Photos courtesy of the Kansas City Royals and Jordan Clark.

Former Wichita State baseball catcher Cody Clark had a unique perspective on last year's World Series run for the Kansas City Royals. Clark caught every pitcher on the Royals staff during the season and also threw batting practice to all of the hitters. Cody served as the Royals bullpen catcher last season and is in the same role in 2015.

Clark, who played for the Shockers in 2003, joined the Royals last season after finishing his playing career with the Houston Astros in 2013. Cody was drafted in the 11^th round in 2003 by the Texas Rangers and played three seasons in the minors for the Rangers, one for the Braves, six for the Royals and two for the Astros before being called up in 2013.

Clark said his history with the Royals helped him land the job last season.

“I had a really good relationship with the Royals,” Clark said. “When J.J. Picollo was with the Braves, he picked me up out of independent ball. I had a good year with the Braves and was a free agent and he signed me with the Royals. I played with them for six seasons. I became really close with the guys that were there. They were always good to me and I always respected the way they went about business.

“When I stopped playing, I got a call from Scott Sharp with the Royals, who was the head of player personnel at the time, who asked me if I wanted to come work for them. I don't think he really knew what the job was going to be yet, but he just wanted me to come work for them in some capacity. A couple of days later, I got a call back and said they might need a guy at the big league level to either do the instant replay or be the bullpen catcher. He asked if I'd be interested and I said sure. I became the bullpen catcher and it worked out really well last year.”

Clark has many duties as the bullpen catcher including throwing batting practice and warming up the pitchers.

“I'm just basically there to assist any of the coaches or players in any way that I can,” Clark said. “I show up and if guys go out for early work like taking ground balls or catchers work, then I'm usually out on the field for that either catching them or doing something like that. I throw batting practice every day. I play catch with the pitchers or the position players; whichever guy needs it. I also catch bullpens before the game and during the game.”

The Royals bullpen received a lot of attention during the playoff run and Clark was the one in the bullpen warming up Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland. He enjoyed catching all of them, but mentioned Herrera's velocity and Holland's slider are sometimes difficult to catch.

“All those guys are so good, there's really not anybody that's hard to catch,” Clark said. “Kelvin Herrera throws the hardest, so if he's off a little bit with his control, he can be tough to catch, but he's usually right on point with his command. Greg Holland has a slider that is really good so it can be tough to catch, but really they are all pretty good to warm up.”

Clark was only four the last time the Royals made the playoffs so last season's run was extremely special for him as he followed the Royals growing up in northwest Arkansas.

“It was an amazing experience,” Clark said. “I don't remember the last time the Royals made the playoffs, I was four. I don't remember them being very good in my lifetime. I grew up in northwest Arkansas so I kept up with them pretty closely when I was growing up. It was a neat thing because we were around .500 all year and then in August we just took off. We started climbing in the standings, so it was exciting all year. At that time, the boys were excited and coming to play everyday. It was really fun to be a part of.

“We got in the playoffs and hosted the wildcard game. That was the best baseball game I've ever seen. It was an amazing game. We made a comeback in the eighth and ninth against (Jon) Lester and the A's. It was just amazing. Every game in the playoffs was such a close game and games that went into extra innings. It was just an incredible experience and exciting to be a part of.”

Clark only spent one season at Wichita State after transferring from Arkansas, but he credits former Shocker coaches Gene Stephenson and Jim Thomas and current coach Brent Kemnitz on creating his mental toughness.

“Gene, Brent and JT tried to instill mental toughness in all the players at Wichita State and just really the mental part of the game,” Clark said. “I learned how to persevere through failure and how to play the game hard and I really grew on the mental side of the game at Wichita State.”

This season, Cody had the opportunity to catch another Shocker in Royals spring training. Brian Flynn, a left-hander who pitched for Wichita State from 2009-11, was traded to the Royals in the offseason.

“I actually faced him when I played in AAA,” Clark said. “He was with the Marlins. I remember facing him and he was always a good pitcher. So I'm looking forward to catching him and talking a little Shocker baseball.”

Clark made his Major League debut on Aug. 23, 2013 for the Houston Astros, but his journey through pro ball was not easy.

“It was such a battle and such a grind; really mentally more than anything,” Clark said. “That's where Wichita State helped a lot because it helped prepare me for the mental grind and helped me to never really give up. I had a really hard time making it out of A ball. I spent five years in A ball or independent ball and it was tough. I did some things well. I could catch and throw. I didn't really learn to hit until later in my career. The mental aspect of the game and the mental toughness that the coaches at Wichita State instilled in me was really important in helping me in showing up every day and giving my best and grinding it out.”

In the near future, Cody would like to follow in his dad's footsteps and become a coach. Cody's dad, Doug Clark, was an assistant coach at Arkansas for many years and coached him during his first two college seasons. After coaching at Arkansas, Doug was also the head coach at Central Arkansas.

“My dad was my best coach,” Clark said. “He gave me the love of the game. Growing up, I thought it was really cool to get to go to the field every day. He always made it available to me and just really gave me the love of baseball.

“I'm not exactly sure how long I plan on doing this.  I want to be a coach one day and I'm not sure what level, high school, college or professional, but I would like to start coaching in the next few years.”

In the offseason, Clark resides in Conway, Ark., with his wife Jordan and their daughter Finn. During the season, his family follows him to Kansas City. Cody earned a bachelor's degree in health education from Central Arkansas in December of 2008.