been a lifelong Philadelphia sports fan.

He attended Citizens Bank Park for one of the Phillies 2008 World Series games against the Tampa Bay Rays, when he was 13 years old, then stood alongside Broad Street for the parade.

It was “definitely one of the coolest moments” of his childhood, Adams said. 

“That was the first taste of a championship being a Philly sports fan that I got,” Adams said.

Adams studied former Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels while growing up in hopes of becoming a Phillies pitcher one day himself.

Then this spring, after a tryout in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Adams received a life changing call.

“That was a dream come true for me,” Adams said. “To play affiliated baseball was always a dream, but being with the Phillies makes it that much cooler.”

Summer of Change

Adams’s journey to affiliated baseball has included a few curveballs.

After beginning the 2015 summer baseball season with the Wareham Gatemen in the Cape Cod League, he needed a change.

“I didn't really pitch much (there),” Adams said. “I needed to get innings.”

Adams then found his way back to the New England Collegiate League, but this time with the Mystic Schooners.

“I remembered him the year before with Plymouth and knew he had a live arm,” Mystic Schooners general manager and pitching coach Dennis Long said. “The recommendation from his teammates from Wagner was really what made it easy, so we jumped on it early.”

The 5-foot-11 right hander from Wagner College said his summer in Mystic changed a lot of things in his career.

“Mystic was one of the best summer ball experiences I’ve ever had,” Adams said. “It was the first taste of real success I had throughout an entire season.”

Adams grew in his time with the Schooners, mainly due to his work with Long.

“For me, it was trusting my stuff a little bit (more) and understanding that when I was in college, I threw strikes but I didn't really command the zone,” Adams said. “Dennis really instilled confidence in you that you didn't really believe that you could have. He's one of the guys that when he talks to you, you really listen and it really hits home with guys.”

For Long, developing Adams was the most important part of the summer.

“He came from a background where you can almost see it in him there was a fire burning with him the whole time. He just wanted to get better,” Long said. “Every pregame, every side session always (was) trying to work on developing, not just his fastball but trying to develop a slider and his changeup because he knew that he was going to need that.”

Adams appeared in eight games with five starts, including the playoffs. He posted a 4-0 record with a 1.06 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched while giving up 26 hits and 16 walks.

“We try to tell guys to think and act like a pro here,” Long said. “Mike epitomized that. He wasn’t here for summer baseball, he was here to be a better pitcher. I like to think he benefited from just the experience. And our approaches blended perfectly as well.”

His host family set up with Bob and Robin Casagrande was another highlight of his summer in Mystic.

“They were awesome and got a really nice setup over there,” Adams said. “We lived maybe a mile from the beach. They had kayaks in the yard and all that stuff. It was a really awesome place for me. I’m super thankful that they took me in because that summer kind of changed a lot of things for me.”

Retooling Career

After graduating from Wagner in 2016, Adams continued his playing career with the Rockland Boulders in the Independent Canadian American Association.

But a year later, a new calling blossomed for the South Jersey native. He opened the Baseball Performance Center in Pleasantville, New Jersey with fellow NECBL alum and friend Ed Charlton in 2017.

“After college was over for me, I always had a love for throwing, pitching and the new training techniques that were out there,” Adams said. “Once I started training guys and got into that a little bit, that was something that I really had a passion for. I thought that I could make a bigger impact in baseball by helping others instead of myself.”

Adams quickly realized baseball was shifting to more of an analytical game.

“For us, that's something big that we do,” Adams said. “It's a way for guys to understand what their pitchers are doing and how to use them.”

Adams soon began to use the Trackman technology — a 3D radar system that measures the location, trajectory and spin of pitches — for his clients and himself.

“That was one of the most eye opening things,” Adams said. “All the pitches that theoretically, I don't want to throw, I throw them. It was pretty eye opening and it was great because that gave me the opportunity to change that and fix that, which is big.”

The Trackman information helped Adams’ pitches become more effective.

“I got to use myself as a guinea pig when there was an idea I saw or something that didn't make sense,” Adams said. “I could try and feel that out and mimic it myself.”

Working with clients like Chase Petty, who went No. 26 overall to the Minnesota Twins in the 2021 MLB Draft, kept Adams ready on the mound, he said.

“Being around baseball everyday was huge for me,” Adams said. “I feel having a teacher that can not just tell you what to do but can show you helps relay the message a little bit better. It (also) helps me understand what I'm feeling and what they're feeling a little bit better too.”

