Double Eagle Gieg takes flight in Angels system
Aug. 1—The Cape Cod Baseball League can be a pressure cooker where hundreds of the best college players in the country try to impress pro scouts in the summer heat.
St. John's Prep grad Max Gieg sees the Cape as the place he fell in love with baseball again.
In the middle of his second season pitching for Cotuit in the prestigious Cape Cod League, Gieg was selected by the Los Angeles Angels in the 18th round of this year's Major League Baseball draft. Having spent the last three years at Boston College, the Lynn native decided to sign with the Angels and started his professional baseball career at the team's spring training complex in Tempe, Arizona last week.
"I had a feeling this was the year for me. I was ready to go, to take the next step," Gieg said about his decision to sign rather than return to BC. "I kind of realized the structure of college ball wasn't aligning with the best way I work as a pitcher and I felt ready for a professional program."
A 6-foot-5, 225-pound righthander, Gieg has always thrown with power going back to his days at St. John's, where he pitched in the Super 8 title game as a senior in 2019. He had surgery shortly after the end of his Eagles career and took a redshirt year at BC in 2020 where the season was mostly cancelled by COVID-19 anyway.
Coming back in 2021, Gieg admits he struggled out of the bullpen. His potential and raw ability still earned him a spot with the Kettleers on the Cape and that's where everything fell back into place.
"My ERA was something like 8 so I knew I wasn't responding," Gieg recalls. "When I came to the Cape and found an individualized program, I fell in love with baseball again and I was able to remind myself who I was as a pitcher. I felt like I could do what made me good."
Those 18 innings in the summer of '21 unlocked everything for Gieg. He struck out 16 and had an earned run average of 1.50 against some of the best hitters in America. He also honed a changeup to add to his impressive fastball/slider repertoire and feels that pitch is a major reason he's now a pro.
"Our coach Mike Roberts is very change heavy ... we almost call it going to change camp," Gieg said. "Adding that third pitch and limiting my walks helped me out a ton."
That momentum carried into the '22 season at the Heights, where Gieg went 4-2 and shrank his ERA all the way to 2.78. He struck out 26 in 22 2/3 innings and returned to the Cape where he tossed 18 more innings before draft day with an ERA of 3.00 and 14 K's.
It was the third day of the MLB draft and the team was taking batting practice at Hyannis when the Angels grabbed Gieg at 538th overall.
"Everybody had their phones on hoping for the call and I was lucky enough that mine rang. I got a call before the pick so I got to hear my name called by the Angels live on the broadcast. That was pretty cool," said Gieg, who got a video from his dad, Todd, shortly after the pick.
"He sent me his reaction from our front porch in Lynn. It was very emotional, very happy and just a great experience overall."
Ironically, Gieg was drafted just 12 spots ahead of Northeastern pitcher Sebastian Keane (Yankees) who also pitched in that Super 8 title game back in 2019 for victorious North Andover. St. John's coach Dan Letarte remembers Gieg throwing for an Angels scout who happened to be in the area back then and couldn't be happier to see another Eagle realize his pro baseball dream.
"Max is one of the most unselfish pitcher we've ever had," Letarte said. "He's a great kid and he's worked hard for everything he has. I couldn't be more proud of him and I'm excited to follow his career."
The last week was a bit of a whirlwind but Gieg is getting settled out in Arizona now. The Angels, like most franchises these days, don't have a short season A-ball team anymore, so he's not sure if he'll join a Single-A club or remain at the spring training facility for the rest of the summer and perhaps throw in the Arizona Fall League.
"It's player by player ... there's one guy who throws 105 and you read they may send him straight to Double-A," said Gieg. "Some of the guys haven't thrown for a month after the college season but I was live right up to the draft so I've thrown very recently."
Gieg, who is two semesters from finishing his BC degree, is already struck by the efficiency and attention to detail that consumes baseball at the professional level. Practices may not be four hours like high school or two like college, but the work is focused. Being present and getting something out of every rep is key.
"There's time to reflect on the day and how to fix stuff. Baseball is your job so you can hone in on what you need to work on and that's something that can be really fun," he said. "The Angels make the data we get simple and digestible. They're very good at analyzing stuff and figuring out what you really need to work on."
For Gieg, improving the slider is one goal and potentially adding some weight and strength to his lower body is another. At the moment he sees himself as a long reliever but is, of course, open minded and mostly just can't wait to get on the mound for some live action.
"I think my best role might be three or four innings, but I don't know, and I think that's so exciting about being here," Gieg said. "Maybe it's a little terrifying too because I have no identity as a pitcher. I know what my stuff can do but I don't know where it fits."
That's probably true of all new pro's, whose raw stuff is like clay to be molded into potential big leaguers by their squad's system and philosophy. More than anything, Gieg is excited to see where the Angels journey takes him.
"I've seen Chris Carpenter around and when you see a guy like that, you can feel his confidence. Everybody has that confidence and everybody is here for a reason," he said. "You feed off feeling like you belong here. It's been a very warm, comforting space. Yes it's a job and it's competitive, but you can tell everybody here is also pulling for one another."
