GaryMrMets
07-06-2004, 12:31 PM
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/9088882.htm
Posted on Tue, Jul. 06, 2004
Holding their horse
Phillies don't think prospect is ready for prime time yet
By Bernard Fernandez
fernanb@phillynews.com
READING — Gavin Floyd has an apartment in this Berks County community, but, in a sense, he is locked away in the Tower of London.
Where else would you stash a crown jewel?
The Phillies have placed Floyd, the 21-year-old righthander who was their No. 1 pick in the June 2001 draft (fourth overall), and lefthander Cole Hamels, 20, their top selection in the June 2002 draft (17th overall), upon velvet pillows as the most glittering gems of their minor league system. If the team’s recent history of handling prized young arms is any indication, expect Mike Arbuckle, assistant general manager for scouting and player development, to bring Floyd and Coles along slowly and cautiously, as befits the keys to presumed future success.
Like the brand of wine the late Orson Welles used to hawk in those television commercials, Floyd and Hamels will not be served before their time, not even with righthanded starter Vicente Padilla still sidelined by elbow tendinitis. Hamels has been shelved twice this season by inflammation in his left elbow, limiting him to four games for Class A Clearwater. That has left Floyd as the focus of the most speculation. Although the 6-4, 212-pounder from Severna Park, Md., suits up for Double A Reading, only 70 miles from Citizens Bank Park, it’s a trip the parent club’s deep thinkers believe could take him the better part of 2 years to complete.
“I understand the enthusiasm that the average fan has when they read and hear about a Gavin Floyd, with the hype that is associated with any top prospect,” Arbuckle says of the groundswell of public opinion to bring the hotshot kid up to the Phillies and see what he has. “But my staff and I get paid to determine when guys are ready to play in the big leagues. To a man, when we look at Gavin Floyd — and I’ve seen him twice in the last month — we see a guy who is not ready yet.
“He leaves too many pitches up in the zone, both his fastball and his breaking ball. Until he commands the zone better, he would have trouble at the Triple A level, let along bringing him to the big leagues and putting him in a pennant race. I’m not inclined to just roll the dice.”
But aren’t the Phillies already rolling the dice with journeymen Paul Abbott and Brian Powell? Didn’t they bring the less-heralded Elizardo Ramirez, now at Reading, all the way up from Class A Clearwater earlier? And didn’t Brett Myers, their No. 1 pick in the June 1999 draft who is now a fixture in the rotation, skip a level (going from low-Class A Piedmont to Reading) in his somewhat accelerated development?
“We thought Myers was a rare bird from a mental standpoint,” Arbuckle says. “And his pitchability and command were good enough for us to bypass a level.
“I go back to what ‘The Pope,’ Paul Owens, told me many times through the years. If you have a guy and he’s tearing it up for half a season at a certain level, then you jump him a whole level and he struggles, what is he going to think? That he’s as good as he was at the lower level, or as bad as he was at the higher one?
“If you give someone a whole year at one level and he’s had success, it’s like graduation. There’s a comfort zone when he goes to spring training. He feels like he’s prepared for the next step.”
Floyd, who will make his 17th start of the season tonight at Akron, hears the cautionary words from those charged with monitoring his progress and understands the Phillies’ reluctance to put him on a faster timetable than his pitching to date has merited. Besides, patience is an easy virtue when you’re young and have the kind of big-bending curve that excites talent evaluators and confounds hitters. In 92 innings this season, he has allowed just 73 hits and stuck out 74.
“Of course, I’d love to be in the major leagues yesterday, but my time will come,” says Floyd, whose 3-5 record is deceiving in that his 2.84 ERA is fourth in the Eastern League. “Right now, that decision is out of my hands. Maybe, if I perform well and do what I’m capable of doing on a consistent basis, the process might speed up.
“I’m enjoying myself here. I’ve played with a bunch of my teammates for the past 2 years. We’ve gotten to know each other, we’re starting to win, we’re having fun. It’s really exciting to see guys, especially Ryan Howard [the burly first baseman who has whacked 32 home runs] do real well. I enjoy the atmosphere in Reading; it’s definitely a baseball town.
“Look, I understand why I’m in Double A. It’s because of [the need to gain] maturity, experience and consistency. I’m just taking things game by game, start by start, and trying to build on that.”
Rod Nichols, Reading’s pitching coach, sees Floyd as sort of a work in progress. But he says the finished product should be a marvel to behold.
