The Eagle’s New Wings: Astros’ Ken Giles… A Life Before The Draft

MLB.com scribe Richard Justice in defense of Ken Giles: “2.25 FIP, 8th-best among AL relievers, 3.21 xFIP, 16th; .366 BABIP, 7th-highest (insanely high, some poor luck); 63.2% soft or medium contact. Summary: his mound blowups are inexcusable, but his performance isn’t as bad as standard numbers indicate.”

His focus, when not challenged, seems, for some reason, to wane. His numbers in save situations suggest his determination and drive are harnessed effectively, and with better results… at least, more consistently.

If you’ve been one of the thousands who have lustily booed Giles at Minute Maid Park, before his mid-July demotion to Fresno, you’ve seen his black, personalized “100 Miles Giles” Rawlings glove. What you may not have noticed was the “RM” initials and two crosses hand-scrawled in white next to his red-stitched nickname. Those initials are what has motivated Giles to become an accomplished MLB player.

They’re also the letters that may end up lifting the man from what is either a simple career crossroads or a more concerning personal train wreck.

Cautionary Tale

At the risk of being alarmist, and because no one else seems to be giving a passing nod to this subject, one only needs to look at the recent unpredictable passing of former UCLA basketball player, Billy Knight, to understand the role mental stability plays in sports, and how tragically easy it is to overlook it.

However, in a July 11 pre-game interview, Astros manager AJ Hinch did a slow walk-up to some things that point to much more than just Giles’ pitching problems:

“What I’ll say about Ken is we need to get his pitching right,” Hinch said on Wednesday. “He’s had an up-and-down season. He’s had signs of things that are good. He’s had some bad games. He’s had some meltdowns. We need to get him right. He’s not right. We’ve got to get him right, mentally and physically.”

“I don’t know if I played a big part, but I know this: I didn’t mess him up.”

Kenneth Robert Giles, like Alex Bregman, was born in Albuquerque, NM, three 1/2 years before Houston’s All-Star third baseman. While Bregman took more of a straight line to Houston (Albuquerque Academy and LSU), Giles’ circuitous route took him to two high schools and two colleges.

From an early age, Kenneth was exposed to baseball. Joshua Glenn Giles was 6 when his little brother was brought home in September of 1990, and their father, Glenn, who had never played baseball himself, saw diamond potential in both Kenny and Josh. Dad even noticed Kenny’s talent as a toddler, and rounds of catch before dinner became regular events.

“He never played baseball, so it was just one of those things like a freak of nature,” the soft-spoken Ken Giles told MLB.com in 2015. “He saw talent and he was like ‘This is what he’s going to do.’ I was probably like an infant and I was throwing a ball and stuff at almost like two years old.”

Josh went on to pitch for the Golden Eagles of Eldorado High School in Albuquerque, before attending New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, near the Texas border. Josh actually pitched for Ray Birmingham at NMJC in 2004-05, just before the coach moved on to head the baseball program at the University of New Mexico, where he still coaches.

“When I knew little Kenny, he was throwing really hard,” Birmingham told the Albuquerque Journal recently. “If he threw a strike, you couldn’t hit him. I thought if someone was patient with him, and realized what he had that he would find the strike zone. I knew if he found the strike zone he would pitch in the big leagues.”

Ken followed Josh to Eldorado, but transferred to Rio Grande High School for his senior year in 2009 under coach Orlando Griego, and helped the Ravens to a district title. That season, Giles was selected in the 44th round of the MLB Draft by the then-Florida Marlins.

He didn’t sign with the Marlins and instead went to NMJC in Hobbs where he struggled under then-coach Josh Simpson, who is now a north Texas area scout for the Texas Rangers.

In 2014, Simpson told the Journal: “He pitched for me for one year and he was awful. I had to get rid of him. He just couldn’t throw strikes.”

In his one season with Simpson in Hobbs, Giles went 0-2 with one save, posted an ERA of 14.29, allowed 18 earned runs, 19 hits, walked 18 and struck out 14 in 11.1 innings.

