NASHVILLE, TN (WTKR)- After running some errands with his fiance, Garrett Stallings was relaxing at home on his couch in Nashville when his phone began to ring. It was a call that would make a childhood dream become a reality.
It was from his Nashville Sounds' manager, Rick Sweet.
"It was about 10 p.m.," the Chesapeake native recalled. "He said 'what are you doing?' I said 'funny enough we're kind of cleaning the house. We were looking to move to a different spot. He said 'well pack your bags, you're going to the big leagues!'"
After parts of eight years in the minor leagues, he was a Major League Baseball player.
"I just sat there and was silent for a few minutes and then made a few phone calls because I knew things would spread pretty fast," he added.
The Grassfield product was called up on June 30 and made his big league debut three days later. It was a moment he had worked towards his entire baseball life.
"I was a little calmer on the mound than I was expecting," he noted. "The story of my career has been patience and I waited until the ninth inning of a three-game homestand. It felt really normal to me and I think the baseball aspect was the most normal of it all."
Stallings appeared in two games, tossing three scoreless innings against the Reds and Cardinals, striking out four batters and walking just one. Not a bad ledger to begin his Major League career.
"I've seen some guys have some incredible debuts and I've seen some disastrous ones," he smiled. "It's good to be on the nicer side of history there and the fact I got my (first) strikeout on the last batter and was able to walk off at home in Milwaukee and hear the crowd and... if you watch the video I look up and kind of pat my glove. That was definitely unscripted but it was kind of patting myself on the back for sticking with it and really just believing the whole time."
The Chesapeake native was optioned back to Nashville right before the All-Star break and will keep his head up and throwing strong as he awaits his next call-up. He's gone through the ups, downs, injuries and everything in between as he worked towards his arrival in the Show.
"I had a really rough stretch in 2022 when I was in Double-A where it didn't matter what I did, I couldn't throw the ball by anyone," he remembered. "It was tough to show up to the yard every day. You're trying everything to be a different guy. That's not working so you go back and that still doesn't work.
"I call it my silver lining in a way because I was able to learn how to fail in the minor leagues. It really just helped open my perspective up to be like 'hey, you're going to be OK.'"
Drafted by the Angels in 2019, Stallings was traded to the Orioles in 2020 and had been a career minor leaguer, camping out at the Triple-A level since 2023. He joined the Tides in the middle of the 2023 campaign and was traded to the Brewers the following season. The former Grizzly has put together his best pro season to date, boasting a 3.45 ERA in 16 appearances for the Sounds in 2026. He's bounced back and forth between a starting pitcher and the bullpen.
Nashville hosts Norfolk this weekend to open up the post-All-Star break stretch. Stallings and the Sounds visit Harbor Park at the end of August.
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