This story was excerpted from Mart¨ªn Gallegos¡¯ A¡¯s Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
MESA, Ariz. -- By day, Mitch Spence was a Minor League pitcher working out at a local facility near his hometown of Cary, North Carolina. By night, he was known as Mitch Spence the Fulfillment Expert at a nearby Target store in the small town of Apex.
Before this past winter, pulling double duty as a baseball player and retail worker became the norm for Spence. He picked up the seasonal job in 2020 while in the Yankees¡¯ organization as a means of extra income after the cancellation of the Minor League season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He worked there for four consecutive offseasons and was given flexible hours to accommodate his training schedule as he pursued his baseball dream.
¡°They were awesome there,¡± Spence said. ¡°Whenever I was in town, they were like, ¡®If you want hours, you can have hours.¡¯ I just kept going back. Every offseason, I always had a job there.¡±
So, what exactly is a Fulfillment Expert? It¡¯s a role that expanded in importance during the pandemic with the rise of online shopping. Spence¡¯s tasks included walking around the store to assemble countless customer orders and preparing them for shipping. Nowadays, you will likely see Fulfillment Experts in your local Target store wearing a red polo and walking around with shopping carts.
¡°I would stock in the back a little bit,¡± Spence said. ¡°If somebody buys something, you¡¯ve got to pull it from the back and put it on the floor, so I did a little bit of that, too.¡±
Spence started out working mostly nights at around 25 hours per week. Those hours increased once business picked up around during the holidays.
In November 2023, Spence received potential life-changing news. After his fourth season in the Yankees' system, he was left off the club¡¯s 40-man roster and became eligible for the Rule 5 Draft that winter. The Athletics, who scouted Spence throughout his solid 2023 campaign in the Minors and identified him as a potential target, selected him with the first overall pick.
Shortly after the Rule 5 Draft, A¡¯s manager Mark Kotsay placed a call to reach out to Spence and welcome him to the team. The right-hander -- as you might guess -- was working a shift at Target.
¡°Absolutely,¡± Kotsay said when asked if he recalled that conversation. ¡°He told me he needed to step away from the register, which was awesome.¡±
Spence kept his job at Target until it was time to report for Spring Training with the A¡¯s in 2024. The 26-year-old made the Opening Day roster, recorded his Major League debut and spent the entire season in the big leagues, logging a 4.58 ERA in 35 games (24 starts) as a rookie.
¡°The guy standing here today is one of the guys on this staff who has earned a lot of trust from me,¡± Kotsay said of Spence. ¡°To come from somewhere just recently that instills a work ethic and what it means to value what you¡¯re doing, he¡¯s one of those stories for me that will stand out.¡±
Now an established big leaguer, Spence gave up the Target job this offseason, which allowed him to fully focus on baseball. He was able to incorporate a full strength training routine and went to physical therapy three times per week, which has helped his fastball velocity -- which averaged 91.9 mph last season -- jump up to around 95-96 mph this spring. That uptick will likely come in handy as he begins the season in the bullpen as a multi-inning reliever.
¡°I think it really helped my training,¡± Spence said. ¡°When I was working at Target, I was walking a lot. That might have kind of hurt my ability to recover and put on some muscle. This offseason, I was able to take the nights to just relax and recover so I could be ready for the next day of working out.¡±
You can take the red Target polo away from Spence, but you can¡¯t keep Spence away from Target. His family remains linked to that store in Apex, as his connections helped his two younger siblings land jobs at the same location he once worked at.
¡°I still go in there,¡± Spence said. ¡°When you work at Target for four years, that¡¯s just kind of where you¡¯re used to shopping. I went in there a couple of times this offseason to see my siblings and just say hi to everybody and see how everybody is doing.¡±