He can’t help it. He was born and raised in the shadow of Goofy’s home. In fact, the Houston Astros’ left-handed pitching prospect Ryan Hartman probably also had Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Donald on speed dial, as Disneyland was but a short four-mile bike ride away.

Now fully grown, Hartman got the notice that he’ll be a non-roster invitee to the Astros’ Spring Training camp in West Palm Beach. It’ll be his first invitation, and at age 24, there’s little chance he’ll make the team when camp breaks, but don’t tell him that.

He just may be crazy enough to believe nothing can stop him.

Loony Lefty Lore

As storied as Babe Ruth’s extended digit immediately preceded a home run is the long-held lore of the “crazy” left-handed pitcher. The “Spaceman,” Bill Lee, himself a happily card-carrying “space cadet,” even tried to characterize this possible malady as an enviable asset:

“You have two hemispheres in your brain–a left and a right side. The left side controls the right side of your body, and right controls the left half. It’s a fact. Therefore, left-handers are the only people in their right minds.”

Climbing the mound for the Boston Red Sox in the 1970s, Lee, like Hartman, was a southern California product, having been a Burbank “valley dude” before attending USC. But apparently, loony lefties can come from anywhere, baseball history reveals.

The “Right Mind” of Ryan Hartman

Hartman attended Anaheim’s Savanna High School, walking the same halls another lefty, “The Mad Hungarian,” Al Hrabosky sauntered before spending his career mainly racking up saves for the St. Louis Cardinals, also in the 1970s.

A two-way player, Hartman pitched and played first base for the Rebels, even scoring second-team All-County honors in 2012 as a senior first sacker.

Committing as a senior to attend Cal State Fullerton, Hartman eventually elected to attend the smaller Cypress College in Orange County, instead.

His two years there were split evenly between the rotation and the bullpen, collecting 127.2 innings and pulling in a tidy 2.82 ERA. He amassed 105 strikeouts (7.40 K/9 ratio) to only 35 walks (2.47 BB/9).

A year at the even tinier Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, KY took Hartman out of Orange County for the first time. In the starting rotation as a junior, he put together a 10-2 record and a 2.04 ERA for the Blue Raiders. He struck out 103 while walking only 19 and yielding just 70 hits in 92.2 innings. Hartman earned All Mid-South Conference First-Team recognition.

He followed that up with his senior season at Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, TN.

Mostly in the rotation for the Bulldogs, Hartman caught the Astros’ eyes with a 10-1 record, 129 strikeouts vs 12 walks and 62 hits in 98 innings. His ERA? A barely detectable 0.64, the best among NAIA pitchers that season.

The Scouts Weigh In

2080 Baseball gives this projection on the lefty from Orange County: “Hartman pounds the zone from a low-effort semi-windup. His fastball hovers around 90 mph, able to go upstairs for swinging strikes despite limited velocity due to its quality spin and ride.

“He mixes a short cutter for another look, commanding both fastballs effectively to different parts of the zone. Hartman’s primary off-speed is a fringy curve with sweepy slant across the zone, though it’s played up a bit by his ability to land it.

“He can establish his fastball enough that he won’t show a third pitch as much as you’d expect from a finesse lefty. A mid-80s changeup plays as a 45-grade pitch, showing occasional tumble but straightening out at times.”

What The Heck Bobby‘s Jayne Hansen spoke with Hartman in his first pro year (2016) when he toiled for the Class A New York-Penn League’s Tri-City ValleyCats. In fact, Hansen’s first question to Hartman in her interview was, “Are all lefty pitchers crazy?” Without missing a beat, Hartman blurted out, “We’ve all got a weird thing to us. We’re a different breed!”

She also gathered these notes from then-ValleyCats pitching coach Drew French about Hartman:

“He’s going to be a really good lefthander. He’s got kind of a 3/4 arm slot, some really smooth transitional things that he does in his delivery, a really nice arm stroke, and he’s got some life on his fastball. He’s got a really good change up. He clearly relies heavily upon it, and has a lot of his career up to this point.”

French, by the way, was named this week as pitching coach of Houston’s Triple-A Round Rock Express. Following his 2016 season with Tri-City, French helped to build championship clubs in each of the last two seasons, serving as the pitching coach for the 2018 Carolina League Champion Buies Creek Astros, as well as the 2017 Midwest League Champion Quad Cities River Bandits.

Were the 29 Other Teams in the First 8 Rounds Crazy?

The Astros selected the 6’3″, 205-pounder in the ninth round of the 2016 draft.

After putting up a 2.36 ERA in 45.2 innings for Tri-City, starting six of 14 games with a nearly 7:1 K/BB ratio, Hartman split his 2017 for Class A Quad Cities and High-A Buies Creek. He started 16 of 25 appearances and combined for 108.2 IP, 90 strikeouts against 33 walks, and a 3.45 ERA.

Hartman spent his entire 2018 season at AA Corpus Christi, where he was named a Texas League All-Star and a Double-A All-Star by Baseball America. He finished the year with an 11-4 record and a 2.69 ERA (36 earned runs in 120.2 IP) in 25 games (18 starts), while posting 143 strikeouts (29.9 K%), and only 26 walks (5.4 BB%).

Crystal Ball Gazing

Finally, 2080 Baseball again: “He doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but Hartman’s mix of control and pitchability will get him to the big leagues. His success in Double-A [in 2018] isn’t a mirage, though he lacks a carry pitch for a regular rotation role.

“A realistic ceiling is a swingman at the Major League level; a better fit to pitch in a long relief role, but able to spot-start if needed.”

Will Ryan Hartman make the team out of Spring Training? Look for Houston to give him plenty of looks during those games, and the always lefty-bereft Astros bullpen may see a spot for the mature Hartman, who turns 25 three weeks into the regular season.

Also, look for Astros’ pitching coach Brent Strom to take a look at Hartman’s aforementioned spin rate and attempt to make the hurler’s arsenal even more effective.

Call me delusional, but with his minor league success progressing at an accelerated rate, it might be within the realm of possibility for the Astros to see a need for Hartman’s left-handedness in the big league bullpen by summer’s end. Or, maybe even earlier.

They’d be crazy not to.