🐶 | He Hit Every Dead End
August 31st, 2025 | Read Online
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First off, The Underdog Newsletter will always be 100% free. I don't plan to lock our stories behind a paywall.
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Underdog Press Pass: a one-of-a-kind experience where you can be part of live, exclusive interviews + Q&As with underdog athletes and sports figures. You'd get to ask questions most fans never get a chance to – access that was typically reserved for credentialed media members (hence the name).
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In today's edition…
He was a 5'7" out-of-shape teen who quit baseball.
When he tried walking on to a D1 program, they rejected him before he even threw a pitch.
But in his mind, every apparent "dead end" was a stepping stone toward his ultimate goal.
Here's how he carved out a remarkable path to winning two World Series championships.
Let's dive in 👇
UNDERDOG TRIVIA 🤔
On this day in 1959: Sandy Koufax broke the NL record for strikeouts in a game. One year later, he almost quit baseball to do what?
Tap your pick to reveal the answer in a new tab. Then scroll down to Extra Innings for a full explanation below!
How Blake Treinen Went From Quitting Baseball to Dominating Hitters on MLB's Biggest Stage
No time to read now? Click here to save it for later 🐶
"Blake Treinen strikes out the side!"
For big league announcers, it's become a familiar refrain. The closer's hard-breaking sinker and devastating sweeper have dominated MLB hitters for years.
But before he became the 6'5" 225-pound flame-thrower you see on TV, he was just another 5'7" out-of-shape teen on the verge of quitting baseball.
Blake Treinen grew up in Osage City, Kansas, a town with a population of 2,800. There were only 48 kids in his graduating class in high school.
He played on the baseball team as a freshman but quickly fell out of love with the sport.
"I didn't really enjoy it that much," he said in an old podcast interview. "Everybody else was kind of above my talent level. I just didn't wanna play baseball [anymore]."
He was also facing personal struggles.
Instead of playing sports outside with his friends, he'd sit in front of the TV guzzling two-liter bottles of Dr. Pepper.
His joints ached, and his weight got out of control.
Doctors diagnosed Blake with juvenile arthritis and borderline Type II diabetes.
"You got to get this in check," his mom told him. "You're getting close to where you're going to be a diabetic. You got to make changes in yourself."
As he fought to get his health under control, Blake didn't play baseball at all in his sophomore year.
That summer, he visited his cousins in San Diego, who helped him turn things around.
"They were huge on pushing a healthy diet," he remembered. "I would run every day…I lost like 40 pounds that summer."
His aches and pains faded away, and he hit a growth spurt up to 5'11".
He returned to the baseball team in his junior year, with his fastball topping out at 79 miles per hour.
After earning honorable mention all-area honors in his senior season, he graduated without much interest from recruiters.
"I didn't really have any opportunity to play [in college]."
Through his mother's co-worker, he connected with the pitching coach at Baker University – an NAIA program in Baldwin City, Kansas.
"I went and tried things there, and they offered me – I don't really want to say a scholarship, because it's $24,000 a year to go there – but [the scholarship] was like $2,500 for the year. So, I mean, a little bit of money helps no matter what."
But the first semester of his freshman year wasn't exactly smooth sailing.
First, the pitching coach who recruited him was out for the first half of the year. So Blake was on his own in transitioning from high school to college pitching.
Secondly, the school's only weight room was shut down.
"It was being disinfected because it had staph infection. So we didn't have a weight room to work out in the whole first semester of the year."
"It's tough. You go there thinking you're gonna put on weight and muscle and get stronger and faster. It just really wasn't the scenario I was hoping for."
When the pitching coach returned for the spring, Blake had trouble adjusting to his teaching style.
"I didn't really get the help that I needed…and I lost the passion for baseball."
They stuck him on Baker's JV team.
On top of all that, the school didn't offer his preferred major: landscape architecture. If he wasn't progressing on the field, why would he waste any more time?
That summer, he transferred to the University of Arkansas with the hope of walking on to the team.
"I was just hoping that they would see my frame and maybe take a chance on me."
By that point, he'd grown to 6'3" and got his fastball velocity up to 83 miles per hour. But it wasn't an easy 83.
"That was like max effort, trying to blow up the gun."
In his first week at Arkansas, Blake walked into the baseball office and asked to speak to the head coach.
But the secretary told him that Coach Dave Van Horn wasn't there and that he'd have to speak to the grad assistant instead.
