THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9507020182
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
In three seasons as a righthanded pitcher at Virginia Military Institute, Ryan Glynn lost more games than he won, barely got his career ERA below 6.00 and gave up eight hits and six walks for every nine innings pitched.
Meet the Texas Rangers' fourth-round draft pick, signed Saturday at his home in Portsmouth for a bonus in excess, Glynn said, of $100,000.
The missing information that makes sense of all this? Glynn stands 6-foot-4, weighs 200 pounds with room for more, and consistently registers 90 to 95 mph on radar guns. Add the changeup that helped make him an all-state pitcher at Churchland High School three years ago and the hard breaking ball he developed this season and the picture comes clearer. Glynn is a towering mass of potential.
``It's hard to believe. I pinch myself every day,'' said Glynn, who was a first-team All-Southern Conference pick this season, but as a power-hitting outfielder. He hit 14 home runs and drove in 58 runs for the Keydets, for whom he went 4-5 with a 5.61 ERA on the mound. ``I was a little kid out of Churchland playing the game for fun, and now I'm still playing for fun but somebody's paying me for it.
``It's unbelievable somebody believes in me enough to make the commitment Texas is making. I look at myself in the mirror and think, `Are you that good?' and I say, not arrogantly but self-confidently, `Yeah, you are. You worked hard for it.' ''
Glynn, who leaves Monday to join the Hudson Valley Renegades in the Class-A New York-Penn League, finished his career at VMI with an 8-11 record, 5.96 ERA and 177 strikeouts in 181 1/3 innings. But he is hardly through as a Keydet.
Glynn put off signing with the Rangers until he finished his summer academic session. And he negotiated a deal that allows him to return to VMI in September and, skipping spring training, attend straight through until May, when he is due to graduate with a degree in business and economics.
``I wanted to graduate in four years for myself and my parents,'' said Glynn, who said the Rangers have agreed to have a pitching instructor visit him in Lexington every couple weeks while he finishes school. ``You can't forget why you go to places, you can't just put everything on hold.
``I've got the best of both worlds. I'm playing pro baseball and finishing my education. It will probably slow my progress down a little, but if I keep the work ethic I have it won't slow me down as much as people might think.''
Glynn admitted he's needed that dedication to a task often during his days at VMI, which features a military environment not for the meek.
``My senior year in high school, I got into a little trouble with the way I was acting,'' he said. ``I was a teenager. I thought I knew everything. I knew VMI had a good education but, you wouldn't think I'd say this, I thought I needed the discipline. I didn't like the way I was going.
``Why didn't I leave? There are always times at night when you're in a room with three other guys, you've got no hair, you're lying in a wooden rack and the guy next to you is crying because he wants to leave. I thought about leaving, but I didn't want to disappoint myself or my parents. I battled for three years and I can't give up.''
Glynn, who attended VMI on a partial scholarship, said he knows his college stats weren't glowing and that his upside is why he's Rangers property. That came into focus, he said, early this season at a tournament in Charleston, S.C., when he took the mound and saw a few dozen scouts behind the plate.
``The potential level of myself,'' Glynn said, ``is extremely high.''
AROUND THE MINORS: A pair of former Norfolk State players took different routes this week. Outfielder Terry Bradshaw was recalled for the second time this season to the St. Louis Cardinals when Chris Sabo was put on the disabled list. But outfielder Reggie Terry, who had just signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers, broke his right leg in a collision during a rookie game in Fort Myers, Fla. Terry was playing for Port Charlotte. . . . Former Old Dominion outfielder Kevin Gibbs, after a subpar college season, is off to a League. Gibbs also has nine stolen bases. . . . Brian Settle, drafted out of Wilson High School in Portsmouth, was roughed up for seven hits, five walks and six runs in his first two appearances for the Bradenton Pirates. . . . Jimmy Anderson from Western Branch High School, in his first game back with Class-A Augusta after pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates in an exhibition game, gave up six hits and walked two in 5 2/3 innings in a loss that dropped his record to 4-2. . . . Since the end of last season, local players who have been released include Nathan Thomas (Cubs), Tim Rose (Cubs), Steve Lyons (Mets), Denny Hedspeth (Dodgers), David Sartain (Twins), Chris Dotolo (Giants), Shawn McDonnell (Cubs) and Trey McCoy (Rangers). ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Ryan Glynn, of Churchland and VMI, signed Saturday with Texas.
by CNB