The clip ran on the big board at the Rogers Centre in the middle of the eighth inning Friday night.
Down the right-field line there was a smattering of applause as soon as the Nikon ‘Looking Forward’ nightly feature began and a picture of The Future appeared.
Then, came news from P.A. announcer Tim Langton that The Future had won Double-A Eastern League pitcher of the year honors.
Now, fans were standing and cheering.
It was Kyle Drabek’s first standing ovation at 1 Blue Jays Way.
Never mind the fact he was a 10-hour drive away.
His time will come.
Not next month, but next season is a good bet.
Drabek, 22, was 14-9 record with a 2.98 earned run average heading into Saturday night’s start. The right-hander leads the league in wins (14). He sits second among EL pitchers in innings pitched (154) and batting average against (.216).
Drabek pitched seven scoreless allowing two hits, walking three and fanning nine — in a 6-0 win over Trenton on Tuesday to win Baseball America prospect of the day honours.
“I saw him his first outing after his no hitter and he was impressive,” said a veteran
talent evaluator. “He’s for real.”
Drabek worked six scoreless that day in Binghamton, N.Y., allowing five hits, walking one and fanning five. On July 4, Drabek pitched New Britain to a 5-0 win over New Britain.
“What I like is that he pitches ornery,” said another scout.
The former No. 1 pick of the Philadelphia Phillies, is also among the leaders with 123 strikeouts (third) and ERA (fourth). The award was voted on by managers, writers, broadcasters and other members of the media.
The numbers: Tuesday’s headline screamed “Las Vegas Franchise Records 300,000 in Home Attendance!” and sounded like big news. Vegas is the 14th of 16 Pacific Coast League clubs to go over 300,000. Only Nashville and Portland are behind Vegas.
The ’51s have drawn 323,192 fans, an average of 4,683.
Talk among scouts is that the Jays could be on their way out of Vegas. Jays sent Travis Snider to New Hampshire rather than Vegas.
The working agreement between the Jays and Vegas expires at the end of 2010. The Chicago White Sox’s agreement with Charlotte is up, while Texas Rangers owner Nolan Ryan is expected to move his Triple-A club from Oklahoma to Round Rock, where the Houston Astros are currently located.
Learning the ropes: Toughest thing for a first-year manager?
“Getting to know the players,” said Lansing manager Sal Fasano. “If you show someone you care about them, they’ll do pretty much anything you ask.”
Fasano caught 11 seasons in the majors and when asked his favorite manager answers: “Some managers I talked to, some I didn’t; I talked to all the pitching coaches.”
“It was fun to watch Joe Torre interact with players (with the 2006 New York Yankees),” Fasano said. “He had a relationship with everyone; you want to do everything to get the best from your players. I always thought Joe had the best grasp. He one of the few stud players who made the transition to managing.”
In 1994, Fasano rode buses in the Class-A Midwest League, playing for Rockford in the Kansas City Royals system.
The difference 16 years later as his bus travels through the night on the same highways?
“When we were young there was more communication, I always sat with a pitcher and talked about how we were going to get better,” he said.
Now, Jays farm-hands listen to headphones, text-message or pull out laptops and converse with someone two time zone away.
Except for one Dayton-to-Lansing trip watching the movie Kick Ass, about a high-school student and comic-book fan who decides to become a super-hero, even though he doesn’t have super powers. “The whole group was into that movie,” Fasano said.
bob.elliott@sunmedia.ca
