As hot Summer days turn into seemingly Endless Summer nights, fans from every pocket of the country, every year, pile into quaint, many times historical ballparks to watch some of the best baseball in the world, the Minor Leagues. 

As Minor Leaguers take the diamond every night, they make the hardest game ever invented seem so easy that it can make them appear to be larger than life.

It makes it easy to forget that they are still human, just like you and me. 

With each new level comes a new challenge against better competition and increasingly more difficult odds, so, to make it, Minor Leaguers have to learn to  “keep going” and to be able to “overcome”.  

Jeff Belge, a very talented left-handed relief pitcher in the Dodgers organization, learned these life lessons earlier than most.

Henninger High School

Belge grew up in Syracuse, New York a multi-sport star, and became a 5-year letter winner at Henninger High, was named All-CNY, First Team All-League, All-Stated his Senior year, and was also awarded the Joseph Mazella Award which recognizes Henninger High’s top male athlete.

His prep career placed him as one of the top prospects in the New York area and also got him drafted by the Red Sox in the 32nd Round. 

That’s the part of his story that you might expect from someone in his position, however. But, what you might not expect is what comes next, or, more accurately, what had already happened.

When Belge was just 9 years old, he was hit in the eye by a rock shattering the cornea in his right eye, an injury that required 2 surgeries to repair, and left the young Syracuse native unsure of his future. Sports had become a passion of his, and the idea of a life without it was not one he wanted to consider.  

In fact, it was a future he simply refused to consider. 

After 2 successful surgeries to repair his right eye, Belge muscled up an inspiring amount of ambition and set forth his mission to keep doing one of the things he loved the most, sports.

And that’s exactly what he did.

That is, until one day, 7 years later, when his right eye was damaged again, and this time for good.

While rough-housing during a Summer baseball Tournament, Belge was accidentally poked in the same eye that had been surgically repaired several years earlier setting off a chain reaction that left him legally blind in his right eye. 

He was, once again, left with a lot of uncertainty.

 But, if you’ve learned anything about this young man to this point, you have learned that he doesn’t let things get in his way. 

And, again, he didn’t.

Despite the fairly massive setback, sports remained a large part of his life and the whole ordeal, as he says, taught him a valuable life lesson on how to handle adversity. 

“Those things were obviously big setbacks in my life, but I think that they happened at such a young age it kind of helped me in a way in terms of overcoming adversity and that things always get better on the other side”

St. John’s

Belge turned down the draft and chose, instead, to play collegiately at St. John’s. Having forged a good relationship with Corey Muscara, the Red Storm pitching Coach at the time, Belge felt comfortable with the program and knew that he would develop.

“I committed to St. Johns going into my Sophomore year of High School. I had a really good relationship with Corey Muscara, their pitching coach at the time, so that was a big part of my decision to go there instead of going to play pro ball.         

More on St. John’s

“I knew that being able to play for him and Coach Blankmeyer would be huge because I knew that I would develop as both a player and as a person  on and off the field, so that was the biggest part for me.”

After 3 very successful years with the Red Storm, Belge improved his MLB Draft stock by 14 rounds when he got drafted in the 18th round of the 2019 Draft by the Dodgers.

Getting drafted for the 2nd time was an experience that put a button on a great amount of success and one that he will never forget.

“Getting drafted again was a really cool moment, and, obviously, being by the Dodgers and knowing they have such a great player development program was great. They have a great staff and some of the greatest people I have ever worked with, so it has been awesome. “

Dodgers

Belge was drafted in the 18th Round of the 2019 draft and, after a couple of outings in the AZL, was promoted to Ogden who was the Rookie ball affiliate of the Dodgers at the time. He finished 2019 very strong posting ERAs of just 0.93 and 1.93 in his last 2 months of the season and carried a lot of momentum into 2020, his first full professional season before it got canceled. 

The cancelation of the 2020 season was frustrating for everyone, but especially for Belge considering the momentum he was carrying into the season. 

“It was definitely a blow. We were at Spring Training for a couple of weeks when they sent us home. I was really looking forward to that year but I think I just took it as having a year to improve and get better at things that I needed to do both on and off the field. But, yeah, I think it was frustrating for everyone”

In his typical fashion, however, he took a setback and turned it into something positive, and entered 2021 ready to go. He spent all of 2021 with High A Great Lakes, then started 2022 at Great Lakes as well before being promoted to AA Tulsa at the end of this year. 

 Until his promotion to Tulsa in September, Belge had known just one manager, Austin Chubb, during his professional career. Chubb is widely known as a well-respected and well-liked “players manager” and had strong words to express his respect and admiration towards Belge. 

“It has been an absolute blast watching Jeff develop since he became a Dodger.  I’ve had the opportunity to manage him every season up to this point. We always knew the stuff was there, but the difference maker this year was his confidence and mindset. He was one of our leaders in the clubhouse and we love this dude.”

As you can tell by the quote, both Chubb and the organization are happy with his progress and are even more impressed with the type of person and teammate he has shown to be. 

Great Stuff:

Belge is 6’5 so he is physically imposing on the mound and offers a fastball that can hit mid 90’s that has good ride at the top and good carry at the bottom. He relies heavily on his 4-seam and is able to give hitters “fits” with it because he can “cut” the pitch and also locate it to every part of the plate, especially up in the zone. 

Slider

Belge also features a slider that he locates on both sides of the plate. His slider shape is something that he plans of refining during this off-season to give a tight spin and break to give it the best tunneling effect off of his fastball as possible. He also throws a less occasional curve ball as well. 

Competitive Nature

Despite all of the great stuff that Belge has, his best attribute might be the competitive nature with which he takes the mound. Belge is a fierce competitor and, many times does his best work in the biggest moments. He is left-handed, has ++ stuff, a competitive nature, and elite intangibles, so it’s easy to see that he has a big future ahead. 

In closing, I would like to thank Jeff for taking the time for an interview and giving me the chance to tell at least part of his story. Jeff’s story is unique and he is a very easy young man to root for, and I assure you that Dodgers Daily will be rooting for him all along the way.