Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 24, 1993 TAG: 9302240023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: FERRUM LENGTH: Medium
FERRUM PITCHER AMONG THE BEST
A new fast-food restaurant is about to open just past the Virginia 40 curve into town, but that isn't what will have most visitors licking their chops this spring.No, they'll be coming to see what Billy Wagner serves up on the mound for Ferrum's baseball team, which appears headed for a sixth straight appearance in the NCAA regionals. As hitters who have faced Wagner in his first two college seasons know, if you can't stand the heat, then stay out of the batter's box.
It's one thing that Wagner's deliveries consistently average in the mid-90s. It's another that he's a left-handed pitcher, an endangered species on the diamond. It's another that he seems nonplused about the attention.
"I'm no different than anyone else on this team," Wagner said.
Scouts would beg to differ, just as they would beg for his signature on a contract. Wagner, 21, is a preseason All-America choice by Baseball America, right in there with guys from Wichita State, LSU, Texas and Georgia Tech. He is the only Division III player on the list.
The Tannersville resident also is ranked second, behind Wichita State right-hander Darren Dreifort, among prospects for the June draft. Some scouts think that is too low.
At the top of the draft, Wagner can expect a signing bonus upwards of $700,000. By the end of the season, which starts with the Panthers playing Sunday against St. Bonaventure in Jacksonville, Fla., every major-league club will have sent more than one scout to see Wagner. The top two teams in the draft, Seattle and Los Angeles, already have come to Ferrum for interviews with Wagner.
"I'll tell you what I think is a dumb question," Wagner said. "The scouts always are asking me how tall I am. What does that matter? What does your height have to do with how hard you throw a baseball?"
Apparently, very little. Although most power pitchers have some size, Wagner stands 5 feet 10, and his 185 pounds are 35 more than he carried when he arrived at Ferrum.
"He has tremendous legs," Ferrum coach Abe Naff said. "I saw him in high school and he threw hard, but not this hard, and he didn't have a lot of control."
Wagner went to Ferrum because that was where his cousin, Jeff Lamie, was enrolled. Lamie played football and baseball for the Panthers, and his parents adopted Wagner, their nephew, when he was entering high school in 1986. Wagner's parents had split when he was 5, and lived with each at one time or another before the Lamies solidified his home life.
"Another thing the baseball people always ask is if I worry about signing and being away from home," Wagner said. "Anybody that knows anything about Billy Wagner knows that wouldn't be any problem."
Wagner said his only Division I scholarship offer - at least out of high school - came from Virginia Tech.
"I pitched in high school, but I didn't figure on doing that here," Wagner said. "I thought I'd maybe play a little center field and get to hit some. Coach Naff put me on the mound and into so many situations, the pressure doesn't really bother me now."
In two college seasons, Wagner is 11-0 with a 1.68 earned run average. In 51 innings last season, he allowed only nine hits, striking out 109 and walking 44. His wildness is often a plus as well as a minus. Intimidation can go a long way toward setting an NCAA all-divisions record of 19.1 strikeouts per nine innings, which Wagner accomplished last season.
In the Cape Cod Summer League, Wagner was selected the top prospect, striking out 79 in 44 innings. He said two Division I teams called, trying to get him to transfer. Wagner wasn't going anywhere except home to Tazewell County - where he could become the most prominent draft pick since pro football Hall of Famer Bill Dudley - then back to Ferrum for his junior year.
At Cape Cod, fans would watch Wagner and tell him he reminded them of Ron Guidry, the slender southpaw known as "Louisiana Lightning," who won 25 games and the Cy Young Award for the New York Yankees in 1978.
"I had no idea who he was," Wagner said. "I didn't watch baseball as a kid. I played."
Now, he likes the Atlanta Braves. And soon, he likely will be in their tax bracket.