It took Giles some time to find the strike zone, something everyone in the close baseball community of Albuquerque was discovering at the time.

“He couldn’t throw strikes,” echoed Ryan Brewer, co-owner of the Albuquerque Baseball Academy, Bregman’s alma mater. “Everyone who ever knew him thought that if he could ever put it together he’d be something special. At some point something clicked and once he figured it out, it was over. He was a big leaguer.”

In 2011, it took a transfer to Yavapai College in Prescott, AZ to help Giles figure it out to the tune of a 0.71 ERA, 67 strikeouts, 22 walks, and 18 hits in 38 innings.

“They just gave me an opportunity to pitch. That’s all it is,” Giles said, recalling his one year at Yavapai. “Thanks to that decision I was able to learn a lot from all my coaches there, as well.”

“Growing up in Albuquerque, you don’t get many opportunities to pitch,” as Simpson recalled the rationale behind Giles’ transfer. “I think what finally clicked was just time on the mound and continuously working.”

That work, and his newfound dedication and a certain urgency led to Giles being selected in the seventh round of the MLB Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2011.

Giles reached the big leagues in 2014, and all but dominated for two years before the Astros cobbled together enough prospects to lure him from the Phils.

“For me as a child my dream was to play in the major leagues,” Rio Grande head coach Orlando Griego recounted recently during last year’s playoffs, with Giles’ Houston success fresh in his mind. “When that dream was over for me, my dream was for one of my players to do that. So dreams do come true.

“I don’t know if I played a big part, but I know this: I didn’t mess him up.”

“Every time I take the field I feel like he’s always with me.”

Childhood friends with Roman Montaño since before Little League, Giles and he were lifelong baseball buddies, and even attended Eldorado High School together, with Montaño continuing with the Eagles while Ken transferred to Rio Grande.

“We wanted to make each other better; we had the same dream to go out and play in the big leagues some day,” Giles remembered Roman to Albuquerque’s KOAT-TV. “He was as tall as me, and then all of a sudden, he got to 6’7″… he grew into a man.

“[Roman’s success as a star multi-sport athlete at Rio Grande] inspired me, especially because he knew he had the body, the strength. He knew that if he wanted to get better at something, he had to work for it.”

As Giles finished his high school career, continuing to pursue his baseball dream in college, Montaño’s life took a different turn, as some non-drug-related run-ins with the law got him kicked off the Golden Eagles baseball team.

Sensing the baseball career he and Ken dreamed about since kindergarten was over, he felt hopeless and attempted to ease the pain by abusing prescription drugs.

A foot injury, followed by surgery, led Montaño to an introduction and eventual abuse of stronger pain relievers, which led to a descent into the abyss of depression and harder drug use. After treatment and a couple of trouble-free years, highlighted by a new focus on bodybuilding, fatherhood, and a new job with Verizon, Roman’s parents thought he’d overcome any problems with drugs.

Giles: “I was in minor league ball, on the road, and in the middle of nowhere, and then I found out.”

Roman died of a heroin overdose at age 22 on May 2, 2012.

“It was just heartbreaking. It’s hard to do your job and find out one of your closest friends… he was almost [like] a brother to me that isn’t on this earth anymore, and I was never ever gonna see him again. That was really hard for me,” Giles recalls.

“Every time I take the field I feel like he’s always with me. I always feel like a big man on that mound,” Giles continued. “I’m still 6’3″, and he was 6’7″, so I feel like I’m 6’7″ on that mound. That’s the reason why you’ll always see the ‘RM’ on my glove. It’s there; I’m always thinking about him.”

Giles feels blessed for having known Montaño, getting to live the dream they both shared for so many years. “He was one of my greatest friends,” Giles said. “He was with me my whole life. He was just an amazing guy to be around.”

“I can’t tell you how honored we feel that Kenny just doesn’t forget our son,” JoAnn Montaño told the Philadelphia Inquirer in April 2015. “He knew the kind of person he was. My son was a good kid with a bright future. He just had it made, basically,” she added, proudly. “We just knew that his life was set.”