“Gavin’s tools are obviously there,” Nichols says. “His curveball is a plus-plus. It makes noises on its way to the plate. Definitely a special pitch. Not only do the hitters flinch, but umpires can, too. Sometimes even the people in the seats behind home plate flinch. It’s a pretty neat thing to see.”
But one pitch, even a special one, isn’t always enough to prevent a can’t-miss pitching prospect from missing, or at least failing to live up to his full potential. It is Nichols’ job to refine and augment Floyd’s excellent stuff, which includes a 90 to 93 mph fastball (“There’s more in there he hasn’t shown yet,” Nichols insists) and a changeup he is working hard to master.
“The one thing Gavin hasn’t done yet at this level is to dominate,” Nichols says. “Every game’s a battle for him. He’s been challenged, which is good as far as his development goes. His mental toughness is better than I thought it would be.
“We’ve talked about him using that four-seamer more to set up the curveball. If we can get his fastball to look the same as the curveball oh, man, it’ll be fun to watch.”
The crowds in Reading’s 9,000-seat FirstEnergy Stadium usually are sellouts or close to it on those occasions when Floyd takes the mound. It’s as if hopeful spectators want to be there should Floyd provide a more comprehensive glimpse at all that upside, as did Scott Rolen, Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell and Myers during their respective stopovers in Reading.
“These are Phillies fans, and they’re very knowledgable about what’s going on in the farm system and who’s coming up,” says Reading manager Greg Legg. “They know Gavin is potentially a very special talent. They can see he’s growing as a professional pitcher, almost with every start. And they know you can’t gauge his progress strictly on wins and losses.
“The thing is, baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. If you try to make it a sprint, you’re more apt to make a mistake. It was great the way Myers was handled. [Brandon] Duckworth [who went to Houston in the trade for Billy Wagner], I thought, also was moved at the right pace.
“Sometimes a guy is rushed too fast and it hurts him. Pat Combs comes to my mind. He went up, had some success and then scuffled.
“When Gavin gets there, we all want him to stay there. We want him to pitch every fifth day in the [Phillies’] rotation and be a big winner for 10 or 12 years. And I think that will happen.”
http://www.philly.com/images/philly/dailynews/9089/82611828690.jpg
Reading’s Gavin Floyd might be 2 years away from a job in Philadelphia.
Posted on Tue, Jul. 06, 2004
Holding their horse
Phillies don't think prospect is ready for prime time yet
By Bernard Fernandez
fernanb@phillynews.com
READING — Gavin Floyd has an apartment in this Berks County community, but, in a sense, he is locked away in the Tower of London.
Where else would you stash a crown jewel?
The Phillies have placed Floyd, the 21-year-old righthander who was their No. 1 pick in the June 2001 draft (fourth overall), and lefthander Cole Hamels, 20, their top selection in the June 2002 draft (17th overall), upon velvet pillows as the most glittering gems of their minor league system. If the team’s recent history of handling prized young arms is any indication, expect Mike Arbuckle, assistant general manager for scouting and player development, to bring Floyd and Coles along slowly and cautiously, as befits the keys to presumed future success.
Like the brand of wine the late Orson Welles used to hawk in those television commercials, Floyd and Hamels will not be served before their time, not even with righthanded starter Vicente Padilla still sidelined by elbow tendinitis. Hamels has been shelved twice this season by inflammation in his left elbow, limiting him to four games for Class A Clearwater. That has left Floyd as the focus of the most speculation. Although the 6-4, 212-pounder from Severna Park, Md., suits up for Double A Reading, only 70 miles from Citizens Bank Park, it’s a trip the parent club’s deep thinkers believe could take him the better part of 2 years to complete.
“I understand the enthusiasm that the average fan has when they read and hear about a Gavin Floyd, with the hype that is associated with any top prospect,” Arbuckle says of the groundswell of public opinion to bring the hotshot kid up to the Phillies and see what he has. “But my staff and I get paid to determine when guys are ready to play in the big leagues. To a man, when we look at Gavin Floyd — and I’ve seen him twice in the last month — we see a guy who is not ready yet.
“He leaves too many pitches up in the zone, both his fastball and his breaking ball. Until he commands the zone better, he would have trouble at the Triple A level, let along bringing him to the big leagues and putting him in a pennant race. I’m not inclined to just roll the dice.”
