He’s Connolly Early, and he hails from the old coal-mining town of Midlothian, Virginia, west of Richmond. Despite Midlothian having a population under 20,000, it’s punched above its weight culturally, being the hometown of 90s alt rocker Aimee Mann and serving as the inspiration for the setting of Donnie Darko. Midlothian, quite evidently, must be emo as shit.

Early initially played college ball at West Point, one of the most selective colleges in the entire country — you need a dang recommendation from your Congressional representative to get in there! But he must have decided that army life wasn’t for him — or, at least, that baseball life was better — because he transferred to UVA as a junior and then went on to strike out 100 batters in 87.1 innings while putting up an ERA of 3.00

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