Amherst Bulletin – MLB Draft: Tampa Bay first-round pick Theo Gillen finds his baseball roots in Amherst

The Gillen family woke up on July 14 — the first of three days of the MLB Draft in Fort Worth, Texas — and considered whether or not they should throw a draft party for Theo Gillen, who was expected to be selected at some point during the event. They knew he was going to be drafted, but did they want to throw a party on the first day and leave room for disappointment?

Sam Gillen, Theo’s father, decided to go ahead with the party anyway and his decision paid off when the Tampa Bay Rays ended up with the 18th pick.

The Rays selected Theo — an 18-year-old shortstop with a 6-3, 198-pound frame out of Westlake High School — and those in attendance erupted at his home in Austin, Texas. His friends and family were overjoyed, and the emotion that goes with that came out as they all hugged him in celebration.

“We had our own little draft party and of course we were a little nervous, like, ‘Are we even having a draft party?'” Sam Gillen said. “Because you really don’t know the morning of the draft if you’re going to get picked. I’m just so proud of him and grateful that he got this opportunity. For him to start something that he’s dreamed of his whole life is amazing.”

The Gillen family story cannot be told without Western Massachusetts, specifically Hampshire County. Sam and his brother Pat grew up in Amherst. Pat attended high school at Amherst Regional and Sam went the prep school route to Cushing Academy in Ashburnham. Their parents, Bill and Connie Gillen, still live in Amherst and help run the Saturday morning farmers market on the common. Pat currently lives nearby in Belchertown with his wife and children.

Sam Gillen attended Springfield College and played baseball for four years before signing with the Moncton Mets, a professional baseball team in Canada. After a year there, a year in which he won the league’s MVP award, he gave up baseball.

But despite all his success, he still remembers his time in little league, listening to Stan Ziomek’s lessons on how to improve his technique at a young age.

“My love of baseball started in Amherst, with T-ball and little league,” Sam Gillen said. “Stan Ziomek and the Ziomek family were a huge influence in my life. We used to go to the Boston Red Sox games as a little league team, and that’s where my love of baseball started.”

After his playing career, Sam lived in Boston and then Chicago, where he and his wife Libby had two children, Gigi and Theo, before eventually settling in Texas.

Theo immediately caught the attention of youth coaches in the Austin area. Even at age 7, he was miles ahead of everyone else. A head coach of a youth baseball team saw Theo play soccer one fall when they first moved to the city, and he told Sam and Libby that he wanted their son to be a part of his elite team — a team that plays 60 games a summer and travels all over the country.

“We laughed about it at first because what is an elite 8-year-old traveling baseball team,” joked Sam Gillen. “We talked about it and we said no at first because an 8-year-old traveling all over the place to play 60 games sounded ridiculous. But then it worked and Theo loved it.”

To no one’s surprise in the Gillen family, Theo flourished. He was always bigger, stronger, and faster than the kids his age. By age 3, he was playing with kids twice his age. By age 6, he was playing with 10-year-olds. Theo continually improved by playing tougher opponents.

And Sam was right up front. Usually when a father is very successful in a sport, it’s normal for him to coach his son to be as good or better. But Sam took a step back and enjoyed Theo’s journey to eventually becoming a first-round draft pick as a father — not a coach.

For Sam, that may have been the best part of it all.

“He was always playing up and getting asked to play on these great teams,” he said. “And I just got to be a dad and enjoy it. I never coached him in anything. That was the fun part for me.”

Last Sunday, the first round of the draft, became even more exciting for Sam and his family.

Theo got a phone call around the 10th pick and on the phone was another team with an upcoming selection. They offered Theo a contract but it was a lower amount than he wanted. With the guidance of JD Smart, Theo’s advisor, Theo turned them down.

He knew the pre-draft process with Tampa Bay had gone very well and Theo wouldn’t settle for less than what the Rays offered.

“Theo and JD made a deal, and that was they wouldn’t accept less to go to another team,” Sam Gillen said. “So we were able to enjoy the next 30 minutes of that 11th to 18th pick knowing that if another team selected him, they would pay more to get him.”

Ultimately, the Rays drafted Theo at No. 18, exactly where he wanted to be because their organization showed him they were committed during pre-draft workouts. They were one of about a dozen teams that flew in reps to train Theo privately at Westlake.

Tampa Bay stood out for him, just as he clearly stood out for them.

Theo inherited Sam’s passion for baseball, which has since been taken to new heights. But it all started in Amherst.

“Somehow the love I had for the game seemed to be passed on to my son,” Sam Gillen said. “And I never signed Theo up for anything myself, he always held my hand. I don’t know how it all started, but there’s a deep love for baseball in Amherst, Mass. and I’m very thankful for that. We wouldn’t be here without them.”