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Better know a Drew Storen: 12 facts about the new Blue Jays reliever

By Minor Leaguer
Greg Fiume/Getty Images

Late Friday evening the Blue Jays acquired reliever Drew Storen from the Nationals for Ben Revere. It is yet another transaction the club has done on a Friday since Mark Shapiro took over. Other moves that occurred on #TransactionFriday include:

  • The signings of Marco Estrada and Humberto Quintero on Nov. 13.
  • The Jesse Chavez-Liam Hendriks trade on Nov. 20.
  • The signing of J.A. Happ on Nov. 27.
  • The signing of Josh Thole on Dec. 4.
  • The signing of Darwin Barney on Dec. 11.
  • The waiver claim of Junior Lake on Dec. 18.

Back to the main topic... Since Toronto fans probably know very little about Drew Storen, here are 12 facts about the newest Blue Jay in listicle form:

1. He was a batboy for the Montreal Expos

Storen's dad had a connection with Expos trainer Ron McClain so he got to be a bat boy for the club, and have access to free slushies in the clubhouse! His favourite player from the Expos was Pedro Martinez but he was also a big Vladimir Guerrero fan.

(h/t @matttomic)

2. His first name is Drew

Storen

Not Andrew (Drew Hutchison's first name is Andrew). It's just Drew.

(source: baseball-reference.com)

3. He is a switch hitter

StorenFlaps

It won't matter much, as he is now a relief pitcher in the American League, but Storen is officially a switch hitter. He has actually only batted as a lefty in the big leagues, going 1-for-2 in his career, hitting .500/.500/.500, getting a single off of righty Kevin Millwood in 2010. He didn't have a double-flapped helmet so he borrowed one from the batboy.

(source: Intentional Talk)

4. He has pitched against the Blue Jays just once in his career

The only time he has faced the Blue Jays was in the first game of the June 2, 2015 doubleheader when he retired Justin Smoak, Chris Colabello, and Josh Thole (who is currently assigned Storen's #22, by the way) 1-2-3 to record his 17th save of the season. The Blue Jays fell to 23-30 after that game but then would go on to win 11 in a row after a short nap between games.

5. The Blue Jays now have three players from the first round of the 2009 draft

Drew Storen was the #10 pick, Chad Jenkins was selected at #20, and Jio Mier came next at #21... all three were chosen before Mike Trout (#25)

6. He helped design the bullpen in Nationals Park

Having studied product design at Stanford, Storen wanted to stylize the Nationals' bullpen phone so he ordered a Nats-coloured payphone cover off of eBay. He was also the first one to suggest having elevated seating at the park for relievers to watch the game.

7. He paints corners and canvases

Storen puts those design courses to good use, and is a pretty dang good amateur artist.

8. He is a big Batman fan and owns a Batmobile

As discovered by our former SB Nation colleague Amy K. Nelson, Storen is a huge batman fan (as you could tell by the paintings above) but unlike most batman fans, he also owns a Batmobile.

I wonder what he thinks about Munenori Kawasaki dressing up as Batman.

9. He has a Vin Scully-autographed microphone

Drew Storen is a big Vin Scully fan so before the Nationals went to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers, he went on eBay to buy a 1957-model radio microphone, one similar to what he saw Scully use in a photograph. He got the Nationals broadcaster to introduce him to his radio idol, and got an autograph on his antique microphone.

10. His dad had a radio show with Buck Martinez

Storen's dad, Mike Patrick Storen (known professionally as Mike Patrick), once hosted Baseball This Morning on MLB Network on XM Radio in 2005 alongside Buck Martinez and Larry Bowa. I am anticipating a lot of stories about young Drew on the broadcasts this year.

11. He and his wife have a poodle

After Kevin Millar from that Intentional Talk interview mentioned that poodles are not exactly the masculine-type of breed one expects from a closer (sigh), Storen explains that he allowed his wife to pick their dog as a way to shift more of the responsibility of taking care of it onto her.

12. His walkup song is "God's Gonna Cut You Down"

He's going to fit pretty well in Toronto.

Storen actually didn't get to use the song right away after his callup to the majors in 2010, because reliever Joe Beimel had used the same song in Washington in 2009 and Storen wanted to give "it a little bit of time and a little bit of leave" out of respect. He mentioned that the Yankees' Andrew Miller uses the same song--what will happen this year when they're both in American League East?

(source: CBS DC)

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