But aren’t the Phillies already rolling the dice with journeymen Paul Abbott and Brian Powell? Didn’t they bring the less-heralded Elizardo Ramirez, now at Reading, all the way up from Class A Clearwater earlier? And didn’t Brett Myers, their No. 1 pick in the June 1999 draft who is now a fixture in the rotation, skip a level (going from low-Class A Piedmont to Reading) in his somewhat accelerated development?
“We thought Myers was a rare bird from a mental standpoint,” Arbuckle says. “And his pitchability and command were good enough for us to bypass a level.
“I go back to what ‘The Pope,’ Paul Owens, told me many times through the years. If you have a guy and he’s tearing it up for half a season at a certain level, then you jump him a whole level and he struggles, what is he going to think? That he’s as good as he was at the lower level, or as bad as he was at the higher one?
“If you give someone a whole year at one level and he’s had success, it’s like graduation. There’s a comfort zone when he goes to spring training. He feels like he’s prepared for the next step.”
Floyd, who will make his 17th start of the season tonight at Akron, hears the cautionary words from those charged with monitoring his progress and understands the Phillies’ reluctance to put him on a faster timetable than his pitching to date has merited. Besides, patience is an easy virtue when you’re young and have the kind of big-bending curve that excites talent evaluators and confounds hitters. In 92 innings this season, he has allowed just 73 hits and stuck out 74.
“Of course, I’d love to be in the major leagues yesterday, but my time will come,” says Floyd, whose 3-5 record is deceiving in that his 2.84 ERA is fourth in the Eastern League. “Right now, that decision is out of my hands. Maybe, if I perform well and do what I’m capable of doing on a consistent basis, the process might speed up.
“I’m enjoying myself here. I’ve played with a bunch of my teammates for the past 2 years. We’ve gotten to know each other, we’re starting to win, we’re having fun. It’s really exciting to see guys, especially Ryan Howard [the burly first baseman who has whacked 32 home runs] do real well. I enjoy the atmosphere in Reading; it’s definitely a baseball town.
“Look, I understand why I’m in Double A. It’s because of [the need to gain] maturity, experience and consistency. I’m just taking things game by game, start by start, and trying to build on that.”
Rod Nichols, Reading’s pitching coach, sees Floyd as sort of a work in progress. But he says the finished product should be a marvel to behold.
“Gavin’s tools are obviously there,” Nichols says. “His curveball is a plus-plus. It makes noises on its way to the plate. Definitely a special pitch. Not only do the hitters flinch, but umpires can, too. Sometimes even the people in the seats behind home plate flinch. It’s a pretty neat thing to see.”
But one pitch, even a special one, isn’t always enough to prevent a can’t-miss pitching prospect from missing, or at least failing to live up to his full potential. It is Nichols’ job to refine and augment Floyd’s excellent stuff, which includes a 90 to 93 mph fastball (“There’s more in there he hasn’t shown yet,” Nichols insists) and a changeup he is working hard to master.
“The one thing Gavin hasn’t done yet at this level is to dominate,” Nichols says. “Every game’s a battle for him. He’s been challenged, which is good as far as his development goes. His mental toughness is better than I thought it would be.
“We’ve talked about him using that four-seamer more to set up the curveball. If we can get his fastball to look the same as the curveball oh, man, it’ll be fun to watch.”
The crowds in Reading’s 9,000-seat FirstEnergy Stadium usually are sellouts or close to it on those occasions when Floyd takes the mound. It’s as if hopeful spectators want to be there should Floyd provide a more comprehensive glimpse at all that upside, as did Scott Rolen, Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell and Myers during their respective stopovers in Reading.
“These are Phillies fans, and they’re very knowledgable about what’s going on in the farm system and who’s coming up,” says Reading manager Greg Legg. “They know Gavin is potentially a very special talent. They can see he’s growing as a professional pitcher, almost with every start. And they know you can’t gauge his progress strictly on wins and losses.
“The thing is, baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. If you try to make it a sprint, you’re more apt to make a mistake. It was great the way Myers was handled. [Brandon] Duckworth [who went to Houston in the trade for Billy Wagner], I thought, also was moved at the right pace.
“Sometimes a guy is rushed too fast and it hurts him. Pat Combs comes to my mind. He went up, had some success and then scuffled.
“When Gavin gets there, we all want him to stay there. We want him to pitch every fifth day in the [Phillies’] rotation and be a big winner for 10 or 12 years. And I think that will happen.”
http://www.philly.com/images/philly/dailynews/9089/82611828690.jpg
Reading’s Gavin Floyd might be 2 years away from a job in Philadelphia.