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Why Matt Szczur's up-and-down journey may pay off big

The first time, Matt Szczur said, it kind of catches you off guard. You make the big leagues out of spring training, but April is barely half over when you're called into the manager's office. The general manager is in there, too, they're telling you that they want you to get regular at-bats, that they're real happy with you, but that you're going back to triple A.

Chicago Cubs right fielder Matt Szczur (41) looks on from the dugout against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at PNC Park. The Cubs won 5-0.
Chicago Cubs right fielder Matt Szczur (41) looks on from the dugout against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at PNC Park. The Cubs won 5-0.Read more(Charles LeClaire/USA Today)

The first time, Matt Szczur said, it kind of catches you off guard. You make the big leagues out of spring training, but April is barely half over when you're called into the manager's office. The general manager is in there, too, they're telling you that they want you to get regular at-bats, that they're real happy with you, but that you're going back to triple A.

It's not a shock anymore. Szczur, the former Villanova football all-American and baseball star from Lower Cape May High School, now 26 years old, has shuttled between the Chicago Cubs and their top farm club 10 times this season. He'd had six stints at Wrigley Field and five in Des Moines, Iowa.

Is that the right count?

"It's so many that I don't even know," said Szczur (pronounced SEE-zur). One time, the outfielder was up for five games, all on the road. His family had shown up from South Jersey for a Cubs series in Washington. A hello after the game turned out to be goodbye. A pitcher was coming off the disabled list. He needed to get to the airport.

What's made it a lot easier, Szczur said, is that Cubs manager Joe Maddon has made it clear to Szczur that he thinks he has a big-league future and that he would be in Chicago in September. That means he should play in Philadelphia next week for the first time when the Cubs are in town. He's been on the move because he has options, which means he could go up and down all season. That made him a valuable asset to the club.

"Pretty much every time they sent me down it was for a pitcher," Szczur said Tuesday on the phone before heading to Wrigley Field. "I understood that. They needed another pitcher, or someone came off the DL. I was there for help. . . . It wasn't like they were calling in somebody else to take my spot. When I understood, I think that made it easier to be sent down."

For Chicago, currently in good position to reach the playoffs, he's usually been the defensive outfield replacement or a pinch-runner, maybe a spare bat. The luxury item. Through Monday, he'd had just 68 at-bats in 40 games with the Cubs.

The Cubs' triple-A club in Des Moines is just over 300 miles away. But the Iowa Cubs are in the Pacific Coast League, which means Szczur could be practically anywhere in the western two-thirds of the country when he gets called back up or needs to go join the triple-A club.

"I was in Round Rock, Texas," Szczur said of one call-up. "Nashville, Tennessee. Albuquerque, New Mexico. Might be some other places - Colorado Springs."

What did his triple-A teammates say when he'd take off?

"They say have fun on your paid vacation," Szczur said. "I pretty much live out of a suitcase. Whatever I have with me, I usually take with me."

It's often tougher on his wife, Natalie. One time, Szczur was sent down when the Iowa Cubs were in New Orleans. That meant Matt flew south while his bride of less than a year packed up and drove to Des Moines. Another time he got the word he was being sent down while Natalie was in New Jersey. She flew out to Chicago that day, met him for dinner, sent him to the airport, packed up again.

"A blender, pots and pans, clothes," Szczur said of what else usually traveled between apartments. "She was moving just as much as I was."

On the road, the difference between the big leagues and triple A is obvious. Triple A: "You have a roommate in a three-star hotel." Big leagues: "Your own king in a five-star hotel."

The pitching differences are usually with the top-of-rotation guys, he said. You're not facing Clayton Kershaw types in triple A, although Szczur said there isn't that big a difference in stuff between triple-A pitchers and back-of-rotation big-leaguers; it's usually more a matter of consistency. And big-league closers and setup men typically have a few more miles per hour to throw at you.

As it happens, Szczur hit a home run off Kershaw in June, and, maybe no coincidence, started against him Friday in Los Angeles. This time, in three plate appearances, Szczur doubled and walked.

"I think I go up there really relaxed," Szczur said of facing the three-time Cy Young winner and 2014 National League MVP. "The worst thing he's going to do is strike me out. He strikes everybody out, so it's not a big deal."

Szczcur had a bigger role but not a completely different one back when he was MVP of Villanova's 2009 Football Championship Subdivision national championship team, in terms of being a jack of all trades, lining up all over the field, creating headaches with his athleticism. He has hit only .221 this season, but Maddon has told him he loves him, to keep grinding. The club has indicated it believes his .292 for Iowa this season is more indicative of his future.

"I wish that I could cut myself in half and be able to play both sports, but you can't do that," Szczur said of giving up football after Villanova. "It was the right decision for me. My body feels good. When it's time for football camp and I'm taking batting practice, I know I made the right call."

Now that it's September, there isn't a need for him to go down anymore since rosters expand.

"I thought there was going to be one more," Szczur said over the phone. A Cubs teammate had been out after his wife had a baby. That was why Szczur had been called up the last time.

"I thought they were going to send me down last night or today and activate him," said the man who never unpacks.

@jensenoffcampus