Covering the gold accented, navy carpet of the home clubhouse at Maryvale Baseball Park in a few steps, No. 73 was hard to miss.

At 6-feet, 8-inches and 245 pounds, Kameron Loe distinguished himself immediately upon arrival as a Milwaukee Brewers non-roster invitee in the spring of 2010.

One teammate eyeballed the broad shouldered, tattooed Loe and leaned over to John Axford.

"Oh my God, who is that guy?"

Axford, who pitched seven games for the Brewers in 2009 and was trying to make the big league club himself, said he had never seen Loe before and didn't know who he was.

"He scares me," said his locker neighbor.

Axford chuckles at that memory now, but admitted Loe cut an intimidating figure at first blush.

"That was some of the first things I thought," Axford said. "Coming into this game you meet so many different people, and you never know how people are going to be, and you never judge a book by its cover, to use a cliché in that way, but it's kind of just the way it is. Especially in this game there are many different personalities, so many different people."

Open the book, however, and there was a completely different story than the cover art would intimate.

"Then, like the first time you get to talk to him, get to know him, you're like 'Oh, nevermind, this guy's fine, he's like a big teddy bear,'" Axford said with a smile. "But that's obviously off the field, too. On the field I don't think I'd want to mess with him."

Perception as reality

Questions about his personality have been easy to shake for the affable right-hander, as Loe is quick to smile and share a laugh. But through much of his baseball career, his height has placed perceptions on him that were much more difficult to shake.

"I think people would dream about a 6-8 kid a little bit with those long arms and levers," said an American League scout who has seen Loe pitch in the minor leagues, with the Texas Rangers and with the Brewers. "When you saw the tall guy you thought there might be this guy that's going to throw 100 miles per hour."

Loe began touching 90 miles per hour at Granada Hills High School, but at a lanky 6-7, 185 pounds, his forte was throwing strikes. He went to college at California State University Northridge for three years before being drafted in the 20th round of the 2002 draft by the Rangers.

Despite his trajectory into professional baseball, Loe could never quite shake the feeling he should be throwing harder than the low 90s he was often around.

"When you're a big, tall guy I think it is expected that you throw hard," he said. "I definitely was not a hard thrower coming up. I started to hit 90 when I was in high school but I always kind of a soft thrower that kept the ball down. I did feel a little pressure to throw harder."

In his seven years in the Rangers organization, which included 47 starts and 60 relief appearances with the major league club, Loe said he tried a variety of workout programs designed at increasing velocity. It seemed like a good idea in theory, but in practice it wound up hurting more than helping.

"I've made mistakes," Loe admitted. "I tried doing a body builder's workout one year to put weight on and my shoulder got too tight. I was throwing hard – I was hitting 95, 96 – but my shoulder was too tight. There has been trial and error with trying to get strength."

Looking back, he feels his trips to the disabled list in 2006 and 2007 and the ensuing balancing act of staying healthy while finding strength led to the Rangers designating him for assignment in the summer of 2008.

"Pitching is such an unnatural motion, and a lot of tall guys who aren't natural athletes get back problems," Loe said. "You've got such long levers and all that strain is going to your hips and lower back. It's been a struggle for me. I have it pretty well under control now and I feel great now, but with everything comes a challenge. Even having the best tools will have its challenges because you're expected to do something. This game is really about learning yourself and learning who you are as a player and as a person and trying to grow that."

It's a struggle all tall pitchers deal with, even if velocity isn't an issue.

"I think when you have that kind of lankiness, it's difficult to try and repeat the delivery every single time," said the 6-5 Axford, who has always been able to throw hard. "Now that I'm stronger and bigger I've been able to kind of figure things out and repeat a lot easier than what I was in the past. My mechanics are a lot simpler now too. I'm sure Kameron would say the same thing, once you put a little more weight on it becomes a little bit easier too."

Axford smirked a little.

"There seems to be a certain expectation," he added. "Shorter guys throw about the same speed as you like to yell at you and saying they could throw 110 if they had your size and height, but they don't know how difficult it is being tall sometimes."

A self discovery

Loe's career reached a critical mass following his release from Texas.

In 2009, he agreed to go to play for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Japanese Pacific League. He wasn't completely healthy, still coping with disc issues in his back and elbow soreness that dated back three years.

He appeared in five games, going 0-4 with a 6.33 earned run average before realizing he needed to stop.

He told the Hawks he could no longer perform, and headed home.

"I was determined in my mind to make it back, but there was 'What if I don't?'" Loe said. "That's why I went to college, so I could insure myself that if something were to happen I could go back and not have to spend four or five years to get a degree. Having that in the back of mind helped.

"Obviously my faith definitely carried me through hard times. I trust in the Lord that things are happening for a reason and that I can take advantage of the situation that I'm in. That's an uplifting thing. It's empowering to know that you're being watched over and He's got a plan for you, but you've got to take advantage and put the work in. I've had a lot of support. My family has just been amazing supporter of my career and they love me no matter what, so that's always a big one."

Upon returning from Japan Loe rehabbed his back, but knew he needed to get back on the mound to get another chance at signing with a major league organization. He enlisted a personal trainer and began using an electro-stimulation machine on his back, a device he credits with saving his career.

But he also came to the realization that what he was – a control pitcher with a devastating sinker – was good enough.

He headed to winter ball in Mexico near the end of 2009 and pitched well enough to receive contract offers from Brewers and the Toronto Blue Jays.

"It's definitely been a work in progress," Loe said of his career. "Everybody's story is. You'd be surprised at how many guys weren't just natural and had to grind it out and work hard every day to get better. There really are very few guys that can go out there and play in the big leagues without having to work too hard."

Loe now knows he is at his best throwing in the high 80s and low 90s, and has constantly worked on his sinker. In his 125 appearances with the Brewers prior to this season, he posted a 3.18 ERA over 130.1 innings.

Heading into Thursday night's late game in Los Angeles, he has already thrown 22 innings in 20 appearances this year with a 2.86 ERA.

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said he tries to match up Loe with right-handed hitters, but if needed he'll call upon him in any situation.

"He's huge for our bullpen," Roenicke said. "When we have other people that are throwing well we try to do a little better job of matching him up, but when Kam's on, he gets out everybody."

The American League scout agreed, saying Loe has developed into a valuable – and desired – commodity in baseball.

"Kudos to Milwaukee for doing that, for signing him, and now they've got a nice middle reliever," the scout said. "I would imagine if something doesn't work out there somebody else will take him and he'll have a nice career if he can stay healthy. He throws it over the plate. He's got a pitch you can throw to Albert Pujols and have a legitimate shot at getting him to ground out to shortstop.

"They've got a nice guy there. I bet they wish they had more of him."

Despite the plaudits and sustained run of success with the Brewers, Loe won't rest on having finally become a fixture in the major leagues.

"I want to go higher and higher and do better and better and help the team continue to win," he said. "My ultimate is to win a World Series and a Cy Young award and I'm going to keep trying to do that until I can't anymore. I can never really feel like I've 'made it' but I sure love where I'm at."