I've heard it said by actors that many times, it's not they who find roles to play, it's the role that often finds them. Indeed, it's hard to me envision anybody but John Wayne playing the part of Sergeant John Stryker in "The Sands of Iwo Jima" as a US Marine leading his men to war. It was a role just meant for "The Duke." The same goes for his role as Ethan Edwards in "The Searchers" where he plays a Civil War veteran searching for his niece who's been kidnapped by Comanches.

Maybe, it's often that way in life as well. Maybe, it also works that way in baseball. And maybe, just maybe, that is what has happened to Shane Broyles in Hartford, Connecticut in a place far distant from his mid-Texas roots.

After being a 3-year letterman at Burleson High School in a mid-sized town near Fort Worth, Texas, Shane Broyles spent a couple of seasons in 2010 and 2011 at Seminole State College, a central Oklahoma junior college where his team competed against the likes of some kid named Jonathan Gray who in 2011 was a freshman at Eastern Oklahoma State College. From there Broyles moved on to pitch for Texas Tech as a junior in 2012, just 2 years after another familiar Rockie name, Chad Bettis had been chosen in the 2nd round of the 2010 draft.

Broyles attracted enough attention to be scouted, but definitely was not a household name, even in the inner circles of the baseball scouting world. He was rated just the 493rd best pitcher (not player, just pitcher) in the draft according to Baseball Draft Report in 2012. Despite this, someone saw enough in Broyles to make him the Rockies' 14th round choice, taken as the 438th player overall in the draft. Interestingly enough, this was one pick sooner than Austin House, the current closer of the Albuquerque Isotopes, who was taken with pick 439 by the Oakland A's.

Now in his 6th season in the Rockies organization, Broyles has played a number of different roles for Rockies farm teams with varying degrees of success. It has been quite a roller coaster ride.

His initial stint at Tri-City went fairly well. Clint Hulsey wrote this about Broyles in October after the conclusion of Tri City's short season schedule:

When he has control, you are really looking at 3 pitches that are MLB caliber. He has a delivery and all the measurables (other than he is a couple inches short for a RHP) that lead you to believe that he will gain control of his pitches. Broyles looks like a MLB potential pitcher to me, as look as his fastball isn't too hittable.

Unfortunately, the good start wouldn't last. After a poor first half in Asheville to begin the 2013 season, Broyles was moved to the bullpen. He adapted well to life as a reliever, but his progress has always seemed to be in a pattern of two steps forward, one step back. Still, he showed flashes of brilliance along the way.

In 2014, after a horrendous April in which he posted a 14.34 ERA and an almost other-worldly .426 opponenents' BA, he settled in nicely and posted ERA splits of 1.23, 1.23, 0.75 and 1.64 in May through August respectively. Perhaps more importantly, 2014 marked the first year his strikeouts exceeded innings pitched (73 K's in 70.2 IP)

In 2015, the results continued to be a mixed bag. A slow start at Modesto was followed by a promotion to New Brunswick. At the AA level a good 1st half was followed by an equally bad 2nd half that resulted in an overall 4.35 ERA. Broyles was used in a mop-up role, generally when the Rock Cats were on the wrong end of a lopsided score.

2016 was a tough year to be a Yard Goat. The absence of a home ballpark led to the team never having a true home game. This took both a physical and mental toll on most, if not all players. Shane Broyles was no exception. After a good start to the year, Broyles seemed to run out of steam in mid-June and was never able to recover. Still, there were signs of progress for Shane. Although he was still walking too many (5.8 BB/9IP), he kept improving his strikeout rate (12.2K/9IP).

By the end of 2016 season, Broyles had been tried as a starter, a short reliever, long reliever, mop-up duty, you name it, he'd done it. Except, that is, for the back end of the bullpen...

And then, sometime between the end of the 2016 season and the beginning of the 2017 season, something happened. I wish I could tell you what it was. Maybe Jerry Weinstein or Dave Burba gave him a "Win-one-for-the-Gipper" speech. Maybe Shane Broyles looked at the calendar and decided this season was a now or never moment. Maybe he made a Faustian deal with the devil. Maybe whatever baseball gods there are touched that strong right arm of his. Whatever happened, the stars began to align for Shane Broyles in 2017 and the Yard Goats have been the beneficiaries of it.

