Every time Andrew Heaney showed up at Oklahoma Christian University’s indoor baseball facility this winter, throwing several days a week off a mound in one of three pitching tunnels, the Angels starter would draw a crowd of players from the school’s Division II team.
Sometimes, they simply gazed at the left-hander’s delivery, mesmerized by the consistency of his arm stroke and command in bullpen sessions. Other days, they surrounded him on benches and quizzed him about his professional journey.
“One of my catchers said, ‘I can catch this guy with my eyes closed, because I just put my glove somewhere and he hits it,’” said Lonny Cobble, the coach at the small private school just north of Heaney’s hometown of Oklahoma City and a few miles from where the 29-year-old pitcher lives in the offseason.