Eagle Tribune

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Sox stockpile talent in Lowell

By Tim Bresnahan
Staff Writer

LOWELL -- For the last seven seasons, the Lowell Spinners have earned a reputation for putting on a great show for their fans, with affordable prices, popular promotions and zany contests between innings.

All of that family fun has successfully masked the fact that the baseball hasn't been particularly good. Only once have the Spinners finished with a winning record, and the team has never made the playoffs.

Under general manager Dan Duquette, the Red Sox (Lowell's parent club) often took a hard line when dealing with draft picks, especially college players. As a result, the Spinners roster in recent years has featured precious few high-round draft picks, hot prospects and bonus babies.

The Red Sox have a new ownership and a new general manager now, however, and the draft philosophy has clearly changed -- as Spinners fans will see when the season begins tonight.

Boston has already signed its first pick in the June 3-4 draft, Baylor University outfielder David Murphy, and assigned him to Lowell. It's only the second time in the Spinners' eight years of existence -- Adam Everett in 1998 -- that Lowell has gotten the Sox' first pick in that June's draft. (Phil Dumatrait did play very briefly in Lowell in 2001, but did so a full year after Boston drafted him.)

"We're happy to be bringing our first-round draft pick here and some of our high-round pitchers," said Craig Shipley, Boston's special assistant to the general manager for player development. "I think (the Spinners) are definitely happy to have some of these players here. Any time you can get that caliber of player coming to this league, it's great."

A call to arms

As Shipley mentioned, Lowell will also welcome some quality pitchers. Nine of the first 13 hurlers the Sox selected will sport Spinners uniforms tonight. Several of these young arms are fresh off trips to the NCAA Division 1 Regionals.

"It really adds a better personality to the team, having a bunch of experienced college guys coming from real good college programs," said Brian Marshall, a lefty from Virginia Commonwealth whom the Sox picked in the fifth round. "Guys are going to be really tuned in to the competition at this kind of level."

Marshall, 20, is a closer who throws from several different angles and struck out 77 hitters in 511/3 innings this college season. He helped a pitching-rich VCU team post a school-best 46-13 record, culminating in a trip to the Regionals.

Jonathan Papelbon, a fourth-round pick, also went to Regionals with Mississippi State. A 6-4, 220-pound righty from Jacksonville, Papelbon also closed games in college. Because he didn't pitch as many innings as some of the college starters Boston drafted, Papelbon's arm is fresher. That's why he'll be a starter for Lowell, which is fine with him.

"They want me to get innings, (so) when I go out there I can throw all my pitches and be able to command all my pitches," said Papelbon, 22, "because in a closing situation, you only have two pitches."

On the other end of the spectrum is Jessie Corn, a sixth-round pick out of Jacksonville State. The righty saved some of his best performances for the toughest opponents (he dominated No. 23 Florida Atlantic), but after pitching 115 innings for his school, he'll focus more on quality than quantity in Lowell.

"I'll probably take it easy ... just so we can knock those innings down," said Corn, who expects to do middle-relief work. "I need to brush up on my changeup, because I didn't throw it that much in college -- I didn't have to. And once I get my velocity up a little bit (he says he throws 88-91 mph), I'll be ready to go."

Right at home

Barry Hertzler threw 87 innings for Central Connecticut State, but he's not tired at all.

"I feel like I'm in mid-season," said the righty from East Providence, R.I. "I'm ready to run."

An 11th-round pick, Hertzler made great strides this season at CCSU, going from 5-5 in 2002 to 9-3 in 2003. With his velocity hitting the low '90s and a new changeup in his arsenal, he was the ace of a team that advanced to the West Regional, where it fell to No. 20 UNLV.

And unlike Southerners Papelbon, Marshall and Corn, Hertzler is right in his element in Lowell.

"About a week ago I was down in Arizona State for the NCAA tournament, and that was pretty brutal," he said. "It's tough going from here, where it was 65 and rainy, to there, where it was about 110 and pure sun. I think I'll be comfortable in an environment where I've pitched all my life."

Papelbon suspects he'll be comfortable with a different aspect of the Lowell environment: the packed crowd of 5,000 every night at LeLacheur Park.

"I come from Mississippi State," said Papelbon, whose team drew over 10,000 fans to its home games on two occasions this season. "So it's not really overwhelming here. (But) it's a nice ballpark, it's new, there's a lot of neat things going on here. I expect to pitch in front of a lot of fans, and I love pitching in front of fans, pitching with emotion."

If Papelbon and Co. can make a smooth transition to the pro game, they might give Spinners fans an emotion they've not enjoyed too often over the years: the thrill of victory.