Jimmy Scott's High & Tight: The Geoff Goetz Interview

There have been some interesting interviews at Jimmy Scott's High & Tight before, from Shea Hillenbrand to Brian Boehringer (Parts 1 & 2) to Paul Byrd to Paul's wife Kym Byrd.  Guys have come here and talked about free agency, troubles with agents and management, their marriages, faith in the clubhouse, reasons for retiring...  We've covered baseball-related subjects in these players' own words with a depth that has been missing over the past 100+ years of the sport.  With the Jimmy Scott's High & Tight Geoff Goetz Interview, we go a little bit further.

Geoff (yes, we talk about why his name is spelled so funny) was the #6 pick in the 1997 MLB draft by the New York Mets.  This left-handed powerhouse had just struck out 149 batters in 83 innings as a senior at Tampa Jesuit High School to the tune of a 0.67 ERA.  The Mets had big plans for Geoff, signing him to a $1.7 million bonus.  In Part I of our interview, Geoff gets into how he chose an advisor during his senior year of high school, why he chose Major League Baseball over college, negotiations with teams pre-draft, and the confidence he had as one of the best amateur players in the country.  He would need that confidence, as neither the Mets nor Geoff realized how their plans would change less than one year later.

Recently, former Dodgers GM Fred Claire discussed here all of the reasons why he and the team traded Mike Piazza to the Florida Marlins in May of the 1998 season. One week later, Piazza was traded to the Mets for prospects Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall and a player to be named later.

Geoff was the player to be named later.

In Part II of our interview, at 17:45, Geoff talks about how he found out that he was in fact the player to be named later in the Mike Piazza trade.  And he talks about the next month as a pitcher in limbo; why he wasn't sent immediately to the Florida Marlins and how he coped with this lame duck status.

The deal did finally reach its conclusion, and in Part III, at 25:00, Geoff talks about the adjustment from being the Mets' top prospect to suddenly being just a regular prospect in a Marlins organization incredibly deep with pitching (eventually including Beckett, Burnett, Dempster, Penny, Willis and more).  Geoff talks about how hard he worked and how the wheels fell off the following season when he hurt his arm just as he was about to get called up to the Major League club.  Rehab and Groundhog Day-style monotony followed as Geoff rehabbed with current Texas Rangers pitcher Jason Grilli and another top pick, Garret Berger (today of iFungo.com).

At 42:00 in, we begin Part IV.  Here, Geoff talks about The End and how he came to his ultimate decision to stop playing baseball.  He talks about how tired he was of pitching and getting hurt, of how he just couldn't get well enough to enjoy himself; how he went from the Marlins to independent ball to the Yankees farm system to saying enough.  Not every player can make it back.  Here Geoff detail why he became one of those guys.

Finally, we get to Part V at 53:00 in.  Geoff talks about how he considered switching and becoming an offensive player instead of pitcher (see Rick Ankiel today on the St. Louis Cardinals).  More important, Geoff talks about the existence of performance enhancing drugs and how tempted he may or may not have been to try them.  He explains why he made his ultimate decision and where he could have gotten them.  Geoff reveals everything and more.  Sound interesting?  Thought so.

Today, Geoff has begun teaching private and group lessons to high school ballplayers in the Tampa area.  He's coaching now for his alma mater part-time and excited about a pitching staff that he thinks has guys projectible for the 2010 MLB draft, just like he was drafted some 12 years ago.

He's still well off financially.  That $1.7 million he received from the Mets isn't all gone through wild spending, drugs, payoffs to his peeps or a ravaged stock market.  Instead, after paying off his parents' mortgage, he lives in a "pretty nice" condo that he said is holding its value.  The recent recession has hurt his investment portfolio, but 12 years of investment income have not been wiped out by any means.

An obviously well spoken gentleman, you're going to like listening to the Geoff Goetz Interview.  He's someone you'll enjoy as much as I did.  So throw in your earbuds or turn up your speakers and start listening to Geoff Goetz here at Jimmy Scott's High & Tight.

THE MUSIC

The music for Geoff's interview is taken from two sources: The Who's Quadrophenia album and the Field of Dreams soundtrack.  When you listen to Geoff and then listen to Pete Townshend's lyrics in between sections, you're going to wonder which came first, Geoff's experiences or this two-CD set.  And as Geoff reminices, you'll enjoy the background provided by James Horner's soundtrack to The Baseball Life.

Selections from Quadrophenia:

I've Had Enough

 Love, Reign O'er Me

The Punk & The Godfather

Doctor Jimmy

The Real Me

Soundtrack: Field Of Dreams