UC Grad still in Baseball

Many college seniors spend much of their final year searching for post-graduate employment.

But for University of Charleston graduate Jared Destro, things were a bit different.

His employment path was paved during the summer months between his junior and senior seasons.

Destro, a Fredonia, N.Y., native, came to the University of Charleston because he liked the small school atmosphere and the opportunity to play baseball, while participating in the school's sports medicine program.

As it turns out, that decision led to a promising career in the Pittsburgh Pirates' organization.

"I knew I wanted to play baseball, but I also wanted to be in sports medicine," said Destro, currently the athletic trainer for the Pirates' Class A affiliate Hickory Crawdads.

"There's not too many college programs that will let you participate in sports and participate in the sports med program because of all the clinical hours required.

"A lot of larger schools won't let you play sports after your second year and I really wanted to play baseball."

After coming to Charleston to visit a high school buddy, then-Golden Eagle baseball player Dave Gora. Destro toured the school and decided to attend.

The left-handed pitcher played four seasons for the Golden Eagles, earning All-West Virginia Conference honors as a senior in 2004, after going 5-3 with a 3.39 earned run average.

But Destro's destiny was paved by an e-mail sent to UC after his junior season.

"After my junior year in college, the Class AAA trainer for the Pirates at the time e-mailed our medical coordinator to ask if she had anyone in mind for internships," Destro said Friday, prior to a game between the Crawdads and the West Virginia Power at Appalachian Power Park.

"Of course I was interested, so I filled out a resume and sent it down to Florida. Carl Randolph, the Pirates' Minor League Athletic Training Coordinator, asked me to come down.

"I spent the whole summer down there. I was down there for four months and had a blast. I learned a lot about the business."

After graduating from UC the next spring with a 3.2 gpa, Destro passed his national certification examination.

That's when Destro was offered a full-time job with the Pirates.

"As soon as I passed that I was offered a job," said Destro. "It's my third year as an employee and one more as an intern, so it's my fourth year with the Pirates."

Destro, spent his first season in the organization as the strength and conditioning coach for the Class AA Altoona Curve.

Last season he worked as the athletic trainer in the New York-Penn League with the short-season Williamsport, Pa., team. After the season, Destro headed to Bradenton, Fla., in early September and worked until mid-October for the Pirates instructional league.

For Destro, who tosses batting practice for the Crawdads when the team prepares to face a left-handed pitcher, his current job keeps him close to the game he loves.

"It's been great," said Destro. "I knew if I couldn't play baseball, I wanted to still be around it. This has been a great fit for me."

The former Golden Eagle also enjoys his return trips to Charleston.

"I still have a couple of friends at UC, so it's nice to get back to visit them," said Destro. "I met a friend of mine for dinner last night and for lunch today, so it's been great."

He also gets to swap stories with a pair of his college coaches Power groundskeepers Eric Bailey and Lee Bradley.

"Everytime I come back, we get to chat for 25-30 minutes to catch up on things," said Destro.

"They're good guys. It's good to find out what's going on around here."

Bailey also enjoys the brief visits.

"Jared's a really good kid," said Bailey, an assistant UC coach. "He was a pretty crafty left-handed pitcher. It's nice to see somebody you coached and associated with, succeed a little bit. I'm happy for him."

Destro kills the time between baseball seasons as an employee in a Buffalo, N.Y., area bank.

"I'm usually off from the last of October to the first of March," said Destro. "I usually work at a bank during the off-season. I've worked there since my summers in high school, so it's been easy for me to get a job.

"It's really nice for me because it's something different just to give your mind a little rest from baseball.

"It's a long, strenuous season."