By JOE McFARLAND

He calls it “stick-to-it-iveness.”

While it might not be a common term, it’s the perfect way of summing up the career of Skyler Stromsmoe.

The farm boy from just outside Etzikom saw himself as under-skilled, undersized and, at times, disrespected as he tried to forge a career in baseball.

His dogged determination and resilience turned into opportunities to play in U.S. college, nine years in Minor League Baseball, and a starring role with Baseball Canada at several major events.

Looking back on it a decade after hanging up his cleats, Stromsmoe says it’s fascinating to see the parallels between his life in baseball and life back on the family farm.

“It’s the everyday grind – there are things you don’t like to do, things that you have to do, and you have to wake up and do those things,” he told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast.

“You keep stacking days together and months and years, and then you look back and you’re like, ‘Man, that was a lot of hard work.”

While it was challenging at times, the former infielder can’t help but beam with pride on what he was able to accomplish and how he can now pass his lessons learned onto the next generation of baseball players.

FROM MOOSE TO MULERIDERS

Growing up on the farm, it can sometimes be tough to find enough time in the day to play the game you love.

You have animals and crops to take care of, farmyards to maintain, and there’s never a shortage of oddball jobs you can find if you look hard enough.

But when you love it, you find the time.

Such was the case with Stromsmoe, who followed his dad on the slo-pitch scene as a tyke before wanting to get his own glove and bat.

His parents drove him everywhere he needed to go, including Foremost and Bow Island before starring in Medicine Hat’s American Legion programs.

That’s where Stromsmoe met Rob McDonnell.

A long-time player with the Moose Monarchs and Knights of Columbus Knights programs, McDonnell had turned his attention to coaching.

He was also well-connected with U.S. college programs as he was a member of the 1993 Mayville State University team that was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame after breaking the team record for wins in a season and coming within a win of making it to the NAIA World Series.

“He said, ‘Hey, do you know where you’re going (for college)?’ Stromsmoe recalled.

“I said, ‘Not yet,” and he told me he knew someone getting a head coaching role.”

The school was Longview Community College in Missouri, but another curveball was thrown at the rising star when McDonnell’s friend didn’t actually get the job.

Luckily, things still panned out.

“The new guy came in and said he knew nothing about me but that they would honour my scholarship,” continued Stromsmoe, who also spent a summer with the Medicine Hat Mavericks. “It was a little bit hairy, a little bit nerve-wracking, for sure.”

The move paid off as he earned a transfer to Southern Arkansas University, where he helped the Muleriders win the program’s first Gulf South Conference title in 2006.

Stromsmoe was an all-GSC First-Team selection in back-to-back seasons with the first coming as an outfielder and the second as a second baseman.

Over his career at SAU, he hit .331 with 30 doubles, six triples, six home runs, 76 runs batted in and he stole 103 bases. He was named a Muleriders Hall of Fame inductee in 2024.

GETTING HIS SHOT

The idea of becoming a professional player was something Stromsmoe had always dreamed about, but his path just to getting noticed seemed as insurmountable as his origin story.

After his college days came to an end, the Albertan started looking around for tryouts and workouts with different teams.

He came up empty-handed after one with the New York Mets, then his university coach told him that there was a scout who saw him play who wanted to take a second look.

His name? Todd “Tiny” Thomas.

“I didn’t have a field to work out on, so I had to talk to the high school coach at the time,” Stromsmoe said. “It was in the summer, so the grass was long, and here’s this scout throwing me batting practice and rolling me ground balls because the grass is too long to hit him from home plate.”

His then-girlfriend and now-wife, Rachel, was there as well to take video, just in case the opportunity didn’t pan out.

After the workout and a conversation about how fast his 60-yard dash was, Stromsmoe says Thomas told him he would be in touch.

“Four days later, he calls back and asked if I wanted to be a San Francisco Giant,” the switch-hitter recalled. “Of course, I said, ‘Yes.’”

THE SPARKPLUG

When he looks back on the entirety of his career, Stromsmoe says “it was more will than skill” as he knew he wasn’t going to be the most talented, but he just wanted it more.

It’s how the 5-foot-10, 175-pound utilityman managed to walk into San Francisco’s Arizona Complex League team in 2007 and stuck around the organization for nine seasons.

That first summer, he hit .290 with a pair of home runs, 11 RBI and seven stolen bases in just 28 games.

Stromsmoe takes a swing in the San Francisco Giant’s minor league system.

Then Stromsmoe embarked on a jet-setting minor league career, including 101 games over three seasons in Triple-A.

His final stats line reads 578 minor league games played, 1,918 plate appearances, a .250 batting average, 12 home runs, 123 RBI and 60 stolen bases.

“It’s pretty neat looking back,” Stromsmoe said. “Some of the guys I got to play with – especially guys like Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner – working up through the minors before they were established big leaguers is pretty cool.”

Among the highlights: getting a bloop single off Randy Johnson while “The Big Unit” was on a rehab assignment.

An intimidating character, Stromsmoe says he remembers a few choice words Johnson had, more for himself, after allowing a hit – showing his drive as a competitor.

DONNING THE MAPLE LEAF

Stromsmoe’s dogged determination to play the game at the highest level possible stood out as a major reason for getting the call from Baseball Canada for several major events over his career.

The first time came in 2011 with the Pan Am Games and Baseball World Cup.

Rachel was with him for the first time and took video of her husband opening up the equipment bag for the first time with the jerseys and hats sporting the maple leaf.

“I was like a 10-year-old kid going through my bag looking at all this stuff,” Stromsmoe said. “It was so cool just to feel like, man, I finally made it.”

The icing on the cake was the team’s performance in the two events – a gold medal at the Pan Ams and bronze at the World Cup.

Stromsmoe got the call again four years later for the Pan Ams in Toronto, where Canada beat the U.S. 7-6 in extra innings on a wild play where David Huff tried to pick off Pete Orr at first base, but his throw went into right field, scoring Stromsmoe from second.

When the rightfielder’s throw to third went wide, Orr scored the winning run.

“It was so cool to be a part of the national team because there was no selfishness at all on that team,” Stromsmoe said. “When you get to put on your nation’s colours, there’s something about that. You’re not just playing for the 25 guys with you, you’re playing for your country.”

‘SKYLER’S CRYSTAL BALL’

Flipping through some of his old mementos and memorabilia, Stromsmoe recently found an old journal from when he was in the first grade.

He couldn’t help but smile looking at what was inside, which dated back to 1991.

“It had a ‘Skyler’s Crystal Ball’ and it asked what I was going to do when I grow up,” Stromsmoe said. “It said, ‘I’m going to get married, have a couple of kids, work on the farm and play baseball.’”

Now back on that same family farm outside Etzikom, he’s hoping to instill the values he had growing up with the next generation, including his two kids.

He says no two paths are exactly the same, adding that you really have to love the game to chase the dream he lived.

It’s all about fun and hard work in his eyes, and he believes that if you put in the work and do the right things, success will follow.

“Baseball gave me opportunities that I could have never even imagined,” Stromsmoe said. “Traveling the world, going down south where I met my wife – it was quite the ride and I’m thankful for all of it.”

Through the good times and the bad, he stuck with it and learned a lot of life lessons along the way.