The Kansas City Royals’ ongoing rebuilding process may have recently turned up another building block in starting pitcher Heath Fillmyer.

A virtual unknown just a few weeks ago, Fillmyer is quickly proving what he can do when given an opportunity.

And that is after he made a name for himself before even setting foot on a big league field.

Fillmyer put together a new career best Wednesday by shutting out the National League’s best team for seven innings. A few more outings like that victory over the Chicago Cubs will endear him to Royals fans in the same way he handled his call to the major leagues back in June.

Fillmyer made news for the way he informed his parents of his promotion to the big leagues. In Reno for a game with the Omaha Storm Chasers, Fillmyer was informed he would be promoted to the Royals late in the evening. Calling from the Pacific Time Zone to his parents in the Eastern Time Zone, however, was a problem. When he couldn’t awaken them in New Jersey to give them the good news, and to tell them to start making travel arrangements to see his debut, he sought help.

He called his girlfriend and had her go to his parents’ home, in the middle of the night, to wake them up. Apparently it wasn’t easy. The story of the young woman pounding on the door in the middle of the night brought Fillmyer a degree of notoriety before he put on a Royals’ uniform.

“When I went home for the All-Star break I saw a lot friends and family, people I grew up with, and they all got a kick out of it,” Fillmyer said. “They just said it’s typical of my family not to pick up the phone. It was funny and made it memorable for sure. It was something I’ll never forget.”

Fillmyer is making some more memories he’ll cherish, the best being the win over the Cubs. Injuries opened the door for him to step into the Royals starting rotation, and he’s making the most of the opportunity.

His four previous starts consisted of: 3 earned runs over 4.1 innings, 3 earned runs versus Boston on July 8; 1 earned run over 6.2 innings against Detroit on July 23; 3 earned runs over 5 innings at Yankee Stadium on July 28; a rain-shortened start at Minnesota in which he gave up 3 earned runs in 3 innings.

Each resulted in losses for the Royals. Until Wednesday, that is, when he throttled the National League’s best offense and picked up his first big league victory.

Having logged 37.1 innings in the major leagues, Fillmyer boasts an ERA of 3.13, a 1-1 record, and an impressive 1.286 combination of walks plus hits per innings pitched (WHIP).

“I’m grateful to get the opportunity to make those starts, and I just want to make the most of them. This is obviously the point that you want to be. You want to get these opportunities and you work for them. And when they come, you want to capitalize on them.”

Royals General Manager Dayton Moore has made numerous moves this year to convert veterans into prospects. Much has been made of the in-season trades of Kelvin Herrera and Mike Moustakas. Less attention was paid in January when Moore swapped veterans Ryan Buchter and Brandon Moss for Fillmyer and fellow pitcher Jesse Hahn of the Oakland A’s. Hahn had some big league experience in Oakland, so Fillmyer was the least-regarded of the four.

So no one expected the A’s fifth round pick in 2014 out of Mercer County Community College to dent the Royals rotation this year. His 5.75 ERA in a half season at Omaha didn’t help.

Yet here he is, throwing his hat in the ring for the Royals rotation of 2019 and beyond. Fillmyer joins Brad Keller, Burch Smith and the injured Eric Skoglund as rookies to start at least five games for Kansas City this year.

“It’s been a dream come true to be able to play the game you grew up admiring and to be at this level,” Fillmyer said. “It’s been humbling, but it’s also been great. I’ve been able to play against a lot of great players, and visit a lot of great ballparks. And hopefully the ride keeps going.”

The pitching-hungry Royals are kicking the tires on not just Fillmyer, Keller, Smith and Skoglund. The list of rookies trying to establish themselves in Kansas City includes Tim Hill, Jason Adam, Scott Barlow, Trevor Oaks, Glenn Sparkman and Eric Stout. One would expect the competition to be tense. But Fillmyer said the culture inside the clubhouse is uplifting.

“There’s just a lot of encouragement among us. There are a lot of great guys in here, and everybody is just rooting for each other. Everybody wants to have a piece of the success when it happens. When you have bad days, we try to pick each other up as best you can. It’s nice to be around guys like that.”

Fans eager for a rebuild of the Kansas City Royals have questioned why management filled the lineup with veterans. With each signing of a stopgap – Alcides Escobar, Lucas Duda, Mike Moustakas and Jon Jay – observers wondered why the Royals would delay the anticipated youth movement. The team was expected to be bad anyway, so why not give the prospects on-the-job training.

Those fans may still wonder what’s going on, but a youth movement is taking place in an area they may not have noticed.

While the veterans take the field each night, take a peek into the bullpen and you’ll see plenty of fresh faces – guys cutting their teeth one inning at a time, without fanfare or even much notice by the casual fan.

A few years ago, the Royals employed a unique combination of average starting pitching and historically dominant relief pitching to reach two World Series, winning one. The tactic was revolutionary.

Aside from current closer Kelvin Herrera, that crew has since moved on. But perhaps the pieces are coming together to form another effective bullpen for the Royals to build upon.

Lefthander Tim Hill is leading the rebuild, slinging biting darts from a three-quarters angle that are nearly unhittable by left-handed hitters.

At 28, Hill is somewhat old by rookie standards. Three years ago, Hill’s path to the big leagues was slowed by a life-threatening bout with colon cancer. But having been drafted out of college at 24 years of age, he didn’t spend much time in the minors. Hill has been designated a reliever from day one and advanced quickly through the farm system.

Still, Hill didn’t have a lot of assurance he would break spring camp with the Royals in March. The Royals added veterans to the bullpen mix over the winter, and it looked like Hill would start the season in Triple A at Omaha. But Hill so impressed Yost during spring training, not only did he promote him to the big league roster, but called on him in pressure situations from the get-go.

“It was pretty special finding out that I was going to be on the opening day roster,” said the product of Bacone College in Muskogee, Okla. “It was something you’ve been working for years, basically your whole life, to get to have that moment.”

Hill started out red hot. He didn’t allow a hit in his first six appearances, and at that point his ERA was a dazzling 1.35. He has since cooled off, but remains one of Yost’s trusted assets.

The Royals broke camp with veterans Brandon Maurer, Justin Grimm and Blaine Boyer looking to set the table for Herrera. But quickly that formula was scrapped as Yost turned more and more to a collection of rookies in the bullpen, including Burch Smith and Brad Keller. Also making their debuts out of the bullpen have been Scott Barlow, Eric Stout and Overland Park native Jason Adam.

“Timing has a lot to do with it,” Hill said of the opportunity the rookies are being given. “You have to be pitching well, obviously, and then there has to be that opportunity. Those two things don’t always go hand in hand.

“There are lot of guys out there, in different organizations, who have the ability but just aren’t getting the opportunity. Or the opening is there, but they aren’t pitching well at the right time.”

Yost has yet to solidify a 7^th and 8^th inning tandem to set up Herrera, but Hill said time will sort out the roles in the bullpen.

“Everybody’s out there just cheering each other on,” Hill said “As the season goes on, roles kind of get established. But that kind of takes care of itself. I don’t think we (the relievers) should worry about what our role is. We should just focus on going out there when they give you a job to do, and just do that job that day. If everybody can just do their job well, we’ll be pretty good.”