ST. GEORGE — Pitcher Dylan File, who played at Desert Hills High and Dixie State University, was recently called up to play for the Biloxi Shuckers, a Class AA minor league baseball team in Mississippi.
In his home debut for the Shuckers last Saturday, File started and pitched six strong innings in helping Biloxi to a 5-2 win over the Mississippi Braves. He allowed four hits while walking none and striking out six.
Now THAT’S how you make your home debut! @dylan_file goes six strong and departs with the lead. File retired 15 of the final 17 batters he faced #ShuckYeah pic.twitter.com/vYSuQnVugy
— Biloxi Shuckers (@BiloxiShuckers) June 23, 2019
“I was really amped up the first day and really excited,” File told St. George News Monday. After giving up a run in the first inning, File said he was able to settle down and pitch well after that.
The right-handed File, who graduated from Desert Hills in 2014, played at Dixie State University until his junior year, when he was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 21st round of the 2017 first-year players draft.
File has since pitched for four different teams, all within the Brewers organization. After playing for the Helena Brewers of the Pioneer League in 2017, he pitched for the Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 2018. Earlier this year, he started 12 games for the Carolina Mudcats in the Class A Advanced Carolina League.
Earlier this month, File was selected to play in the Carolina League’s all-star game, but shortly thereafter learned he’d been called up to Biloxi.
File’s mother, Susan Larson of St. George, recalled the moment her son called during the Mudcats’ June 8 home game, a 7-3 win over Salem Red Sox, to tell her about his promotion.
“It was so funny, he called me right after he pitched a great game, seven innings, to tell me he just got promoted so don’t buy my tickets to the all-star game!” Larson told St. George News. “The game was still going on and I was confused as to why he was calling me during his game.”
File said his manager had given him a strange look after he came off the mound and went into the dugout after finishing the seventh inning.
“He’s like, ‘I never want to see you pitch here again,’ and I’m like, ‘What? What do you mean?’” File recalled with a laugh.
“Yeah, hopefully you never come back, because you’re going to Double-A,” he recalled the manager saying as he broke the good news.
“After that, all my teammates came up to me and just gave me a hug and congratulated me.” File recalled. “It was really cool. My wife was there in the stands, and she overheard my coach talking to the bullpen about it. She got to celebrate that with me, too.”
File and his wife Jamie have been married since October.
Major League Baseball scout Jeff Scholzen, who lives in the St. George area, said he’s had his eye on File ever since he moved from Kingman, Arizona, to the St. George area when he was 12 years old.
“I scouted him in high school when there was only myself and maybe a couple of other guys that really even knew about Dylan in high school, even though Dylan just flat out dominated his senior year, as Region 9 MVP, and posting otherworldly strikeout numbers,” Scholzen said. “He had committed, I believe, when he was a sophomore to Dixie State, and they did a tremendous job of recruiting him keeping him away from the other Division I schools.”
Scholzen said File continued to improve consistently at the collegiate level.
“What Dixie State basically got was a Division I starter at the D2 level,” he said. “He just continued to just get better and better.”
“I stayed on him and we drafted him,” Scholzen said of the Brewers selecting File in the 21st round in 2017.
“He was more or less drafted not as high as he probably could have been, based on where he was at and notoriety, and things like that,” Scholzen said. “But he’s pitched a lot better than where he was drafted. He’s been a quick mover.”
“He’s probably, in my opinion, the best pitching prospect that’s come through Southern Utah since Mitch Talbot, who was drafted back in ‘02 at Canyon View. He’s still playing 18 years later.”
Scholzen also called File “a very intellectual kid.”
“He picks things up quick. He’s in all the advanced metrics. He feeds off that and studies hitters. He makes adjustments really, really quick. He’s just very cerebral. He’s somewhere between 89 and 93 (mph) with his fastball and he’s got enough velocity and strike-throwing ability and no movement to different pitches. He is just incredible.”
Scholzen said File has consistently improved his statistical numbers during his three years as a professional player.
“He’s in a position where I really believe that in the next year or two at the most, he could be pitching in the big leagues.”
File said his home in the off-season will be in the Phoenix area, where his wife, a recent graduate of Dixie State, recently landed her first elementary school teaching job.
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