"You know how many people want to be on this field?" the assistant asked Blake. "If we let you try out, we'd have to let the whole state of Arkansas try out."
To make matters worse, Blake spotted Coach Van Horn walking into his office.
"Is that him?" Blake asked.
But the assistant said, "Look man, we really don't have time for this. We're pretty busy right now."
Leaving that office, Blake was beside himself.
He'd transferred to Arkansas hoping for a chance. And they turned him away without seeing him throw a single pitch.
"That conversation could have easily been the end of my career," Treinen wrote.
"At that point, I was 20 years old and I had yet to throw a collegiate pitch on a varsity team, much less in the big leagues."
But he made a promise to himself to give it one more shot.
"My career looked to be at a dead end, but I decided to view it as a crossroads."
Blake spent the entire first semester lifting weights and packing on muscle. He barely picked up a baseball.
By Christmas break, he missed pitching.
A friend told him about a clinic held by former minor league pitcher Don Czyz.
The one-day event mostly attracted middle schoolers and high school pitchers, so the 6'3" Treinen stood out immediately.
Even though he hadn't thrown in months, he found a way to make an impression.
"My fastball just didn't have enough zip on it to impress, so I leaned on my curveball, and on that first day of the clinic, I somehow was throwing the best curveball I had ever thrown in my life."
Czyz liked what he saw and told Blake he'd call his friend Ritchie Price – the head coach at South Dakota State.
Until that point, Blake had made a promise to himself: he wouldn't leave the University of Arkansas unless he received an offer from a Division 1 program with a landscape architecture program.
"It's so funny because that year [South Dakota State] just bumped up to Division 1 baseball and they'd just gotten a landscape architecture degree," Treinen said.
"So I was like, well, obviously God's opening the door for me."
Czyz sent a video of Blake's bullpen along with velocity readings to Coach Price, who saw enough to extend Treinen a walk-on offer.
Treinen transferred to SDSU, but with the NCAA's rules on transfers, he had to sit out the 2009 season.
"I don't think I realized, as being invited to walk-on, how thin your line is to staying on the team."
When he got to South Dakota State, his velocity was topping out between 85 and 86.
Recognizing he was on the borderline of being able to make the team, Blake set incremental goals for himself.
"All right, by the end of this year, just try to be at 90. Next year, try to be like 90-93. The next year, like 93-96…even if I fall short, I'm still in a decent range to give myself an opportunity to get drafted."
He spent his redshirt year working as hard as he could, both on the mound and in the weight room.
Blake grew another inch and went from 186 to 210 pounds.
"I'd always had bird legs," he joked, "and my legs started getting a little bigger."
In the spring of his redshirt season, he pitched in his first simulated game.
"It was the first time I remember actually throwing fastballs by guys…it was an eye-opener for me."
By the fall of the next year, his fastball hit 93 miles per hour.
"It was crazy to me. I understand hard work is going to get you to places, but honestly, I have to give a lot of credit to God because I don't know where the gains came from."
As the last starter in the Jackrabbits' rotation in 2010, Treinen went 7-0 in conference play. That summer, the Marlins picked him in the 23rd round of the 2010 MLB Draft.
Blake signed his half of the offer, but the Marlins insisted on running him through a rigorous physical exam before signing theirs.
"I actually knew something bad might happen when the day started," Blake wrote, "because I was one of only two players drafted that the Marlins had kept around from the day before."
The MRI revealed shoulder inflammation, and the Marlins withdrew the offer.
He asked them, "Am I still allowed to play college baseball?"
The team's rep replied, "That's not for us to decide, but there's a cab outside waiting for you."
Blake was crushed. Just as his dream was finally within reach, it was ripped away in the 11th hour.
"I had no idea if I was going to head back to college, or if I was even eligible to play, or where my baseball career was headed."
Luckily, Treinen hadn't hired an agent or worked out with the team. And because he was there for less than two days, his NCAA eligibility stayed intact.
"I felt like I had a lot to prove," Blake said.
"And it really bothered me that the whole Marlins thing – to me – it felt like it put a red flag on my career for other teams to wanna take a chance."
That extra motivation carried him through a spectacular senior season.
Treinen struck out 84 batters in 84 innings, with a 7–3 win-loss record and 3.00 ERA. He earned his degree, and his fastball reached 97 miles per hour.
