Duncan Davitt, an Indianola native, pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Chicago White Sox on April 10.
During the winter months, you'll see Duncan Davitt sitting in the stands of a local high school basketball game.
He's not there to watch - he's there to cover the games for the Indianola Independent Advocate in Indianola, Iowa. Davitt's parents, Amy Duncan and Mark Davitt, own the small-town publication, so that's why he offers to throw on his reporting shoes and provide coverage of Warren County's prep sports scene.
But that's just a small piece of Davitt's fast-developing story.
Davitt's full-time job is professional baseball. Anyone who follows the sport knows that reaching the majors is one of the most challenging paths any athlete has to face, but on April 9, Duncan didn't have to worry about the path - he was in The Show.
There's no Major League Baseball team based in Iowa, but Davitt still didn't have to play his big-league debut far from home. His Chicago White Sox were battling the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium - roughly a two-hour and 40 minute drive from Indianola.
Not surprisingly, a large contingent of Davitt's friends, coaches, and family members make the short trek to Kansas City with the hopes that Davitt would get in the game.
Davitt began his Iowa Hawkeyes career as a starter, but emerged as a reliever near the end of his collegiate career - where he accumulated a 3.38 ERA in 19 appearances in 2022.
Four years later, Davitt was in the bullpen waiting for his turn to shine. With the Royals leading 2-0 in the eighth, manager Will Venable called Davitt's name. If entering your first MLB game isn't nerve-racking enough, Davitt was tasked with maintaining Chicago's deficit and giving its offense a chance for a ninth-inning rally.
No problem.
Davitt walked Kyle Isabel via a successful ABS challenge, but that was his lone wobble of the frame. He forced Maikel Garica to ground into a double play and closed out his first big-league appearance by getting superstar Bobby Witt Jr. to fly out to center.
The White Sox lost the game, 2-0. Davitt was sent back to Triple-A Charlotte the next day, but he still made history. He's the seventh player in Rick Heller's Iowa program to reach the major leagues, joining Jack Dreyer, Nick Allgeyer, Mason McCoy, Tyler Cropley, and Adam Mazur.
What did Davitt do after making his MLB debut? Write about it for the paper.
"It obviously feels like a set back [going back to Charlotte], but there’s still a good taste in my mouth. I came up, and did my job, and now have an idea of what the work at the big league level truly looks like," Davitt wrote in an April 12 Independent Advocate article. "The attention to detail, the routines, the amount of focus required pitch by pitch, and the importance of a good bullpen snack bag is all something I’ll bring with me. It was an invaluable learning experience that I can’t wait to apply to the rest of my career."
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