Long, a minor league pitcher turned pitching coach himself, said the way Adams has stayed with the game is a gift and something he doesn’t see often.

“He just kept doing the training, using the tools, using the drills and the training methods that he was passing on to these young, elite players and even not the elite players,” Long said. “That's what makes Mike so good, he understands even the player that maybe doesn't have the accolades he's here to help anybody.

Long, a 2017 Cape Cod League Hall of Fame inductee, said Adams’ ability to demonstrate and learn from all levels of players is an important quality of not just his coaching style but also involvement to stay active.

“You take his youth, his gifted arm, his knowledge, his approach of constantly learning, and Mike saw that early,” Long said. “He's just taking advantage of it and I couldn't be happier for him.”

That was on display when 2013 National League All-Star starting pitcher and Groton, Connecticut, native Matt Harvey called.

Adams said the opportunity to work with Harvey came from Long’s nephew Nolan.

“Having him ask for help was pretty cool. When he was in his prime being ‘The Dark Knight,’ there was no one better on the planet than him,” Adams said. “Hearing him talk about things that he used to do when he was in his prime, what he does now and having the Mystic connection was pretty cool.”

Call of a Lifetime

Most baseball prospects sign contracts in their teams after high school or in their early 20s out of college.

But for Adams, he experienced the childhood dream as a 26-year-old after pitching at a local showcase in January in Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania.

“A comeback really wasn't in the plans for me. It wasn't something that I really sold out to do,” Adams said. “Performing at that time was huge. It was kind of something that just happened off the cuff, which I think makes it even cooler.”

Shortly after signing with the Phillies, Adams reported to the team’s spring training complex in Clearwater, Florida.

“Every day at the ballpark, he was out there working at it,” Long said. “He was cut out to be a pro like then (in 2015) which surprised me that he didn't get the chance back then. And it doesn't surprise me that he got the chance now.”

After throwing a bullpen session at the team’s Carpenter Complex, the longtime Phillies fan himself finally met a legend of his childhood team.

“He was like, ‘Hey, what’s going on man? I heard you’re new here. My name is Charlie Manuel,’” Adams said to The Press of Atlantic City in May. “Obviously, I knew exactly who he was from being a Phillies fan. That was pretty cool.”

After spring training concluded in Clearwater, Adams made the trip back north up to Lakewood to begin his minor league career with the organization’s High-A team, the Jersey Shore BlueClaws.

One Step Closer

On June 25, Adams received another big call.

The Phillies promoted the right hander to Triple-A Lehigh Valley following the BlueClaws 3-0 win at Brooklyn.

“I definitely didn’t expect to jump over Double-A but it was pretty cool,” Adams said. “I got to pitch the first game that I got here (Triple-A) that was really awesome.”

Adams was 1-1 with a 7.59 ERA for the High-A Jersey Shore BlueClaws. He struck out 13 in 10 2/3 innings. In his last four outings, he did not allow a run and struck out four and walked three in 4 1/3 innings.

Though skipping a level in the minor league is uncommon, Long wasn’t surprised.

“If you're a good pitcher, it doesn't really matter who the competition is in a lot of scouts and managers' eyes especially with spin rates, velocity and all these metrics that are out there now,” Long said. “It's almost like the opponent is secondary and Mike’s showing that.”

Meanwhile, Adams credits his success with the BlueClaws to one thing.

“Being out of baseball changes your thought process a little bit,” Adams said. “I was who I was because of baseball and not because it wasn't something I did. Now that I got back here just being able to handle it a little bit differently. That's been the biggest thing.”

As of July 28, Adams has a 1-0 record with a 0.77 ERA in eight games with the IronPigs. Through 11 2/3 innings of work, opposing hitters are hitting just .179 against him.

Adams is now one step away from pitching in the same ballpark that he has gone to his entire life to watch his favorite team.

He would join SchoonSquad teammate Jason Foley as the second Mystic Schooner this year to pitch in the majors.

“It would not shock me if he was in Philadelphia this year,” Long said. “That would be pretty cool. It couldn't be a better story, you couldn't write any better.”

And though Adams has a thought of what that moment might be like, he says he is not worrying about it and focusing on doing his job for the IronPigs.

“Being close to home and having all my friends and family are also Phillies fans, I'd assume that it'd be really cool, loud and everyone I know would probably be there but I'll worry about that when the time comes,” Adams said.

By John Leuzzi // John Leuzzi is in his first season as Director of Broadcast and Media Relations for the Mystic Schooners. He can be reached at john.leuzzi@marquette.edu or on Twitter @JohnLeuzziMU.