Wilmington's Tanner Roark called up to big leagues

Wilmington High School graduate Tanner Roark has been called up to the big leagues.

Roark, a right-handed relief pitcher, will be in uniform for the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night for the team's home game against the Atlanta Braves.

Roark, 26, had been pitching for the Nationals' Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse. This season, he's posted a 3.15 ERA and 9-3 record over 105 2/3 innings. He's started 11 games and appeared as a reliever in 22 others.

It remains to be seen whether he'll pitch in long relief or take a spot in the Nationals' rotation.

A 2005 graduate of Wilmington, Roark led the school's baseball team to state championships his sophomore and senior seasons, in 2003 and 2005 respectively. Wimington also finished third in 2004.

Roark went on to pitch at the University of Illinois and started his professional baseball career in the Texas Rangers' minor league system.

Steve Soucie: Long journey finally finds Wilmington's Tanner Roark in MLB

I make hundreds upon hundreds of predictions in a given year.

But nearly all of them are behind the comfort of my computer screen where I don't have to deal directly with the repercussions of someone who might not share my opinion.

I rarely step out of that mold, but I fondly recall one time where I stepped out of my duck-and-cover mentality in a restaurant in Springfield in the spring of 2005.

A burly gentleman in a Montini Catholic windbreaker was loudly declaring how the Montini baseball team was going to win a state title later that evening.

I turned around, looked him square in the face and said, "Sir, you don't have a prayer." Then I braced myself and waited for him to punch me in the head.

That punch didn't come, but he vehemently disagreed with my position for a while before dismissing me as a lunatic (not the first time that's happened).