For Bowling Green Hot Rods pitcher Caleb Sampen, baseball has always been a family affair.

The son of former major league pitcher Bill Sampen, Caleb said as soon as he was able to throw a ball he remembers playing catch in the backyard with his dad and his brothers Isaac and Sam.

“It really was part of my childhood growing up,” Sampen said. “Whiffle ball in the backyard. My dad coached. I was always around it. No matter what the situation was, I was around baseball.”

Now Sampen is forging the same path as his father, who made his Major League debut with the Montreal Expos in 1990 and played for three MLB teams over five seasons.

On Tuesday, Sampen will be one of eight Hot Rods to compete in the Midwest League All-Star game in South Bend (Ind.). Sampen, who pitched two innings Sunday, hopes to be back on the hill for the All-Star game and is excited to do it in his home state with most of his family and friends making the short trek down from his hometown of Brownsburg, Ind.

“That will be awesome,” Sampen said. “It’s an honor to be invited to that. I will still get to see family, even though I will be busy. That will be cool.”

Bill Sampen said he is looking forward to the chance to see his son compete in the All-Star game.

“We feel really fortunate that he has been in the Midwest region here thus far,” Bill Sampen said. “We’ve been able to catch him a few times. I think that’s pretty cool to be selected. I am happy for him and glad we are able to make the journey and it’s not too far down the road.”

The family reunion will give the father and son a chance to catch up in person – swapping baseball stories. Sampen said having a father who has been through this journey before has been a valuable tool to have – adding they talk on the phone after every time he pitches.

“It’s definitely a useful resource to have someone that has went through the minor league grind – him especially, coming from a D3 school,” Sampen said. “It wasn’t like he was a first-round pick. He definitely went through the grind a bit – had some injuries and stuff, too. It was really nice to have someone that close to you that has been through the same things you have been going through.”

Bill Sampen downplays how much he really has to offer for his son.

“I think the biggest asset I have to offer is I screwed most of it up,” Bill Sampen joked. “I kind of know the way not to pitch. My greatest help is not my success, but my failure. It’s one of those things where I wish I knew then what I know now. I think we can all say that.

“He is so much more astute to pitching and the quantifiable data that they have available to them. I think it gives him a better perspective. If I can help a little with that, I try to do that. But I think more than anything it’s just his ability to do things, read things and make adjustments than it is anything I have to offer.”

There was one event where Bill Sampen’s past experience was very helpful to to his son – when Caleb was traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Tampa Bay Rays for Jamie Shultz in January, a mere six months after he was drafted in the 20th round by the Dodgers.

“I was still getting used to professional baseball, let alone how an organization works,” Sampen said. “He was the first person I called. I didn’t really know what to think at the time and he was like, ‘Hey, this is a good thing for you.’ He told me he was excited for me and it was nice to have that perspective, too. If I didn’t have him to talk to, I wouldn’t have known what to expect with all that. That kind of settled the nerves a little bit.”

Bill Sampen, who was traded to Kansas City in 1992 after beginning his career with Montreal, said he told his son that the Rays were trading for him for a reason.

“What I told him right away was, ‘The Rays see something in you they like,’ ” Bill Sampen said. “They traded a big arm and an experienced arm for you, so they must see something they like. It’s always hard when you are traded because there is a sense that someone is getting rid of you. But the other side of that someone wants you. At the end of the day, rarely does anyone finish with the same organization they began with. It’s just part of the business.”

Sampen said he had other people also reach out to him after the trade and tell him it was one of the best organizations to be in for a pitcher.

“It gave me a little peace of mind right at the beginning there,” Sampen said. “It’s been great – the way they teach things, the way they look at things and the data they have available – it’s a lot different than I think a lot of organizations are run and way different than when my dad was playing.”

Sampen said he likes to talk about the new metrics with his dad and compare it to when Bill Sampen pitched – also giving his father information he is able to use at his baseball academy in Brownsburg.

“It’s cool talking about that stuff with him and looking how the game has changed since he played,” Sampen said. “It’s pretty cool to see how all the technology has confirmed and debunked some things too.”

Sampen said he doesn’t just draw from his dad’s experience. He often likes to study the other starters on the Bowling Green staff and pick their brains about what has and hasn’t worked for them.

“It’s great to have other talented pitchers around you because you get to watch them when we are in the stands charting, in the dugout, everything,” Sampen said. “During stretch and playing catch with those guys, you are always talking about pitches, grips, what people are thinking about on the mound. You are always learning from each other.”

So far, Sampen has enjoyed plenty of success this season – going 4-3 with a 3.49 ERA in 12 starts with Bowling Green in the first half. He leads the team with 67 innings pitched – including a streak of eight straight starts working at least six innings that was snapped with his abbreviated outing Sunday to keep him available for the All-Star game.

“That’s something I have always tried to do, go as deep in the game as possible,” Sampen said. “I think that is your job as a starter, to save the bullpen when you can. I try to work all my pitches in the zone as often as possible – get guys on base or out in three pitches or less and get on to the next guy. When you keep the pitch count low it makes it easier to go deeper into games.”

Sampen hopes to build on his success in the second half as he finishes his first full season of professional baseball. He said he doesn’t have any specific goals, but is more interested in just getting better every start.

“You are always tweaking stuff,” Sampen said. “Everybody has always got a few things they are working on. I am not trying to add in a new pitch or anything. I’m just working on my pitches – all my off-speed stuff – and throwing them for strikes when I want them for strikes and balls when I need them for a strikeout pitch.”{&end}