INDIANAPOLIS — The ballpark was closed for the season. The stadium empty except for Hunter Owen training, sweating in the batting cages at Victory Field.
He was a minor leaguer who didn’t get called to the major league alternate squad when the Triple-A season was canceled due to COVID-19 and Major League Baseball still played its 60 games and needed backups.
Disheartened was how Owen felt when his name wasn’t among those called up. He was, after all, one of the older guys in Triple-A on Indianapolis’ Minor League baseball team.
“I wanted to stay busy but also just kind of occupy my brain,” said Owen, 27. “Because my brain was kind of driving me wild then.”
He saw a job posting on Facebook by StonyCreek Golf Club in Noblesville, Indiana, a suburb to the northeast of Indy. His girlfriend Kaitlyn had already been asking why he didn’t just work there considering he spent so much time playing at the course already. This seemed like an omen.
Owen got the job of a starter/ranger, and the club agreed to work around his baseball training schedule.
In the mornings, he would be at Victory Field. In the afternoons, golfers would turn the corner and see Owen standing there. “Johnson party of two. We’re going to tee off at 2:30,” they would tell him.
“And I’d say, ‘Got you. Have fun,’” he said. “It was kind of like the easiest job ever. It didn’t require a lot of skill but it was a lot of fun because I got to meet some really cool people. I just made sure they started on time. Tough job, right?”
It was just what Owen needed mentally to get through the tough 2020 season without baseball to play. He gave the club manager’s sons baseball lessons. He played golf. He worked out.
And at night, home from the ballpark and the golf course, Owen studied online courses at Indiana State, where he played college baseball but was drafted to the majors before finishing his sports management degree.
Train, work at golf course, study. Wake up and do it all over again.
But then came 2021. A new season. A fresh start. A season when Owen’s life changed in a major way — if even for just one game.
‘You’re a big leaguer today’
“His story is pretty cool,” said Cheyne Reiter, director of communications for Indianapolis’ Triple-A baseball team.
Owen joined the team in 2019 and, in his home debut, had the people who loved him there to watch, his family, his college coach.
A hit to the hand put Owen on the injured list before he could even finish a game. By the time he came back, just 15 games were left in the season.
“He was just kind of left behind,” Reiter said.
This season, Owen was ready for a fresh start on Indianapolis’ opening day roster. But that same day, May 4, he got the call-up. The Pittsburgh Pirates wanted him in San Diego.
Mater Dei graduate Hunter Owen was promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis to the Pittsburgh Pirates for the first time in his career.
He flew in to sunny weather and a baseball player’s lifelong dream.
“The coach called me in his office and said ‘You’re a big leaguer today,’” Owen said. “I never thought this would have happened in a million years just given the circumstances.”
It was unbelievable, he said, and hard to put into words. Owen’s family flew 2,000 miles in one night to be there for his Major League debut. There he was in the starting lineup, playing right field for the Pirates.
“He went from not even being asked to the alternate site last year to not even being a thought, to working at a golf course,” said Reiter, “to making his major league debut.”
Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Hunter Owen (70) prepares to bat in the on-deck circle against the Cincinnati Reds during the fourth inning at PNC Park. Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
‘It was like Christmas’
Owen plays third and first base, left and right field in Indianapolis. In San Diego taking on the Padres, he started in right field, went 0 for 2 at the plate and was hit by a pitch.
“I didn’t do that great but just being there and being a part of that and kind of reaching your lifelong goal was really special,” he said. “And especially the people that came to see me.”
And, of course, there was the paycheck. Owen didn’t reveal how much it was.
“It’s like Christmas,” he said. “A couple people were like ‘Your first one is going to be fun’ and I was like ‘Yeah, whatever.’ And then you see it and you’re like ‘That is way different than what it normally looks like.’ So it was shocking but at the same time…you feel like you’re a millionaire but you’re really not, you know what I mean?”
Owen is a saver, so he didn’t do anything special with the extra money, just tucked it away for later.
The dream though, getting to that big-league field if even for one game, was worth more than any dollar signs.
Owen was standing on Victory Field last week before the team took on the Columbus Clippers. He is back with Indianapolis and talking about how he got his start in baseball.
His dad, Steve, and older brother Tyler both played college baseball so it was natural the youngest of the crew, Owen, would play the game, too. After a high school career at Evansville Mater Dei, he played at Indiana State where he said he had one of the best coaches in the country, Mitch Hannahs.
When he thought about transferring from Indiana State, Hannahs showed him the ultimate respect, Owen said.
“A lot of people would have just said, ‘OK, see you. Have a nice life,’” Owen said. “And coach Hannahs was respectful enough to say, ‘You’ve got a spot here if you want it. Think about it and let me know.’”
Hannahs told Owen he believed his best years of baseball were ahead of him with Indiana State. He was right.
“Looking back on it after everything I’ve accomplished just blows my mind,” Owen said, “because it could have been gone like that.”
Being back is ‘bittersweet’
Owen was drafted by the Pirates in the 25th round, 765th overall in 2016, and spent his first pro years at Pittsburgh’s Class-A level clubs, West Virginia and Bradenton.
He was promoted to Pittsburgh’s Double-A Altoona in 2019 and then later that season moved up again to Indianapolis. For the season, he hit a combined .261 with 19 home runs, 19 doubles and two triples. He drove in 53 runs, walked 27 times and scored 57 runs.
This season, Owen spent spring training with the Pirates, but didn’t make the team out of camp and was sent back to Indianapolis — until the call for that big league game came May 5.
Looking forward, Owen, of course hopes to see more games in the majors. He’s still taking those online classes and should graduate with his sports management degree in December.
Hunter Owen shows off tattoos as he talks with journalists at Indianapolis’ Victory Field on Thursday, June 3, 2021, about his brief time playing in the big leagues, and the summer job he had during the quarantine.
Being back in Indianapolis playing baseball in front of fans has brought mixed feelings, he said.
“It was kind of bittersweet because minor league baseball can be kind of grueling at times. You go to tough cities or you deal with tough stuff on the field,” he said. “So being able to come back and actually play in front of people was crazy. It’s something you take for granted and it’s nice to be back and actually play baseball in front of people.”
In front of people — his people, the fans and the family that he credits for so much of his success.
Owen’s arms are covered in tattoos, ink that represents what he stands for: loyalty, family crests, his draft date, a quote about his father’s belief in him and Atlas holding the world on his shoulders.
“Anything is possible,” Owen said. “It’s basically saying anything is possible.”
Given his baseball journey, Owen believes that now more than ever.
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.