A 2010 Niles High School graduate is one step away from pitching for the Chicago Cubs at the Major League level.

On Aug. 5 David Garner, 24, was assigned to the Iowa Cubs from the Tennessee Smokies. The Iowa Cubs, located in Des Moines, Iowa, are the Chicago Cubs’ Class AAA affiliate — the highest level in Minor League Baseball.

“There’s nowhere else to go from here. If I go up, that’s the big  leagues. That’s Chicago,” Garner said.

Garner was informed of his new team assignment the afternoon before he and the Smokies were scheduled to play the Pensacola Blue Wahoos at the Smokies’ home stadium in Kodak, Tennessee.

His girlfriend, her mother and his 2-year-old son Braxton had driven from Niles and arrived two hours before Garner was assigned to his new team. Fortunately, his manager allowed him to skip that night’s game to spend time with his visiting family.

At 7:30 a.m. the next morning, he left on a plane for Iowa. His family’s plan was to stay one more night and then head home the following morning. Instead, they decided to leave at 2 a.m. that night and make a significant detour to Iowa to see him play. However, they barely made it in time to see his first Class AAA appearance.

“Right when they got in [the stadium], I threw my first pitch,” Garner said.

Since moving up, Garner has made four relief appearances. In the first two, he faced the Fresno Grizzlies and the Sacramento River Cats, where the 24-year-old allowed no runs and struck out a combined three batters. This earned him a win in first and a save in the second. However, he ran into some trouble in his third appearance against the Omaha Storm Chasers, giving up two home runs in a single inning.

Garner has been a part of the Cubs’ organization since they drafted him in 2013 out of Michigan State University in the seventh round. From his experiences playing in their minor league system, he has learned to know that he can’t let bad outings like his third appearance get to him too much.

“You’re going to give up [home runs] here or there, but I keep the same focus, same mentality, and just try to pitch strong,” Garner said.

In his fourth and most recent appearance on Aug. 15 against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Garner came back strong with his best performance for the Iowa Cubs yet. He pitched two innings in relief, struck out four batters, and allowed no runs. His Class AAA ERA currently sits at a respectable 3.46.

Garner says that his time in the minors has been a “grind,” so he appreciates how far he has come but he knows he still has a lot of work left to do.

“[Making it this far] means a lot but obviously, it’s not the ultimate goal,” Garner said. “I do thank God for it every day — to have gotten the opportunity to get to this level and come this far, but I don’t want to stop here. I want to get to the big leagues.”

By ANDREW MENTOCK

For the Daily Star