Hlas: Solon's/C.R.'s Scott Schebler engineers big season

ST. LOUIS — There's nothing unusual about a baseball hitter who was born in Cedar Rapids facing a pitcher who was born in Iowa City.

That it occurred during a major league game, though, is something seldom seen.

But it happened Monday afternoon at Busch Stadium when Cedar Rapids Prairie graduate Scott Schebler of the Cincinnati Reds (whose hometown address is Solon) came to bat against St. Louis Cardinals hurler Michael Wacha.

Schebler had a single in two at-bats against Wacha and doubled off reliever Tyler Lyons in the Reds' 8-2 loss. His 2-for-4 day bumped his batting average to .260.

Wacha (4-3) allowed one run over six innings for the win.

Wacha was born in Iowa City. His family moved to Texarkana, Texas, when he was 3. His father, Tom Wacha, graduated from the University of Iowa in electrical engineering. Tom and his wife Karen met in Iowa City. Tom is from Elma in northeast Iowa, and wife Karen is from Nevada, Iowa.

Schebler's mother, Deb Schebler, is from Cedar Rapids. Her husband Jeff is from Davenport, but moved to Cedar Rapids after graduating from Iowa State, where they met. They are the vice president of operations and president, respectively, of TSF Structures Inc., in Cedar Rapids. They, too, have engineering degrees.

'Small world,' right fielder Scott Schebler said in Busch's visitors clubhouse hours before Monday's game here, noting his dad got a Wacha-signed baseball from Dan Wacha, Michael's uncle, after the 2013 season. Then-rookie Wacha pitched for the Cardinals in the World Series that year.

'Dan was with D & A Fabrication in Urbana,' said Jeff Schebler. He laughed and added 'I think I traded some steel work for a Michael Wacha-signed ball.

'I've always been a Cardinals fan, and Scott was, too.'

But now there's some past tense in that statement. since Scott is on a Cincinnati team that resides in the National League Central with St. Louis, and Wacha stood 60 feet and 6 inches from Schebler Monday in a business setting.

This season has been the latest in a long series of steps forward for Schebler, one that has made his name ever more known as the year has progressed.

Schebler has 20 home runs in 71 games. He is just the seventh different Iowan to hit 20 homers in an MLB season. Norway's Hal Trosky holds the record for an Iowan, with 42 in 1936.

Schebler was a 26th-round draftee of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2010. He played at Des Moines Area Community College, then in a pro rookie league, a short-season Class A league, Low-A, High-A, Class AA and Class AAA. He hit 100 homers over 668 minor league games.

Schebler got called up to the Dodgers during the 2015 season, then was traded to Cincinnati that December. He hit nine homers in 82 games with the Reds last year. He got sent to their AAA Louisville affiliate in midseason. Once he was recalled by the Reds, good things happened.

'Coming back up for the second time last year and being able to play every day kind of settled me in,' Schebler said. 'I went into the offseason knowing that I can do it at the big-league level. That kind of calmed my nerves, made me a little hungry coming in this year to be ready.'

He has been an everyday player this season, to say the least. Entering Monday's play, he was tied for second in home runs in the National League with 20.

'This is the dream, to play every day,' Schebler said. 'I wouldn't want it any other way. I worked a lot of hours and put in a lot of time to get to this point. It's cool to see it kind of surface.'

'I can't say it's not exciting,' Deb Schebler said.

'I'm on Facebook, and people I used to work with a long time ago all of a sudden are contacting me.'

When her son hits a homer, 'His agent usually sends me a text with a little explosion sign on it or a big arm for power.'

She has received a lot of those emojis this year.

'Scott's always been sort of the underdog in the whole process,' Deb said. 'It's neat to see him get some recognition. I think the process has been a lot harder than we ever dreamed it would be. He's worked extremely hard and has stayed focused.'

'Good things happen to good people,' Jeff said. 'Scott's done a fine job making sure he's representing everybody he can in a good way. He really does take pride in representing Iowa.'