Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990 TAG: 9007270446
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
"In college ball [at Panola (Texas) Junior College], I hit .413 in the conference and .426 for the season," he said. "And that was after I slumped really badly at the end of the season. My average dropped 30 points."
Dando anticipates no late-season batting swoons to spoil his Appalachian League fun, but he wouldn't mind dialing in a little more consistency.
Perhaps it is indicative of the season he's having that he was batting .374 earlier this week and in second place among league hitters. Makes you wonder what kind of statistics he'd be producing if he were meeting his consistency goals.
"My average took a real dive when I went on the road to Elizabethton and Johnson City last week. I went 0-for-10."
Then he got a dose of some powerful medicine - a return home to Calfee Park.
"I love it here," he said. "The slump I had in college last year carried over to Instructional League after I signed. I didn't come out of it until I got here. I see the ball really well here."
Something else Dando has learned to see are his own limitations. One such lesson came to him when he was put in the No. 4 spot in the lineup.
"I was worried too much about swinging for the fences," he said. "I was trying to hit every ball out of the ballpark. I wasn't waiting for the right pitch to hit out, I was trying to hit every ball out. I'm not that kind of hitter. I can't make a mistake and drive a ball out. I'm not that strong; I have to have my pitch.
"I think I'm more of a doubles hitter, somebody who can hit balls in the gaps. It's when I forget that that I get in trouble."
Dando had four homers, the most on the team, and 14 RBI in 91 at-bats.
A left-handed thrower and hitter, Dando appears to be pretty much settled at first base. He'd like to play some more positions in order to expand his options for progressing through the minors, but he has one major drawback.
"No wheels," he said.
During the offseason, he plans to do some strength training and exercises to improve his foot speed so that he can be a more versatile player. However, he is a realist.
"Improving your speed isn't the easiest thing to do," he said. "Either you have it or you don't."
Dando played only one season of college ball (he had a redshirt year) before signing as a free agent last summer. That he wasn't drafted indicates the Braves may have gotten a real bargain.
"Just for them [scouts] to talk to me at all was a big thrill for me," he said.
\ BRAVES BRIEFS: Former Pulaski manager Fred Koenig was in town for the recently completed homestand. Perhaps fans wouldn't recognize him.
After 38 years in organized baseball, this is the first summer he's spent in street clothes.
Koenig was hit with a line drive off the bat of Pulaski catcher Vincent Jiminez while pitching batting practice to him during spring training. The blow broke two ribs. As a result, Koenig developed a potentially dangerous blood clot that broke free and lodged in his leg.
Because of the medication he's taking, he's been instructed to remain relatively inactive the next several months. That prescription has brought him no joy.
"It gets boring," said Koenig, 59. "All I'm doing is sitting and walking around. No fun."
Jiminez, a catcher, was unhappy about being the one holding the bat when Koenig went down.
"I feel terrible about it," he said.
Koenig's job for the Atlanta organization is to travel among the rookie teams at Bradenton, Idaho Falls and Pulaski observing and making sure the system of play - defensive alignments, plays and the like - is being done the way the front office wants it throughout the organization.
"Just making sure everybody's on the same page," Koenig said.
Brian Bark, the left-handed pitcher in the hospital since last week with a severe sinus infection, is expected to remain there until Saturday, according to his mother, Susie Bark.
"Four years of college ball [at North Carolina State] and he never missed a game. Never was sick, either. Maybe it's something in the air down here," she said.
Bark has serious swelling in his face and one eye is totally closed. Mrs. Bark says her son will not be released until he can see out of the closed eye.
"The hospital has been really nice to him," she said. "And the fans have been great. They've been calling and stopping by and we really appreciate it, even if he can't see them."
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB