Sea Dogs pitcher Theo Denlinger has hammered out a niche for himself as an entrepreneur blacksmith. For nearly a decade he has been selling his wares – knives, swords, axes and even barbecue tools – through his company, Denlinger’s Forge. Courtesy of Theo Denlinger
The Portland Sea Dogs are off to a 3-0 start and feature several newcomers with plenty of promise, including second baseman Nick Yorke (Boston’s first-round draft pick in 2020) and outfielder Tyler McDonough (Boston’s third-round pick in 2021).
One player even newer to the Red Sox system may not rank as high on the prospect list, but almost certainly rises to the top in the unusual background category. Ever since he first entered high school, barrel-chested relief pitcher Theo Denlinger has been hammering out a second career as a blacksmith.
Denlinger, 26, made his Sea Dogs debut Friday night, taking over a 1-0 lead from starter Shane Drohan and immediately recording two strikeouts. Denlinger retired all six batters he faced, fanning three, in a game Portland won 2-0.
“Delivery-wise, he might be a little unorthodox out there, a little crossfire,” said pitching coach Sean Isaac, also new to the Sea Dogs this year. “But he’s bought into everything we’ve asked of him.”
Denlinger, who hails from a small town in the southwestern corner of Wisconsin, came up in the White Sox system after being drafted in the seventh round in 2021 and pitched for Double-A Birmingham (Alabama) last summer. A trade in early February sent former Sea Dogs pitcher Franklin German to Chicago for Denlinger, about a week before he was to travel to Arizona for spring training. Instead, he joined the Red Sox in Fort Myers, Florida.
At 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, Theo is actually the smaller of the two Denlinger boys. His older brother Trent played football at the University of Wisconsin and at one point was measured at 6-8, 320. Fortunately, Tina Denlinger worked as an emergency room and surgical nurse, so she was always ready to bandage or sew up her sons if their roughhousing got a little too rambunctious.
That background proved even more handy when Theo became enamored with blacksmithing. He was barely into high school, a 15-year-old already enthralled by “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” when he encountered a blacksmith plying this ancient trade at a festival in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
“I grew up watching ‘Lord of the Rings,'” Denlinger said, “so I’ve always loved swords and medieval stuff.”
When Denlinger learned from the blacksmith that all he needed to get started was an old brake drum, homemade anvil and discarded railroad spikes, he convinced his father that they should set up shop behind their house, which backs up to the Mississippi River across from Dubuque, Iowa.
Thus were the beginnings of Denlinger Forge, soon to complete its first decade of operation. Theo takes custom orders through his Denlinger_Forge Instagram account and hammers out knives, swords, axes and even barbecue tools.
Hunting, fishing and trapping were all part of Denlinger’s formative years.
“Gutting deer or skinning raccoons, muskrat, beaver, coyotes – that’s what we would do growing up,” he said. “I’ve always been fascinated (by) and loved knives, so when I saw that blacksmith and he said he got started for 50 bucks, I thought, this is something I want to do. It’s grown ever since.”
With his full beard and a mane of long, flowing hair, Denlinger looks as if he’s cut from medieval cloth. His left forearm is inked with both a map of Middle-earth and the sword used by Isildur to cut the the One Ring from Sauron’s hand in J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic tale.
The outside of his forearm is tattooed with runic symbols that, he said, translate into a deathbed quote from a character in Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”: “If more people cherished food, song and cheer above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
Theo Denlinger pitched at the Double-A level for the Chicago White Sox last year before being traded to the Boston Red Sox in February. In his first appearance Friday for Boston’s Double-A affiliate, the Portland Sea Dogs, Denlinger retired all six batters he faced. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
Denlinger’s world in pro baseball has been exclusively as a reliever. This season is his third and all 57 minor-league appearances have been in relief. He throws two- and four-seam fastballs, a slider and a curve. He regularly touches 95 on the radar gun and tops out at 97 or 98.
“He’s got a lot of life on the fastball,” Isaac said. “And he’s got that personality where everybody kind of gravitates toward him, a good presence in the clubhouse.”
Indeed, as Delinger was showing a visitor photos of his creations – a Viking samurai sword, a buck knife with a deer femur handle, railroad spikes twisted into bottle openers, a wood-chopping axe with a blade shaped like a hand and a handle made from a baseball bat – fellow reliever Brendan Cellucci leaned in to offer an observation.
“You know, Orlando Bloom started as a blacksmith before he became a pirate,” said Cellucci, referencing the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor’s role of Will Turner. “You’re following the footsteps.”
Denlinger laughed off the comparison of swashbuckling sword fighter, but said he does try to bring something of a blacksmith mentality to the mound when he pitches. Batters are going to take him deep on occasion (he’s allowed eight homers in 67 innings, to go along with 100 strikeouts and 28 walks).
The important thing is how he responds.
“You’ve got to be mentally tough,” he said. “That’s kind of the same with blacksmithing. If you’re working on a project and you have multiple hours or even days into that project, and then right at the end you break it, it’s not ‘Oh, crap. All right, I’m done. I give up.’ No, you’ve got to get back out there and make it all over again.”
Denlinger’s custom creations run from about $250 for a buck knife to $1,500 for an elaborate sword. What started as a hobby took off after he was drafted, because suddenly he had a platform and word spread more easily on social media.
Customers understand that no orders are accepted from April to September. Baseball remains a priority for Denlinger. Although his off-the-field hours in Maine won’t be spent with hammer and tongs, he and his wife Jessica recently embarked on a new journey.
Driving north from spring training in Florida earlier this month, they stopped in Worcester to pick up a 10-week-old puppy. Cobalt is a part Great Dane, part mastiff. Fully grown, he likely will weigh between 120 and 150 pounds.
Which, for a blacksmith’s pet, seems appropriate.
“He’s adjusting well,” said Denlinger, who seems to be doing the same to his new surroundings.
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