MSL to MLB: Big Camping Trip Starts Today for Barrington's Loutos
Quick Ascent from Division III Through Minors Earns Hard-Throwing Pitcher a Non-Roster Invitation to Cardinals' Big-League Camp
NOTE: Ryan Loutos made it to the big leagues in the 2024 season and made 3 relief appearances with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Ryan Loutos had nearly six weeks to prepare for a unique camping trip which begins today.
The 2017 Barrington High School graduate didn’t need to pack a tent, sleeping bag or food for his stay in Jupiter, Florida, however. Most important for Loutos was getting his powerful right arm and body ready as one of the St. Louis Cardinals non-roster invitees to their major league spring training camp.
And the hard-throwing right-handed pitcher, who has taken an off-the-main-road path to this point through Division III Washington University in St. Louis, was in Florida for the last month to get acclimated. Pitchers and catchers report to Cardinals’ spring training camp today at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
“It was very exciting when I found out,” Loutos said a few weeks ago. “Based off the year I had and going to the Arizona Fall League, I had a good feeling I was going to go. Obviously I didn’t know for sure, but it was based on the guys in my shoes in the past and how I moved up the ranks pretty quickly.”
Two years ago, Loutos was starting his final season at Wash U and ready to enter the work world like many college graduates. Unlike most with a diploma, he took a job offer from the Cardinals as an undrafted free agent and did an apprenticeship in Class A ball his first season. Then he climbed up the ladder last season from A to AA to AAA and showcased his skills in the postseason league for prospects in Arizona.
Now the 6-foot-5, 215-pound Loutos, who turned 24 on January 29, is one of eight pitchers among the 22 non-rostered players looking to make an impression, or if things break right, the Cardinals’ opening-day roster.
“I’m just elated,” said Barrington coach Pat Wire. “He’s so humble … and his work ethic and passion was second to none.”
Those traits have been important since Loutos was not a pitching prodigy attracting droves of radar-gun toting scouts. He entered Barrington as more of a hitter and his sophomore year he was throwing around 77-80 mph. As a junior, he was in the low 80s and went 5-2 with a 1.39 ERA in 35⅓ innings as the No. 2 man behind lefty Brooks Gosswein, who was taken in the fourth round of the 2021 draft by the White Sox.
Then came an off-the-charts senior year where he would be anywhere between 83-89 mph. Loutos earned Daily Herald All-Area and Mid-Suburban West Player of the Year honors as he went 9-0 with an 0.49 ERA, an 0.57 WHIP (walks and hits to innings pitched) and 92 strikeouts with only 6 walks in 59⅓ innings. It was statistically the best season in the history of a storied program that has produced Mariners Hall of Fame catcher and All-Star Dan Wilson, who led the 1986 state champs as a two-way player, John Trautwein (1988 Red Sox), Dan Osinski (six MLB teams from 1962-70) and numerous other professional and collegiate pitchers.
“On the freshman and sophomore teams my goal was to be as good as I can be that spring and summer,” Loutos said. “I didn’t know how good I was going to be and my junior year I started thinking I could play in college.”
Wire credited assistant coach Dan Pohlman, who was then the pitching coach, for the development of Loutos and Gosswein. Pohlman, a 1999 Barrington graduate who starred in baseball and football, also played both sports at Northwestern and pitched in the Arizona minor league system for four years.
“You put Ryan in the same room as Pohlman and I left the room,” Wire laughed about the intelligence quotient between the two. “I didn’t want to feel inadequate.”
But the success, intelligence and gradual progression in velocity to go with excellent command wasn’t catching the eye of Division I programs. Wire said they tried to get Loutos into an Ivy League program but had no takers.
“We said this guy is the real deal,” Wire said. “We said, ‘Somebody call the police because Wash U absolutely robbed someone of this kid.’”
Loutos isn’t the type to let anyone else steal his opportunities. Wire never had to worry about looking over Loutos’ shoulder to make sure he was getting his work done. And that’s why Loutos said he saw a steady increase in velocity at Wash U from the high 80s as a freshman to topping out at 94 mph as a senior.
“Unlike some people whose working out or dieting might be hot and cold, two to three weeks where they’re really committed and then two to three weeks of partying, I’ve always been good at getting stuff done, and maybe one week a year I would take off,” Loutos said. “I’ve been very consistent over a long period of time and stayed healthy. I work hard, eat well, sleep well. Slowly my velo steadily progressed.”
Loutos did have visions of eventually playing professionally when he entered Wash U. But it’s also not a baseball/sports factory where academics are an afterthought and he stayed true to his Barrington roots where Wire preaches sticking to the process rather than focusing on potential rewards.
Loutos went 7-4 in his first two collegiate seasons with 167 strikeouts in 128 innings but his junior year was wiped out after 2 appearances because of COVID. Then came his senior year where he went 11-1 with a 1.33 ERA, a WHIP of 0.82 and 116 strikeouts in 94 ⅔ innings.
“Some guys go to their coach and say they want to play pro ball,” Loutos said. “For me it was being as good as I can be as a baseball player, and if that’s good enough to be drafted, then hell yeah I’ll give it a shot. Obviously I had potential and my coach (Pat Bloom) saw the potential I had to play pro ball.
