Widell signs with Dodgers organization

King Kekaulike grad was released by Twins in September

The chance Ryley Widell has been working toward and waiting for since last fall arrived on Friday.

The 23-year-old left-handed pitcher out of King Kekaulike High School signed a Double-A contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. In September, he was released by the Minnesota Twins, who drafted him in the seventh round in 2017.

"It's been an interesting last three or four months," Widell said from Seattle, Wash., on Sunday. "I'm really excited."

Widell was one of 35 players released by the Twins in early September when the minor league season would have ended had it not been wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mononucleosis cost Widell all of the 2018 season and an impingement in his throwing shoulder limited him later in his time with the Twins.

"I kind of had a sense that I would be one of them (players released) based on the luck I've had with them," Widell said. "You know, with the mono, the injuries, the COVID, I just haven't played a lot. I just haven't played baseball with them."

He decided he needed to change locations -- he had been working out on Maui during the COVID-canceled season.

"I was like, 'You know what? I need to train,' " Widell said. "I'm not getting enough, I got too complacent back home. Like, I thought I was training hard but my velocity got down ever since I got sick and was injured. When I got drafted I was like 90 to 95 (mph) and then I just dropped down to 84 to 86.

"It just hurt to throw the pitches, too, it was just hard. So once I got healthy, I got good, I just decided to go up to Driveline Baseball, which is in Seattle."

It was a conversation with a former teammate that may have saved Widell's career. He never rose above Rookie-level Elizabethton, Tenn., in the Appalachian League with the Twins.

"I was kind of defeated to be honest with you," Widell said. "I didn't really know if baseball, if I should continue baseball or just kind of go on with my life, close that chapter of the book and then go off to school.

"I called one of my buddies who also trains here at Driveline and he kind of just told me something very simple: 'No one else can tell you you're done; only you can tell yourself you're done.' And then that kind of stuck with me, like, 'You know what? I don't think I'm done yet.' "

He decided he needed to dedicate himself to intense baseball training, so he moved to Seattle to work with the Driveline program in October, and other than a week home for Christmas, "I have just been training ever since," Widell said.

"When I started at Driveline, I was topping out at 86 miles per hour and that just wasn't good enough," he said. "Now, I'm topping out at 93, sitting 91, and my off-speed's been great."

He knew the journey back to baseball would somewhat be dictated by COVID and the fewer opportunities now available with the purge of numerous minor-league roster spots throughout baseball over the summer.

"I kind of found myself, 'I've got to be patient, I'm not going to get contacted by any teams,' like, just based off of everything that's going on right now," Widell said. "I've just got to be patient, I've just got to train."

Widell knew the Dodgers were aware of him -- they were very interested in him in his draft year to the point that they were the team he expected to be picked by -- and two days after he was released they were in contact.

"They wanted to see me do a workout, so I did a workout for them three weeks later in Arizona -- it went well, but my velo(city) was down," Widell said. "All they literally told me was, 'Look, we love you, we've seen you before, we just want to see that velo up and then we'll sign you.'

"It was just that easy, so I just put my head in the dirt and kept training and training, started seeing results. Driveline hosted a pro day this past Thursday. I threw in it, things went well -- there's some things I could have definitely improved on, but I did what they told me to do and not even a minute after my outing they came up to me and they offered me a job."

While the wording on his contract says Double-A, Widell is not sure where he will land to start the season in the Dodgers' system.

"It's kind of weird because I grew up a Bay Area fan, I was a fan of the Giants my whole life growing up," he said. "I respected the rivalry, but I just never thought I'd ever be wearing Dodger blue, so it's pretty surreal and I would say it's actually pretty cool."

He knows there's a big fan base for the reigning World Series champions in the 50th state.

"It's exciting, it hasn't truly hit me yet; it's just still shocking to me, it seems like too good to be true, I guess you could say," Widell said. "I'm just really excited. I'm just waiting for the next step on when we can report and then I just feel baseball-wise, it's been such a long time since it felt good."

Widell admits he has been through the depths of baseball during his short professional career, but he is intrigued with this new opportunity.

"It's just been so bad for a while and on the dark side of baseball when you hear about the struggles with it and just being injured and all that stuff, being in the minors, being away from family, it's a lonely sport for sure," he said. "It's just good to finally feel good about it, just feel confident in my abilities again. I just feel strong. I just feel ready. I just truly haven't shown my true potential yet and it's exciting that I finally feel that way and it actually shows."