Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 27, 1993 TAG: 9306270130
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Jon Farrell, the Salem Buccaneers' center fielder, is a throwback. With the sideburns and the high part in his hair, you could just see him hanging around some turn-of-the-century clubhouse with Pirates of the era like Patrick J. Donovan, John J. Kelty, William Eagan, Patrick F. O'Connor, John A. Flynn and Patrick J. Flaherty.
Farrell is a throwback in another sense, as well. He plays baseball hard and he doesn't mind getting dirty. And he doesn't mope when things go wrong.
They've gone wrong for the better part of two years now. If he hasn't been hurt, his batting average has.
Take last year at Augusta of the South Atlantic League. Farrell wishes you would, as long as you bury it so deep he won't have to think about it again.
"I was in a slump, basically for the whole year," he said. "I'd hit for a week, then slump for a week. Or I'd hit for a week, then slump for three weeks. And it wasn't like I was swinging the bat that bad. But . . . "
You get the picture. Farrell's shots were finding gloves rather than holes.
Then he broke his wrist. First pitch, inside fastball, he couldn't get out of the way in time. Crack! Out for six weeks.
The year-end numbers read .222, eight home runs, 48 RBI in 92 games. Not what a No. 1 draft choice (1991) expects of himself.
"I try not to put pressure on myself," he said. "I try to play hard every day. I don't go up there expecting to get a hit every time out. If I did, I probably would have pulled out my hair and been sent home by now."
Farrell had one hit in his first 15 at-bats this year. It's been tough ever since. But when the curtain rose on the second half of the season, so too did his batting average. In the first five games of the second half, he's gone 7-for-17 (.412) with a home run and four RBI. Heading into Friday's action, he was up to .234 with 14 homers and 26 RBI in 166 at-bats. In his two previous pro seasons, he had 16 homers combined.
"It may not look like it, but I'm still struggling," he said. "I struggle every time up, just like everybody else."
Injuries have been a part of this campaign, too. Farrell broke a finger on his right hand and missed almost a month of action. Again, the culprit was a pitched ball he couldn't avoid.
The one constant has been his steady defense.
"I try not to think about my at-bats when I'm in the field," he said. "Some guys aren't like that. You can see them standing there, their mind not in it. I concentrate on every pitch."
Kind of like the way the old-timers did it.
\ 'HOO CAN PITCH?: A guy who has had the thankless task of keeping up with University of Virginia baseball through the years finds it ironic that with all the crummy pitching the Cavaliers have trotted out recently, five former Wahoos are throwing in the pros. Included are such distinguished workmen as Tim Burcham (3-1, 3.44 ERA at Class A Palm Springs before being promoted to Class AAA Vancouver); Todd Fiegel (4-5, 2.38 at Class A St. Lucie); Todd Ruyak (1-1, 2.70 at Class A Kinston); and Doug Johns (2-4, 3.36 at Class AA Huntsville). . . . Another UVa guy, left-hander Keith Seiler, is, at 25, the oldest of the Prince William Cannons by a Cecil Fielder home run. Seiler has spent more than a year battling back from an elbow injury. He's 0-1 with a 3.57 ERA. . . .
Darren Hodges, the former Franklin County High School and Ferrum College right-hander, continues to get it done in the New York Yankees' organization. Hodges is 6-3 with a 3.97 ERA for Class AA Albany. . . . It doesn't appear the University of Richmond's Brian Jordan made a bad choice when he bagged pro football to sign a baseball-only contract on the demand of the St. Louis Cardinals. Jordan is batting .375 with five home runs and 32 RBI in 32 games at Class AAA Louisville. Is that the big leagues calling again? . . . Radford's Chris Connolly has three saves and a 3.18 ERA in 22 2/3 innings at Class A Rockford. . . .
Scott Bakkum, the Lynchburg Red Sox pitcher, has a reputation for bad luck. How bad? Last year with Class A Winter Haven, Bakkum hurled a no-hitter. Sadly, so did his opponent. As for the rest of the story, all you need to know is the opponent didn't finish his evening by shedding a tear in his beer.
\ INKED: Of the 13 players drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first 10 rounds, all have signed. Only one of those players, outfielder Jermaine Allensworth (second round) of Purdue University, is a non-high school player, so none of the new crop is expected to be seen in Salem before next year.
A few words on top pick Charles Peterson, an outfielder from Laurens (S.C.) High School: A 6-foot-3, 200-pounder, Peterson projects to hit for average and power, although at this point, his skills are very raw. However, a Pittsburgh scout said that Peterson is a "pure" center fielder who is considerably farther along defensively than he is with the bat.
\ THE WOODEN SHOES, PLEASE: Eric Parkinson, the right-handed pitcher who recently rejoined the Salem Buccaneers after a demotion from Class AA Carolina, is off again, this time for the Netherlands.
The Netherlands, you say? The land of windmills and dikes? Absolutely. And you thought a trip to Kinston was exotic.
Parkinson will be a part of a 24-man team headlined by former big-leaguer Bert Blyleven, a Dutch native, that will play in an international affair in Rotterdam called the World Port Tournament. The team was selected by Major League Baseball International.
Parkinson left the Bucs on Thursday for the tournament, which runs through July 4. He is likely to be replaced on the Salem roster by a pitcher summoned from Augusta, according to Tom Treece in the Pittsburgh Pirates' minor-league office.
Phil Zimmerman, the Durham Bulls' regular shortstop, is on the U.S. roster, along with New Britain outfielder Paul Rappoli, a Carolina League All-Star last year with Lynchburg.
\ THEY SAID IT IN PHILLY: On a day after the Florida Marlins marooned 17 runners against the Philadelphia Phillies, the headline in the Philadelphia Daily News blared, "Marlin Strando." . . . Philadelphia first baseman John Kruk on the Phillies: "When you die, you go to one of two places: You either go to heaven, or you come here with us."
by CNB