In the midst of his first season as a minor-league Twins player, 2010 St. Thomas graduate and former Armstrong all-American pitcher Matt Schuld (class of 2006) couldn’t be more humble.

Take, for instance, his celebratory plans after signing on the mound at Target Field this past June 17. “Afterwards, we just kept moving stuff” out of his apartment in preparation of his sudden move (he had just four days to pack. The night before, his girlfriend, family and neighbors celebrated the pending offer with a low-key barbecue in-tune with what the neighborhood off Rockford Road and Zachary Lane used to when Schuld was in high school: “My parents still live in the really close, tight-knit neighborhood they’ve been in for 17 years,” he says. “My best friends are still from there. We had a little ice cream party and reminisced about the old days of tennis-ball baseball in the backyards.” 
   
As a member of the Gulf Coast League, Schuld’s spent most of July in Fort Lauderdale, resting his arm (which got an extensive workout in another successful season for the Tommies) and coming out of the bullpen. He’ll do more of the same this month, with the season concluding the first week in September. 

“Guys don’t play in the minors to make money; they do it to keep the dream alive and see. I’m going to toil away.” Schuld says pitchers usually have to “screw up pretty badly” to not get an invitation back after their first year, but for now he’s keeping his head down, playing out the season and waiting to see what spring training brings: “I’m really grateful, and I know that I’m very lucky to get this opportunity. I plan to make the best of it.”