Imagine spending a season on an airplane. Fans have nicknamed it the OKC Express, a trip that appears to never stop for a pitcher who makes his way between the major and minor leagues almost every week. It is a next man up system but one that keeps young players from playing and diminishes them to merely a number- number 25.
On a 25-man roster, it is this player who rounds out the list. The guy with no permanent home, the guy who spends his season in the air, not on the diamond.
For pitchers like Brock Stewart, the early years of their previously highly touted careers were essentially wasted.