I would like to think that by now most of you guys reading my articles have figured out that I’m one of the biggest Cubs fans on planet Earth. So the fact that I’m choosing to write about a pitcher for the hated Chicago White Sox will probably make some people’s eye brows raise. However, the story of Dylan Covey goes way beyond team loyalties and hatred for other baseball teams — it’s a story that is beyond inspirational.
(Plus he was Kris Bryant’s college roommate so I guess there’s kind of a Cubs aspect to it?)
Covey was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers with the fourteenth overall selection in the 2010 MLB draft after a completely dominant senior year at Maranatha High School in Pasadena, California. He finished the year 7-1 with a microscopic 0.40 ERA.
The Brewers were scouting Covey before his senior year and were blown away at the arsenal of pitches Covey featured as an 18-year-old kid.
“Covey features one of the most polished arsenals at the high school level in this draft…Featuring a low- to mid-90s fastball…His breaking ball, a true power CURVE BALL, is also a plus pitch. It has reached 85 to become a powerful secondary weapon with his plus fastball…Unlike a lot of top prep pitchers, he does have extensive experience with a change up.”
Milwaukee believed it would take a small miracle for Covey to still be available for them to take at fourteen because they thought the Oakland A’s would select Covey with the 10th overall pick. Much to their surprise, the A’s decided to select Michael Choice with that pick instead. Milwaukee now only had to worry about the team picking right before them to draft Covey — the Chicago White Sox.
The White Sox, like Oakland, decided to pass on Covey for another power pitcher in that draft, Chris Sale. With the Sox drafting Sale, the Brewers jumped on Covey immediately and took him number fourteen overall.
Being drafted in the first round of the MLB draft and having the opportunity to sign a $2.5 million dollar signing bonus as a high school senior should have been one of the greatest moments of Covey’s life.
Should have.
Two months after being drafted, Covey’s father received a phone call from Milwaukee team doctors informing him that they discovered Dylan had Type 1 Diabetes and critically high hemoglobin results. The discovery was made during a pre-draft physical and doctors told Dylan’s father that had they not detected it at that point, there would have been a good chance Dylan would have died.
“Had he not been diagnosed, and gone out to Arizona in that hot sun,’’ Darrell Covey says, “he could have gone into diabetic shock.”
Covey still could have signed with the Brewers after the results came back but the team decided to cut the offer from $2.5 to $1.6 million dollars because of his health. He decided to turn down the offer to focus on his health and managing his new condition at a place where he could be closer to his doctors and his parents in California. He decided to enroll and play baseball at the University of San Diego where he’d end up being roommates with Cubs superstar Kris Bryant.
Bryant and Covey still talk to this day and the Cubs third baseman is excited to see his former roommate get a shot in the big leagues.
“He’s one of the best guys I know. To see him overcome so much, taking all of those insulin shots, trying to build himself back up, having to perform going through all of that. I can’t even imagine everything he dealt with. And now to see him get his chance, my goodness, I get goosebumps just talking about him.’’
Covey was a middle of the road pitcher during his time at USD where he finished his three-year career 12-10 with a 3.19 ERA. Taking into considerations the health issues that Covey was facing, I think those numbers are pretty goddamn impressive.
The Oakland Athletics passed on Covey in the 2010 draft but eventually selected him in the fourth round, with the 131st overall selection, of the 2013 MLB draft. He bounced around the A’s minor league system before the Chicago White Sox (who also passed on Covey in 2010) selected him in the 2016 Rule 5 draft.
Covey ended up making the White Sox opening day roster and is penciled in to be their fifth starter. He’s now living life with an automated insulin pump hooked to his body and is still awaiting to make his big league debut seven years later when another curve ball was thrown his way.
This time however, it was mother nature that was throwing the curve.
With two of the first three Sox games being rained out, Covey’s anticipated April 6th start will probably be pushed back to April 14th against the Twins.
Just like the diabetes, Covey is taking everything in stride.
“This is nothing. I’ve waited such a long time for this. I can wait a little longer.’’
I’ll never cheer for the White Sox in any way, shape, or form but I can now say there’s at least one White Sox player that I’ll be pulling for.
