NEW YORK — Edinson Volquez will step onto the mound at Citi Field on Sunday night with a chance to help his team clinch a World Series championship — an opportunity every pitcher dreams of as a little kid.
He’ll do so without his dad, the man who started him on that path.
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“He was everything for me. He was one of the greatest men,” Volquez said. “I remember he bought me my first glove and my first spikes, brought me to the field. He knew that's what I want to be, I want to be a baseball player.”
Volquez is a baseball player. He’s an outstanding baseball player.
He was given the honor of starting Game 1 of the World Series and turned in a quality start (six innings, three runs), not knowing that his life had forever changed before he threw his first pitch. Volquez’s father died of heart failure shortly before the Royals’ right-hander took the mound, and his family opted not to tell him.
“If my wife told me before (the game), I don't even know if I'm going to be able to pitch,” Volquez said after Kansas City’s Game 4 win. “She decided to tell me later. I think that was the right choice because like I say, I don't think I am going to be able to pitch that day if I find out before the game.”
Volquez has been grieving with his family in the Dominican Republic since then. He rejoined the team in New York for Game 4, arriving shortly before first pitch to a welcoming clubhouse.
His teammates were thrilled to see him again. They had sent text messages while he was away, just to let Volquez know they were thinking about him. The Royals have had to deal with this type of tragedy too many times this season — Mike Moustakas lost his mother and Chris Young lost his father. The clubhouse bond is rock-solid.
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“When you have a group of guys like that,” Young said, speaking from an all-too-recent experience, “you feel like you can’t fail.”
“I never thought I would get so much love from a lot of people, even outside of the clubhouse and out of baseball,” Volquez said. “I was like, 'Wow, I've got a lot of people that really care about what happened to me.' It's a great feeling. I'm pretty sure my dad is going to be proud of me when I pitch tomorrow on the mound.”
When Volquez arrived at Citi Field, Royals manager Ned Yost asked Volquez if he thought he would be able to make his Game 5 start. Of course, Volquez told him:
“I want to pitch,” Volquez said. “I want to make people proud."
He's already done that.