When the New York Yankees completed a sweep of the Minnesota Twins in the American League Divisional Series two weekends ago, Joe Testa had more rooting interest than other lifelong Yankees fans like him had.
Testa, a Jackson resident who carved out an outstanding scholastic career at Brick Township High School before his family relocated to Jackson, set a number of career marks at Wagner College, Staten Island, N.Y., before he embarked on a professional career in the summer of 2008.
The 5-10 lefthander has aspirations of playing for the Twins’ New Britain, Conn., Rock Cats in the Double A Eastern League after enjoying a strong summer mostly with the Twins High A team in Fort Myers, Fla.
“Hopefully, I’ll be in Double A next year and the changeup will help me,” said Testa, referring to the pitch he added to his arsenal this past summer while pitching in relief for a team that reached the championship series of the Florida State League.
“If I start in DoubleA, and I think I will, I would start off in middle relief,” said Testa, who was a closer and setup reliever for the Fort Myers Miracle. “I’m not worrying about it. As long as I’m in Double A. … I hear I’m going there. It’s looking pretty good. I could get to Triple A. I’ll just try to do as well as I can. I want to make them have to put me there (in Triple A).”
Testa recently closed out a month in the Instructional League before heading back to New Jersey for offseason work and to work as a pitching instructor again this fall and winter at Play Ball in Toms River and as a substitute teacher in the Brick Township schools.
He was among 42 players at the Instructional League, including 18 pitchers, who kept track of the Twins’ late-season surge into the American League playoffs and “watching how the guys (in the majors) go about doing things at that level. I was there (in Fort Myers) to get my curve better and to develop my changeup,” said Testa, who used that pitch sparingly over the summer. “My fastball and cutter have been pretty good for me all year.”
Testa, who was signed as a free agent in late June 2008 and pitched for Fort Myers, went into 2009 spring training as one of the best conditioned athletes on hand, but he had one tough outing while pitching against Triple A and major league players and started the season in Low A ball in Beloit, Wis., as a closer.
He compiled some good statistics in the first half of the season to earn selection to the all-star team and had seven saves with an 0-2 record.
Testa earned his promotion from Beloit to Fort Myers with a 2.56 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 45.2 innings. At one point, opposing batters were hitting only .148 over his first 35.1 innings pitched.
At the end of the 2009 season Fort Myers lost a best-of-three championship series to Port Charlotte. Fort Myers won the opening game, 8-7, as Testa got the save, but lost the next two games, 3-1 and 3-2 scores. Testa did not pitch in game No. 2 or game No. 3.
“I was happy with the way I played this season,” said Testa. “It was my first full season (in the minors) and they were wondering what they would get out of me because I was undrafted. I think I met their expectations and perhaps surpassed them. They told me I did better than they thought I would.”
Testa will remain busy over the next three months as he stays in shape and works off a mound at Play Ball in between giving instructions to young prospects before heading down to Florida in February with the hope of taking his game to an even higher level.