Life is good for former Springdale standout Mike Devine, a rover of independent league baseball

Journeyman sidearmer Mike Devine is still delivering strikes on the independent professional baseball circuit.

The former Springdale ace has bounced around obscure winter leagues in Mexico and the Dominican Republic and these days pitches for the St. Paul Saints (Minn.) of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball.

He is always moving, loading and unloading suitcases as he travels from one town to the next for a few extra bucks — all during covid-19 times.

The only thing glamorous about his lifestyle, in his eyes, is that he gets to live this lifestyle, this wonderful lifestyle.

Devine is still playing his favorite game at a high level and that is, well, simply divine.

“I’ve have had very little breaks from baseball,” Devine said. “I love the game, and the opportunity to put on a jersey every day is a dream come true in itself.”

Devine has developed into one of the top arms in the league as his career continues to trend upward.

With no gaps, the 30-year-old has pitched in the pros for nine years since leaving Springdale, where led the Dynamos to a WPIAL title. The right-hander played at Virginia Military Institute, where he notched 15 saves and 90 appearances.

In his third year with St. Paul, he is 3-3 with a 2.59 ERA since moving from the bullpen to the starting rotation. He has a team-best 76 strikeouts and has walked just 12 in 76 innings.

He had six saves in his first season with the Saints but has 11 starts this year.

In a recent game against the Milwaukee Milkmen, he worked eight scoreless innings, struck out 13 and surrendered four hits. In another contest against Milwaukee, he fanned 10.

He was the first player to win American Association Pointstreak Pitcher of the Week twice.

Last year, he went 4-3 in relief with a 2.00 ERA and three saves in 37 appearances. He struck out 50 and walked 20 in 54 innings. He did not allow a run in 28 innings.

The daily grind of playing low-level pro ball does not seem to get to Devine.

“The main reason I continue to play is that I’m still getting better,” Devine said. “I’ve worked my whole life to become the best ball player and pitcher that I could be, and I’m not there yet. My body feels better at 30 than it did at 25.

”I’ll play until I feel I have nothing left to prove, but I’m not there yet.”

Devine, who makes a couple thousand dollars a month to play ball, started out professionally with the Traverse City Beach Bums of the Frontier League, which also houses the Washington Wild Things.

Devine had two-plus productive seasons in Michigan before joining the Normal CornBelters in 2014.

That led him to another opportunity, with the Lake Erie Crushers, where he became one of the best relievers in the Frontier League. He became an all-star the next year.

From there, it was on to the Whichita Wingnuts of the South Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. He helped the team reach the league championship series.

So, despite the regular change of scenery, what else keeps him coming back?

“I have the most supportive fiancee and family that I could ever ask for,” he said. “They tune into every game I pitch. It’s not the easiest on them, especially my fiancee, when I get a call one day and am on a plane the next morning to another country to go play and be gone for a few months.”

Devine isn’t all baseball, all the time. He works as an insurance broker, which he said still can do while he plays in America.

He said playing abroad pays better, but there are more limited spots for players from outside of that country.

He used to spend offseasons working as a caddie, first at Fox Chapel Golf Club and then a private club in Naples, Fla. Devine has played outside of the United States the past two years.

Could his throwing motion — the same one that allowed hurlers such as Randy Johnson, Kent Tekulve, Pedro Martinez, the late Dan Quisenberry and Dennis Eckersley to be effective over time — be helping to elongate his body of work?

“I’m certainly no doctor, so I’m not sure if it’s healthier in general,” Devine said. “Personally, I feel it has helped me prolong my career. Health wise, it’s the way my body works best since I’ve always thrown from multiple arm slots. I also think it’s helped my performance because not a lot of guys throw sidearm or from multiple arm slots. It allows me to give hitters some looks they’re not as used to seeing.”

Maybe Devine gets his longevity from his father, Bill. If he did inherit that trait, Mike might pitch another 30 years.

Bill Devine is 63 and still plays in organized leagues.

“When he was 60, I saw him hit a ball off the wall by the 380-foot sign on a fly in right-center at Jet Blue Park in Fort Myers (Fla.),” Mike said. “That is the Red Sox spring training place and is a replica of Fenway Park. The guy can still play.”

So can his son.

.@Devine_Mike25 went 8.1 innings allowing one unearned run on four hits while walking one and striking out 13 and was last night's @Enbridge Player of the Game. pic.twitter.com/PshCO6nXi8

— St. Paul Saints (@StPaulSaints) September 2, 2020