Mr. Apple.....Meet Mr. Tree

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The son of former major league hurler Todd Frohwirth (right),
Tyler Frohwirth is a junior relief pitcher for Minnesota State

Some say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and in Tyler Frohwirth’s case, that has proven to be true.

A  business management major, Frohwirth is a junior righthanded pitcher with the Minnesota State baseball team.

Tyler’s father, Todd, was also a pitcher. His collegiate career at Northwest Missouri State University turned into one of professional stature when he was 24-years-old.

The elder Frohwirth was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1984 and began a nine-year professional career that spanned from 1987 until he retired in 1996.

Throughout that time, the elder Frohwirth played for four different major league teams, including the Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox and California Angels. He spent the majority of his time – four years – with the Phillies.

Frohwirth, who appeared in 284 MLB games in his role as a reliever, accumulated a record of 20-19, 11 saves with a 3.60 earned run average and 259 strikeouts in 417.2 innings pitched.

His son, Tyler, emphasized that when he was growing up, his dad was just that – his dad.

“For me, honestly, that was just who he was – he’s just my dad. He happened to just be a guy who did pitch at that level. I didn’t think anything else of it,” Frohwirth said. “At the same time it was pretty cool that that’s what he did and it pushed me to want to try and reach that level.”

Even though his dad made a living out of baseball, he “let me decide what I want to do,” and never “pushed me into anything,” Frohwirth said.

“His favorite sport was actually basketball, so he probably wanted me to play basketball more than anything, which I loved,” Frohwirth said. “But baseball was really in the beginning what I wanted to do. It’s what I like the best.”

Frohwirth played basketball along with baseball at Brookfield Academy High School in Brookfield, Wis. Even though he also loved basketball, Frohwirth “liked baseball a little more,” and eventually decided to go that route.

Throughout his baseball career, Frohwirth’s father was there to teach him and give him advice. Aside from inheriting a similar submarine-style of pitching, some wise words have also stuck with Frohwirth and helped him enhance his own pitching.

“Even if you’re not better than the guy you’re facing, you just got to be better than him for those 30 seconds, is a big thing that he kind of pushed,” Frohwirth said. “He was a guy at that level that felt like he was lucky to be there, and he had to face some guys that were maybe a lot more talented. He just decided to be better than them for that short amount of time.”

Tyler’s father is a professional scout for the Baltimore Orioles organization, and is still involved in baseball full-time.

Tyler has had a rather impressive baseball career himself. He graduated from Brookfield Academy in 2013, and went 9-2 with a 1.57 ERA and 74 strikeouts in his high school baseball career.  An all-conference performer as a senior and a two-time team captain, he was named team MVP and selected to the Wisconsin High School All-Star game in 2012.

Frohwirth describes his experience with the Minnesota State baseball program extremely positively.

“We are very fortunate – we win a lot,” Frohwirth said. “We have a good group of guys who are passionate about baseball and what it means to be a Maverick playing for coach Magers. I’ve really liked it.”

Following a redshirt year, Frohwirth joined the Minnesota State staff in a relief role in 2014. In his two years of action he has crafted a 3-0 record with a 3.61 ERA, one save and 20 strike outs in 27.2 innings of work.

As for the upcoming baseball season, Frohwirth hopes the Mavericks will be able to return to the World Series, which they missed out on last season for the first time in three years. Frohwirth believes they “have the right group to actually achieve that.”

“I think this is going to be a great year. I’m really looking forward to it.”

The Mavericks start their 2016 season Feb. 12 at Arkansas-Monticello.

- contributed by Courtney Johnson, Athletic Communications intern