The Away Team Comes Home: Midland Rockhounds Pitching Coach Has Local Connection To Tulsa

The Tulsa Drillers are playing the Midland Rockhounds all week.

34 People on the Rockhounds roster are leaving their home base, but for one — he’s coming home.

Midland's pitching coach isn’t from here, but as cliché as it sounds, home is where the heart is.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” said Paul Abbott, Midland Rockhounds Pitching Coach. 

It's not easy being in the minor leagues.

“Sometimes we have to take that step back to take those two forward,” said Abbott.

It’s a journey to get to the highest level of Major League Baseball, and the game comes with additional challenges.

“You make massive sacrifices away from your family,” said Abbott. 

Paul Abbott has been making sacrifices for the last 35 years as a player and a coach.

This is his first year as a Midland Texas Rockhound and his first away series at Oneok Field. 

 “It actually feels like I'm coming home because you're a part of home for me,” said Abbott

 Paul is also News on 6's Chloe Abbott's dad. 

“It's always great to see how you're doing, seeing how clean your apartment is, and I'm always pleasantly surprised on how clean it actually is. You've come a long way,” said Abbott. 

It's been two decades since Chloe's dad has worked in the same city she's living in. She's always gone to visit him, but now he's visiting her, and visits turn into routines. 

“He's only here for a week, but it's wake up. Let's go get our coffee, then we get lunch, then you know, hug and kiss, we say goodbye. He goes to the field, and I go to work,” said Chloe. 

Since she started her career in journalism, she's moved away from my family in Southern California, a sacrifice many journalists make, similar to baseball players. 

“Watching you take your climb and being able to kind of relate and share some empathy on what it's like being alone, but you've got to kind of embrace it and view it as an adventure,” said Abbott. 

“You were there for the peaks of my career, and I got to share that with you, so it's a huge, huge thing,” said Abbott. 

The Drillers will play the Rockhound through Sunday.