Rising Stars
Arlington,Tx – Standing in an empty ballpark and wearing a business suit, Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan surveyed the reconstruction project.
Not the luxury seats being built closer to home plate, but rather the touted pitching prospects throwing off the mound amid the concrete and commotion inside Rangers Ballpark.
The group of 18 pitchers participating in the weeklong offseason development camp includes hard-throwing 20-year-old Neftali Feliz, considered the organization’s top prospect, left-hander Derek Holland and four of the team’s first-round picks since 2004.
These are future arms for a pitching-desperate team – the Rangers led the majors in scoring and batting average last season but had the highest ERA and another losing record.
“What you have to do is not put pressure on them, but to work with them and convince them that the road to success is how they develop and how they do certain things,” said Ryan, the Hall of Fame pitcher nearing his one-year anniversary as team president. “I think that these kinds of things will help them.”
Ryan has emphasized tougher workouts and development of pitchers throughout the organization, and new pitching coach Mike Maddux is among those responsible for carrying out the plan. For now, Maddux is happy just getting some face time with pitchers who could be on his major league staff soon.
“You can hear all the rhetoric you want, read all the periodicals, but until you put a name to the face, and an arm to the face, then you see what you have,” Maddux said. “What I’m seeing right now, it looks pretty good.”
The camp involves on-field work and classroom sessions, including one on the difference between control and command.
“This is great, seeing how much attention they’re paying to pitching and know that’s what it’s going to take to take us to the next level,” said Thomas Diamond, the 10th pick in the 2004 draft. “We always have hitting. Once we get the pitching down, we’ll be right there with every other team that will be talked about for powerhouses and winning championships.”
Diamond, still looking to make his major league debut, said he has recovered from elbow ligament replacement surgery in 2007 and an ankle injury sustained during rehabilitation.
Baseball America recently ranked the Rangers’ farm system as the best in baseball, a lofty recognition bolstered by many of the young pitchers.
That ranking follows the team’s commitment to build from within, a process that started in earnest at the 2007 trading deadline. The Rangers sent Mark Teixeira to Atlanta for Feliz, left-hander Matt Harrison, minor league shortstop Elvis Andrus and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
Feliz, who said he’s reached 102 mph on his fastball, led all minor leaguers with 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings in Class A and Double-A last season.
“I feel great,” Feliz said. “I don’t feel any pressure.”
Harrison became the only Texas rookie left-hander to win nine games even though he wasn’t promoted until July. Saltalamacchia is likely to start after Gerald Laird was traded, and the Rangers are moving five-time All-Star Michael Young to third base because they want the 20-year-old Andrus to start at shortstop. Andrus has never played above Double-A.
Feliz and Holland, the lefty who was 13-1 combined at three stops last season, could wind up in Arlington this summer. They are getting valuable instruction this week, and a feel for the rest of the talent in the organization.
“We’re really stacked,” Holland said. “You better come out ready to go because if you’re not, there’s somebody right behind you and they’re going to take your spot.”
Left-hander Kasey Kiker, the 12th pick in 2006, is also at the camp, along with Blake Beavan and Michael Main – two pitchers Texas got in the first round in 2007. That’s the same year Tommy Hunter was a supplemental pick after the first round.
Beavan, who was a high school star in the Dallas area, said Ryan’s impact is already evident in the minors.
“The conditioning is a little more intense as far as being handled differently,” Beavan said. “You’re going to have to work and get your work in.”
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Posted: 1/22/09 12:10AM ET