“I wanted to be as good as I could every year at school or anything else. If I end up being good enough and reach my potential to play pro ball that’s great. If things don’t happen the way I want them to and I worked as hard as I could, that’s the way things are going to go.”
Pro scouts were coming around to check out Loutos but there were no takers in the Major League Baseball Draft. Then the Cardinals called about joining the organization as an undrafted free agent.
“Thankfully one team was interested in me and that’s all it takes,” Loutos said.
Going from college into the working world is challenging in any profession. For Loutos, he was now competing with and against players with high-profile pedigrees and significant draft capital. He was assigned to their lower-level Class A team in Palm Beach and went 1-2 with a 5.56 ERA in and 26 strikeouts in 22 ⅔ innings as a long reliever.
“It was an adjustment to everything from the strike zone to calling your own game,” Loutos said. “You’re facing significantly better hitters, younger kids who are super-talented and raw and college kids from Power Five schools who were first-rounders. In the end, I had to battle through it.
“I thought I did OK from facing D-III hitters to facing pro hitters. It was a good learning experience. Whatever happened before, I’m going into a new year and can’t make the same mistakes of the year before. Now you’re at the point where you’re facing the best of the best but I knew I’d come back better the next year, especially if I put the work in and refined my pitches. I knew I belonged but I didn’t know how good I was going to be, or how much I would jump from my first year to second year.”
Having the ability to devote his offseason to working out without any academic commitments made a significant difference for Loutos. That helped in his conversion to a reliever, where pitching just an inning or two allowed him to “let it fly,” as his velocity jumped to an average of 94-97 mph and topped out at 99.
He continued to open eyes last spring and started the season as the closer in the Cardinals’ High-A affiliate in Peoria. His stuff played well there as he went 2-2 with 4 saves and a 3.14 ERA in 9 games.
Next was a promotion to AA Springfield (Mo.), where he closed some and was regularly used in high-leverage situations. He was 1-1 with a 1.61 ERA and 3 saves in 15 games.
That earned him a trip to AAA Memphis and one level shy of the bigs. Going 0-3 with a 6.33 ERA in 22 games was all part of his baseball education process. Overall he finished his three-level odyssey with 72 strikeouts in 63 ⅔ innings.
“High-A is prospect driven and Double-A is the best raw talent I’ve ever seen on a baseball field,” Loutos said. “It’s hard to describe until you see it but the talent is as good as the big leagues. The difference is refinement.
“In Triple A, I didn’t think the talent was as good, but the refinement and skills of those guys was so much better. I felt like 50 percent of them had played in the big leagues. When you face hitters like that it’s an adjustment. You couldn’t afford to make a mistake in Triple-A.”
But he wasn’t done yet as he got another chance to showcase his skills in the Arizona Fall League. He held his own there with a 2.57 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 14 innings as a very long season that stretched into mid-November.
“It was a cool experience playing with and against guys from other organizations and against other organizations,” Loutos said. “The talent was very, very good and we were treated really, really well. By the end of it the World Series was over and we were still playing, so that was a little weird.
“The biggest thing was letting my body recover from the long, long year I had and continue to refine my stuff. I have to try to command my pitches better and I did in the fall league really well. That’s going to be the ticket to keep moving ahead. Just do as well as I can and stay healthy (in camp).”
He also joked that the transition of going from a lifelong Cubs fan to playing in the Cardinals’ organization is a little easier than he expected.
“It would be pretty sweet,” Loutos said of pitching one day in Wrigley Field.
“When I saw him (in early January) I was telling him, ‘When you get that cup of coffee, I’ll be there,’” Wire said. “He’s near and dear to the program without question.”
June 2024 Update
Loutos finally got his shot at the show on May 19 when he was called up from Triple-A Memphis. He had to wait nearly two weeks before finally getting his chance to make his big-league debut with the Cardinals.
In a 6-1 loss at Philadelphia on June 1, Loutos pitched a scoreless eighth inning where he allowed 1 hit and 1 walk. His father and two brothers were in attendance.
“I broke down once I saw my family coming down the steps to go on the field and take pictures with me,” Loutos told mlb.com’s John Denton. “It was a pretty sweet moment.
“I gave everyone fist bumps, and then after I sat down, I thought about all of the little parts of my career, and never in a million years did I think I would pitch in a big league game. I worked for it to be as good as I could possibly be, but I never knew this was possible.
“With all those years and little milestones -- thinking back to senior year of high school and senior year of college and just hoping I could get a chance to play a little bit longer. I didn’t really ever think I had much of a chance of that, to be honest. But here I am, pitching against the Phillies -- one of the best teams in all of baseball -- and it all kind of hit me at once just how cool it was.”
Loutos would also have a scoreless appearance on June 3 at Houston where he got 1 out and gave up 1 hit before getting sent back to Memphis. He’s had a strong year in Triple-A as of July 8 in 25 games with a 1-1 record and 8 saves, a 2.43 ERA and 34 strikeouts and 14 walks in 29 2/3 innings.