Story – NWITIMES – Grace Opinker

New York Mets lefty Sean Manaea was a “small-town kid” who transformed himself into a professional baseball star.

Manaea, 32, grew up in Wanatah — a town east of Valparaiso with less than 1,000 residents. 

After graduating from Andrean in 2010, Manaea pitched at Indiana State until he was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 2013. He made his major league debut in 2016 for the Oakland Athletics.

His professional career has since accelerated like a four-seam fastball.

Manaea last pitched Monday for the Mets in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He threw five innings with seven strikeouts. 

The Mets secured a 7-3 win.

Manaea sat down with his former coach Dave Sutkowski Wednesday evening before Game 3 to reflect on the beginning of his baseball career.

Sutkowski is the founder of the Hammond Chiefs Baseball Program. He began coaching Manaea when the latter joined the Chiefs’ wooden bat fall league at age 14.

“He asked me if I remembered how he showed up to the first practice,” Sutkowski recalled.

“I said ‘Oh yeah,'” he added with a chuckle.

Manaea walked up to the first day of practice wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt, carrying a baseball glove in his hand. Because Wanatah had limited townball organizations, the Chiefs was his first experience with an organized baseball team, Sutkowski said. 

Manaea began pitching in the program as a 16-year-old.

Sutkowski has kept in touch with Manaea throughout his career. He has made a tradition of watching his former player pitch in at least one series each season.

Sutkowski flew out to New York on Wednesday to watch Games 3, 4 and 5. If the series continues through Sunday, Manaea is scheduled to make his second start of the series. 

He has 17 Ks across 17 innings for a 2.65 ERA this postseason.

“I have a lot of satisfaction knowing maybe as a coach, I maybe gave him a little guidance during the years he was with us,” Sutkowski said. “Certainly his talent and hard work have gotten him to where he’s at. As a coach, you are very thankful to have a player like that who has been in your program.”

Manaea is one of three former Chiefs players who have played in the MLB. Cesar Carrillo was the first Chiefs pitcher to make an appearance in the MLB after he pitched for the San Diego Padres in 2009. Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Mike Brosseau, an Andrean grad, also made his professional debut for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2019.

Sutkowski said he looks forward to spending the next few days continuing to catch up with Manaea and hopefully watching them win the next two games he attends.