Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993 TAG: 9307040051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The idea, to continue this line of thought, is to take a young prospect and spindle him, fold him, dunk him in glacial water, throw him in a fire, drop him off a 32-story building and run him over with a dump truck. This just to see how he holds up.
In what manner does he handle the pressure-packed at-bat, the difficult pitching assignment, the tough play on uneven turf, the discourteous and sadistic fan, the murderous road trip, even the crummy food and bizarre hours?
These are all little challenges that the successful applicant for a big-league career must overcome. But unlike a product-development situation, in which failure results in a return to the computer terminal and the lab for more work, a player who doesn't meet the specs often is told to clean out his locker and catch the next outbound bus.
All this is to illustrate the career development of one long, tall right-handed pitcher of a Texan by the name of Jeffrey Dee McCurry.
McCurry is the pitcher of last resort for the Salem Buccaneers - the don't-tread-on-me stopper, the closer, the terminator, the 6-foot-7 short guy.
The Pittsburgh Pirates figured he was going to be a decent pitcher. After all, they did draft him in 1989 and 1990, using their 18th pick the first time and 14th the second. The Pirates just didn't know what variety of decent pitcher he was going to be.
They hadn't decided after trying him as a starter at short-season stints with Bradenton and Welland. Neither had they settled on his role after a 19-game turn in the Augusta bullpen last year, where he went 2-1 with a 3.30 earned run average and 34 strikeouts in 30 innings.
So they shipped him to Salem to finish the 1992 campaign, and that's when they really put him through his paces. Long relief. Middle relief. Short relief. Spot starter. There wasn't a stage of a baseball game in which McCurry wasn't scrutinized. You'd have to say he acquitted himself well, going 6-2 with three saves and a 2.87 ERA.
In the off-season, it was decreed from on high in the Pirates organization that McCurry was to be a closer. Such has been his lot since.
"I like it," he said. "But it's the hardest thing I've ever done. If I blow a good game that we've had, it can affect the whole team for a couple of days."
But it had better not affect the closer. He might be back in there the next night.
McCurry was leading the Carolina League with 17 saves and went through the month of June with these numbers: 10 innings pitched in 10 games, seven hits, seven strikeouts, one walk, 0.00 ERA and seven saves. Apparently, former general manager Ted Simmons and other Pirates officials are on to something here.
But the fate of the stopper is that triumph can melt quickly into tragedy.
The harsh reality of the job may have come into clearer focus for McCurry his very first night at Municipal Field. The Bucs were up 4-3 on the Wilmington Blue Rocks and in came McCurry in the top of the ninth, his sights set on his third save in as many chances. An eternity later, the Bucs had lost 8-4 and McCurry's line was five hits, five earned runs, one walk and one strikeout in one brutal inning.
Bucs manager Scott Little said all that needed to be said:
"That kid's going to be getting the ball in save situations. We have a great deal of confidence in him."
Generally speaking, McCurry has lived up to that confidence.
"It takes some time to learn to be a closer," he said. "If you're too pumped up, it can really hurt you. If you're too low, it's like you're not even there."
Not much chance you'd ever get the idea that this long, tall Texan isn't there.
\ FOOTBALL GETS THE BOOT: Serious deliberations arose for Andre King when the Atlanta Braves made the University of Michigan football recruit their top choice in the amateur draft.
Football or baseball? Baseball or football? So many possibilities. So many perils.
It took the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., native all of about five minutes to decide.
"I've always wanted to play baseball," said the Braves' second-round pick, No. 66 overall.
The only remorse he felt was for the Wolverines coaches who had recruited him as a 6-foot-2, 210-pound wide receiver out of Stranahan High School.
Scott Littlefield, the Braves' Florida scouting supervisor, signed King and dispatched him to the organization's complex in West Palm Beach, Fla., to get into shape.
"The Braves offered my family a good situation," King said. "I just took it and went with it."
King was coming off a high school season in which he hit .492 with five home runs, 30 runs batted in and 32 steals in 21 games.
After a short stint at West Palm, King came to the Danville (Va.) Braves of the Appalachian League, which already had begun its season. King endeared himself to his new employers by going 4-for-7 in his first two games.
King also was recruited by Miami, Tennessee and West Virginia in football, but he has no intention of pursuing Deion-esque dual careers.
"I'm not going to spread myself too thin," he said. "I figure your body can only take so much."
The devotion to baseball was apparent in King from the moment he arrived in Danville.
"He seems to have great baseball instincts," manager Bruce Benedict said. "And he also seems to have great athletic ability. He's been willing to listen to what he's told and work hard since he's been here.
"He also is a very mature young man. That combination of factors should help him to move up very quickly."
\ BALLPARK BEAUTY: An interloper on the playing surface at Salem Municipal Field after a recent Carolina League game was accosted by a young lady with an air of urgency.
She passed him a yellow legal sheet and asked that he see it reached the proper hands. Unsure who those hands belonged to, the recipient chose to have the sheet's contents reprinted here.
It was a list of those Salem Buccaneers judged by a small but elite panel to look the most smashing in tight uniform pants, particularly from behind. The list is similar to ones published recently in a British tabloid ranking tennis players at Wimbledon, although this one does not have photographic accompaniment.
The winning Buccaneers were shortstop Tony Womack, catcher Marcus Hanel, infielder Chance Sanford, outfielder Joe Ronca, infielder Ken Bonifay and outfielder Jon Farrell. The list was not in any particular order, but Ronca was singled out with the accompanying comment: "Ooh, baby."
A disclaimer said the list was incomplete because not all the Bucs had been available for examination.
by CNB