David Espinosa was on a scouting trip in the summer of 2016 when he stumbled on the pitcher who will be making his big-league debut Monday night for the Marlins. It was an improbable discovery, a needle-in-the-haystack find at the bottom of baseball’s food chain, in a league of last resort.
That pitcher, Trevor Richards, might now be working a job in law enforcement had Espinosa not chanced upon him in the course of his job, scouting players in the independent Frontier League, where you’ll find teams such as the Traverse City Beach Bums, Normal CornBelters and Washington Wild Things.