MSL to MLB: Dave Otto Made Elk Grove Baseball's First Elite Eight Trip 'Otto-Matic'
NOTE: When Elk Grove reached the Class AA baseball state tournament in 2006 it was a good time to catch up with Dave Otto, who had one of the more remarkable pitching performances to lead the school to the Elite Eight the first time in 1982. You couldn’t do the things today the lanky 6-foot-7 lefty did at a time where pitch counts and innings limits weren’t an issue. Otto would go on to spend eight seasons in the big leagues and also do solid work as a studio host and color commentator on Cubs broadcasts. One of the MSL’s greatest athletes could also fill it up on the basketball court and his scoring average of nearly 25 points a game as a senior would have been higher with the 3-point line.
The first Sunday in june of 1982 was a day of rest for Dave Otto.
Exactly one day of rest between starts for the left-handed pitcher as Otto tried to lead Elk Grove on an improbable and magical run to the Class AA baseball state finals.
“I wanted to pitch every game,” Otto said this week. “I was fortunate to pitch every game on the way downstate.”
So was Elk Grove as Otto won both sectional starts, Saturday’s semifinal and Monday’s championship, for a trip to Springfield and the school’s first berth in the Elite Eight.
And a 1-0 loss to Edwardsville in the state quarterfinals capped an incredible two-week stretch of pitching by Otto.
Otto, whose eight-year big-league career with the Athletics, Indians, Pirates and Cubs ended in 1994, started 5 of the Grenadiers’ 6 postseason games and pitched in relief in the other from May 28 to June 10. He went 4-1 with a save and an 0.64 ERA. In 33 innings, he allowed 14 hits with 49 strikeouts and just 5 walks.
“It was a thrill, and when I look back something like that is really special,” Otto said of Elk Grove making its second Elite Eight trip this year. “For some of the kids right now the tournament will be the last game they’ve played. It’s great because they’ll always have the memory of that.
“My career went on, but I look back at it as one of my highlights.”
It didn’t seem as if that would be the case when Elk Grove entered the postseason with a rather ordinary 12-8 record. Otto took a 5-2 record with an 0.40 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 52 ⅓ innings into a regional opener with Hersey.
Otto threw a 2-hitter in a 2-0 victory and after a rain day, the Grenadiers’ next test was Rolling Meadows.
The Mustangs had ripped through the Mid-Suburban League on the way to the title. And it would be a matchup of father Al Otto against his son Dave.
“That was one of our best teams,” said Al Otto, who is now a scout with the White Sox. “We had two outstanding pitchers in Frank Messina and Bob Koopmann.”
But that day, Tom Hennessy came through and allowed only 2 runs on 4 hits in 6 innings. Naturally, Otto homered in the first inning and struck out 2 of the last 3 hitters for the save in a 3-2 victory.
“When we beat dad’s team, it was like, ‘We’ve got a shot here,’” Dave said.
“We didn’t deserve to win that day,” Al said. “It was kind of their year.”
The proof of that came the next day when Otto went the distance to beat St. Viator 3-2 for the Grens’ first regional crown.
Mark Wood had batted just .043 in MSL play with 1 hit all year but singled twice to drive in all 3 runs. Wood, who was playing because Paul Gennuso got hurt in the regular-season finale, went on a 6-for-9 tourney tear with 6 RBI.
“It was great, the guys were making unbelievable plays behind me and that’s what’s so cool,” Otto said. “You get on a roll as a team and play so well and kind of play above yourself a little bit. I know I was as a pitcher. I was tired but the team picks you up.”
Otto was dominant in a 3-hitter with 13 strikeouts in a 5-0 win over Lake Zurich in the Dundee sectional semifinal. Now the question was if he would come back to start Monday’s title game with Rockford Auburn.
After all, this wasn’t just a kid letting it all hang out because he knew these were his last games. This was a kid with a future.
Otto was selected in the second round of the major-league draft by the Orioles that Monday. He opted to go to the University of MIssouri before he was taken again in the second round by the Athletics in 1985.
Elk Grove coach Larry Peddy believed Otto could do it. So did Peddy’s good friend Al Otto, who said he had done the same thing three times when he was at Calumet High School in Chicago.
“I wasn’t concerned,” Al Otto said. “In those days pitch counts weren’t that big of a deal. When Dave pitched, as long as he wasn’t sore, he was going to pitch.”
He did after alternating hot and cold water treatments Sunday and Monday. His teammates give him a little break when Auburn ace Dan Scarpetta didn’t start after pitching 5 innings Saturday.
Bob Koeplin had a double, homer, 4 hits and 3 RBI and Wood, Craig Campbell, Dave Prosia and Greg Van Hauter sparked a 15-1 rout that lasted only 5 innings.
“I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to go Monday, but I treated it like a bullpen day,” Otto said. “My arm was OK. In the tournament, like anything else, you find a way to get it done.”
Otto would get a bit more rest but not much because in those days the state quarterfinals were played on Thursday. He threw a 4-hitter with 12 strikeouts and 2 walks against Edwardsville.
But a two-out walk in the sixth, a stolen base and a bloop single on a 3-0 pitch was the only run needed to finally stop Otto. The Grens had chances and loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh but came up short.
“I wish I could have hit better that last game,” Otto said.
Otto, who has been subbing recently for the ailing Ron Santo on Cubs radio broadcasts, is hoping to be in Geneva tonight to see this Elk Grove team try to bring home a state trophy.
“For those kids to play in a stadium like Kane County with that atmosphere is such a thrill,” Otto said. “Nobody is more deserving of it than Terry Beyna. He’s a great coach and a hard worker.”
Then again, few worked harder to get a team downstate than Dave Otto did 24 years ago at Elk Grove.
Otto-Matic
Reviewing Dave Otto’s amazing pitching performance in the 1982 Class AA state tournament for Elk Grove: