Faith & fastballs: Indians' Talbot takes talent, testimony to big leagues

CLEVELAND — On a rainy night in a dingy hotel parking lot in Maryland, a minor league baseball player made a call that changed his life.

His fingers dialed a familiar number. When Art Talbot answered the phone in Cedar City, Utah, his youngest son had a request.

"I'd been praying that he'd keep his moral compass, with so much that can happen on the road...," Art Talbot said. "He asked if I would send him his scriptures. We sent him those, and things changed."

Six years later, the now-major league baseball player was having lunch near Lake Erie with his wife, Julie, and gave a cashier his credit card. The man looked at the card, then quickly back at the couple. They wondered if they needed to show ID.

"You're Mitch Talbot. You're the Mitch Talbot. I'm in shock. I don't know what to say."

Talbot had arrived again. He's an elder in the North Olmsted Ward, Cleveland Ohio Stake, not to mention an inning-eating pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. He’s both an elder in the North Olmsted Ward, Cleveland Ohio Stake, and an innings-eating pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. After spending seven years in the minors, the 26-year-old starting pitcher and former second-round draft pick finally has a spot in a big league rotation. And his family couldn't be more happy — or supportive.

Toil and testimony

To say it's been a long, hard road for Talbot, the youngest of six kids, would be an understatement.

During his junior year at Canyon View High School, Talbot attracted the attention of baseball scouts. He was told that by the time he graduated, he could be a sixth-round pick. Talbot had a decision to make: play college baseball and probably go on a mission, or chase a little boy's dream of professional baseball.

"Coming out of high school, I wasn't the most active," Talbot said. "I'd go to church, but I didn't do anything outside of Sundays. I was out with friends or doing sports. I didn't plan on going on a mission."

Art Talbot said his son always did his duty in the church, but wasn't "spiritually minded." He let his son make his own decision about his future. After being drafted in the second round in 2002 by the Houston Astros, Mitch Talbot packed his bags for Martinsville, Va.

Through it all, the young baseball player also remembered his father's encouragement to stay on the right path.

"Examples can rub off on people," Talbot said.