Friday, August 15

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LOS ANGELES -- Jack Dreyer has had his fair share of coaches throughout his time in baseball. But only one has been there from the very beginning -- and he knows a lot about what Dreyer is experiencing in his rookie season with the Dodgers. 

Dreyer's father, Steve, pitched in parts of two big league seasons with the Rangers from 1993-94. According to Baseball Almanac, Steve and Jack are one of the 271 pairs of fathers and sons who have both played in the Majors. 

"He's been my coach for my whole life," Dreyer said. "He was always my first coach, and he's somebody that I can go and talk to no matter what I'm going through because we kind of speak the same language with baseball. Sometimes I can talk to him as a dad, and sometimes I can talk to him as a coach. It's really good being able to have both of those."

Steve suited up as a pro ballplayer for the last time in 1997, two years before Jack was born. Jack didn't have the experience of running around a big league clubhouse when he was young, as several children of Major Leaguers do, but he remembers meeting some of his dad's former teammates, going to Spring Training and seeing some of the venues where he played. 

What sticks with Dreyer the most, though, are the stories his dad told him about life in the big leagues. Nowadays, Dreyer can relate to some of them. 

"When he first got called up to debut, his locker was next to Nolan Ryan's," Dreyer said. "Nolan went right up to him and said, 'Hey, if you ever need anything, just let me know.' And he said he was great like that. 

"And with us having a lot of future Hall of Famers, especially [Clayton] Kershaw, I think there's kind of a similarity there. So it's a pretty cool line to draw."

(Steve was not only Ryan's teammate, but he was also the last pitcher to relieve the Hall of Famer in his final career appearance on Sept. 22, 1993)

The path to the Majors was different for father and son. Steve was the Rangers' eighth-round Draft pick in 1990, while Jack went undrafted before signing with the Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 2021. 

In his rookie year, Jack has become a key piece of the Dodgers' bullpen. He's recorded a 2.78 ERA in 27 appearances (35 2/3 innings). As long as his workload stays consistent, he's well on pace to eclipse his dad's 58 1/3 career Major League innings by the end of the season.

Dreyer gives his dad a lot of credit for helping him get to this point. It goes back to when he was growing up and learning pitching mechanics. Jack, a left-hander, remembers being able to stand face-to-face with Steve, a right-hander, and mirror his motions exactly.

But Steve wasn't the only one doing the teaching. Jack once tried to teach his dad his unique off-field talent -- solving a Rubik's Cube -- but that didn't quite pan out.

"I think he had it for a brief couple of months, but I don't think he can do it anymore," Dreyer said. "He can get one side."

When athletes have a parent who doubles as a coach, it can be difficult to separate sports and family. For the most part, Dreyer's dad hasn't been one of his official coaches, other than when Steve was the pitching coach on one of Jack's travel ball teams.

"It was tougher as a kid because it's hard to know how to talk to your dad around your friends, that kind of thing, when he's coaching them," Dreyer said. "But now it's very easy. We can have our conversations about baseball, and then we can have our conversations about life, and there's not a ton of overlap."

Dreyer has an accomplished coaching staff around him with the Dodgers. But when he needs a little extra support, or someone a little closer to home, he knows his first coach will always be there for him.

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The Dodgers came away from their three-game set in San Diego with a two-game lead over the Padres for first place in the NL West. But the schedule won't let up on them just yet. 

The Giants, who are one game back, are coming to L.A. for three games this weekend. After that, the Padres are in town for four. The homestand concludes with three games against the Nationals, who will be the Dodgers' first opponent with a record below .500 in four weeks. 

Even taking into account how close the Giants and Padres are in the NL West, the Dodgers have downplayed the importance of this stretch of games. No team is going to win the division in June -- although a strong performance now could pay dividends down the line.

"I think knowing we’re going to be facing some really good opponents, playing some pretty good baseball, try to win as many as we can," Roberts said earlier this week. "I think the goal is certainly to come out of this in first place. We can control that."

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