 "Photo: The Current")
"Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Anaheim Angels… oh, and the Cleveland Indians."
He sums up the list in an almost careless manner, but beneath the surface it is clear Cody Hebner, ace pitcher and star of Green River's baseball team, is more than excited to have been scouted and approached by a dozen Major League teams.
"Playing professionally has been my dream since as long as I can remember," he says.
It all started when he was 4 years old, playing T-ball in the Auburn Little League. "Back then I would just play," Hebner, now a sophomore, recalls. "But when I got to middle school and high school I actually thought I had a chance to get drafted and play professionally as an infielder."
Hebner attended Auburn Mountainview, where he played as a shortstop for four years. He occasionally pitched during his senior year, but didn't fully make the switch until he came to Green River, making this only his second season as a pitcher. And, with the final game still a month away, he has already exceeded the amount of shutouts he threw last year. According to Head Baseball Coach Tanner Swanson, more than 30 professional scouts were present on April 10 to see Hebner throw his fastest recorded pitch yet - 97 mph.
Before every game, he chugs a can of Red Bull, smashes it in his hands and spikes it against the fence as hard as he can. Then he yells at the top of his lungs.
"I'm probably one of the weirdest people you'll ever meet," says Hebner, letting out a little chuckle. But, while he remains a little erratic during a game – "I think when you get too uptight, that's when mistakes are made" - a certain seriousness still manages to sneak its way in.
"When I step on the mound, I look into the batter's eyes and I know that they can't hit me," he says. "And if they do, then I'll tip my cap and say ‘you beat me, good job,' but nine times out of 10 I won't be beaten."
And though he smilingly acknowledges this might sound a little arrogant, it doesn't seem too far from the mark; Hebner, 20, is leading the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges, consisting of 28 teams from Washington and Oregon, both in terms of wins pitched and strikeouts (60 in total, 19 more than the number two, Luke Goodgion, who is also from Green River).
Pitching hasn't always gone as smoothly for him, though. "Baseball is definitely a failure sport," he says, explaining that while someone might play great one day, they could do terrible the next. "You have to learn how to deal with failure."
This is something he has had to do as well. Last year, when the team made play-offs, Hebner "got dominated" by Tacoma C.C., he recalls, even though he beat them twice in regular league games. "I failed there. I should have shut them out."
"I can't even count the times I failed," he added. "But you have to forget about it – I know the worst thing that can happen on a day is that I do poorly at baseball. People have it a lot worse than I do."
Despite several scholarships offers out of high school, Hebner, whose father was an infield coach at the college, chose Green River "out of loyalty," he said, and because he knew the previous coach, Matt Acker.
Acker left at the end of Hebner's first season. At first, with a completely new coaching staff coming in this year, Hebner wasn't sure what the season would be like. But when he met the new pitching coach and the rest of the staff, he says, "I knew I was going to get better."
These positive feelings are reciprocal. Swanson, who joined Green River the past summer, says coaching someone with the caliber Hebner has been a "wonderful opportunity for myself."
"Too often [baseball] turns into a job for a lot of guys, and they're in it for the wrong reasons," says Swanson. "Cody plays the game because he loves it and he enjoys it."
In case he doesn't get drafted in June, Hebner has already been talking to several Division I universities – including the University of Washington – and will go there, pick a major and continue playing and studying. Swanson, however, says it's not a matter of whether he will get drafted anymore - the question now is simply where he decides to go.
Hebner has no preference for any one of the dozen teams. "Whoever takes me first, I'll go – I just want to play baseball professionally," he says.
"I just love the game."
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