The first month of any season can be challenging for any manager as roles get sorted out and managers can better assess their talent based on performance in games that really count. The Washington Nationals and their bullpen situation is a prime example of this. Blake Treinen, with a sinker that sits around 97mph was initially tabbed as the closer for the Nationals this year. Yet despite his stuff, he struggled in the role of closer and by mid-April he was out and Shawn Kelley was in. By Mid-May Kelley's ERA was in tatters and after just 4 save opportunities, he was out and Koda Glover was in. Washington is not alone in this regard. It happens a lot in baseball.

In Hartford, it looked like, by the beginning of May, things were settling in pretty well. Jamie Farris, acquired in the trade that sent Eddie Butler to the Cubs, had established himself as Hartfords closer and was doing a good job of it, having converted 9 of 10 save opportunities and throwing strikes, ringing up 28 strikeouts in just 18.2 innings. But as happens to players that perform well, Farris was promoted to Albuquerque in late May.

That left Yard Goats Manager Jerry Weinstein and Yard Goats Pitching Coach Dave Burba in a quandary. Who would they choose to step into the closer's role? Not their only choice, but perhaps the most logical choice and best option was Shane Broyles , who to that point had been used as Hartford's primary set-up man. Up until that point in the season he sported a 2.18 ERA, a 0.97 WHIP, and a .194 Opponents batting average. Maybe more importantly he had shown an ability to miss bats, pound the strike zone, and limit walks, something that had somewhat plagued him in his previous two seasons at AA ball. He had to that point in this season whiffed 26 while walking only 6, good for a 11.3k/9IP and 2.6BB/9IP rate.

Whatever, their rationale, it has turned out to be a great decision by the Hartford coaching staff. Broyles has absolutely thrived in the role of closer and it's been noticed by anybody paying attention.

In its notes of July 27, Fangraphs had this to say in its Prospect Notes:

Broyles got his first taste of Double-A back in 2014 and, despite missing bats, had since scuffled there. This year, though, he's struck out 58 in 40 innings and posted his first single-digit walk rate since 2014. He sits 91-94 with his fastball and manipulates its shape. It plays up due to extension. He also has an above average curveball and passable changeup. Broyles has better been able to locate his fastball to his glove side this year and projects as a late-blooming middle reliever

In his article of June 3, 2017, Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant spoke with Broyles. Broyles talks about how he has embraced the closer role. Also Dave Burba talks about the importance of having a guy they can trust to throw strikes and challenge hitters in the closer's role. He also talks about getting Broyles to develop secondary offerings.

For those of you who like numbers, here are some of Broyles' splits that can be found on the Hartford Yard Goats website:

To better refine/examine these numbers, we can break down the season. It becomes pretty clear that Broyles has been better and better as the season has progressed.

It's getting almost ridiculous. Baseball is, by its very nature, a humbling game and nobody can be humbled more quickly than a closer. But for the last two months it has been Shane Broyles who has been humbling some of the brightest prospects in the Eastern League. If Eastern Leaguers were allowed to wear personalized jerseys like MLB players will later this month, I'm sure there would be a groundswell of support in the Yard Goats clubhouse for either Mr. Reliable or "Who'sYourDaddy?" to be on the back of Broyles' jersey. Maytag might want to slap Broyles' image on their appliances as a symbol of dependability.

It's no wonder that Shane Broyles was selected to the Eastern League All-Star team. He made a cameo appearance there, recording the last out of a 7-1 victory by the East on one pitch.

Shane Broyles turns 26 on August 19th. He's not Hoyt Wilhelm, a Hall-of-Famer who didn't make his Major League debut until almost age 30, but he could be that late bloomer, the underdog we all root for, one of those guys with a ton of heart and no quit. He's just taken a while to find that perfect role. Like the Duke! Happy birthday, Shane.

Note: Broyles plans on getting married this off-season to his college sweetheart. Best wishes both personally and professionally, Shane.