His draft stock soared, and the Oakland A's took him in the 7th round of the 2011 MLB Draft.
But it wasn't official until he passed the physical.
"I'm getting nervous like, 'Am I gonna pass this MRI?' and everything cleared, and things worked out."
After signing with Oakland, he reported to the Stockton Ports of the Class A-Advanced California League.
"My first full season in Stockton was kind of mediocre, and my velocity dropped to like 88, 91, 92, and just did not have what I thought I'd always pitched with. I was wondering if it was the end of baseball. What's going on? I'm getting hit, my velocity is down, and I'm not the pitcher I used to be."
He posted a 4.37 ERA in 24 games.
But everything changed when the Nationals traded for him in a three-team deal in 2013.
"It was probably the best thing that happened in my career because coming over to [the Nationals], I've seen my velocity shoot up again and sustain up."
The Nats put him on a new throwing program that included long tossing from greater distances and stretching his arm out as far as it could go.
"I think I always had the ability to pitch, and I had fairly clean mechanics," Treinen said. "For me, it was mainly training…I got on a good throwing program that allowed me to really get the most out of myself."
With his confidence restored, Treinen posted a 3.64 ERA in 118 2/3 innings at Double-A Harrisburg.
He got called up to the big leagues the following season, where he split time between the starting rotation and a relief role.
His velocity was consistently in the high 90s and pushed as high as 101.
Since 2015, he's found his home in the backend of the bullpen.
After missing most of 2022 and all of 2023 with injuries, Treinen put in the work and came back better than ever.
At 36 years old, he posted a 1.93 ERA in 50 appearances for the Dodgers.
His 6-out save in Game 6 of the NLCS helped LA reach the World Series for the 22nd time in franchise history.
Today, he has two championship rings – and room for more.
"The doors keep opening," Treinen said.
"It's a slap in the face if you don't make the most out of your opportunities. You just got to trust His plan and give it all you got."
🐶
Today's story was written by yours truly – and it's actually one of many chapters in my book, The Underdog Mentality. If you're not one of the 275 people who have read it yet, grab your copy here.
If you enjoyed this one, check out these related stories 👇
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Til next time,
Tyler
Extra Innings…
🌟 Trivia Answer: A) Work for an electronics business. Here's the full story.
👀 In case you missed it: When most men his age were enjoying retirement, he was bench pressing 225 pounds for reps, prepping for an unlikely comeback that landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records.
❤️ Tim Tebow never ceases to amaze me with all that he does to make the world a better place.
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Sunday, August 31, 2025
Fwd: 🐶 | He Hit Every Dead End
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Capstone to Season 1 of Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide (podcast with folk songs)
Season 1 of Heavy Or Not proves that swimming isn’t just about laps; it’s a dynamic ecosystem where mindset, technology, community and history intertwine.
By applying these 50 lessons / episodes / jump-cuts about training the brain, fine‑tuning the kick, welcoming AI, building inclusive programs, and defending our pools, you’ll elevate not only your athletes’ performance but also the entire swimming culture around you.
So the next time you’re planning a practice, remember: every stroke, every supplement, and every conversation can be a step toward a stronger, smarter, and more resilient swim community. Listen and react.
Saturday, August 16, 2025
Called Out: The USA Swimming Leadership Bubble with Demands for Transparent Reform from Michael Phelps and Gold Medal Mel (SwimSwam's Mel Stewart)
Reforming USA Swimming: A Blueprint for Transparency, Athlete Services, and Grassroots Growth
In episode #49 of Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide, we amplify and break down the growing, explosive, criticism of USA Swimming from Michael Phelps and SwimSwam publisher, Mel Stewart. They, among many others, are exposing a leadership crisis that threatens the sport’s future.
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Phelps points to the steep drop in U.S. Olympic medal share (57% → 44%) and blames weak board governance.
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He presents a coalition‑backed, three‑step reform plan: independent board review, athlete‑first services, and grassroots growth.
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Stewart labels the “Colorado Springs bubble,” highlighting excessive executive pay, stagnant athlete stipends, and a complacent financial safety net.
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The board’s reaction—including a CEO bonus after a failed software rollout and registration decline—is dissected as misdirection and avoidance.
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Concrete solutions are proposed: cap top‑executive salaries, tie bonuses to clear KPIs that also raise coach and athlete compensation, and prioritize grassroots revitalization.
Links
Saturday, August 09, 2025
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