Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994 TAG: 9406080031
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Marc Pisciotta has a 93-mile per hour fastball, a slider clocked at 89 and a curveball that some nights has knee-bending hitters all but genuflecting.
What the Salem Buccaneers' bullpen stopper needs most now, however, is patience. He leads the Carolina League in saves, but that seems like small stuff compared to where he's been and where he's going in baseball.
Pisciotta has won the championship game of the Little League World Series. The next time he pitches before 40,000 fans as he did for East Marietta, Ga., that sweltering August 1983 day in Williamsport, Pa., he'll be in the majors.
He didn't think he was far from there in spring training. Pisciotta, 23, was taken by Colorado from Pittsburgh in the Rule 5 draft in December. He stayed with the Rockies until the last week of camp. The next thing he knew, Pittsburgh was sending him back to Salem, where the right-hander impressively finished last summer.
It was a mile-high crusher.
"I didn't handle the situation well the first two weeks," said Pisciotta, who saved 24 Class A games at two stops in the Pirates' system last season. "I could have told Pittsburgh what I thought, but what matters is what you do out there."
He was nodding toward the Municipal Field mound, where his late-inning aggressiveness and ability have done as much as anyone to keep the Buccaneers in a divisional half-season race.
The 6-foot-5, 240-pounder went into Tuesday night's game with 15 saves and a 1.48 ERA to go with a 1-4 record. He's blown five saves, but in the last 2 1/2 weeks, he's 7-for-8 in saves.
There is a notion that Pisciotta will be heading to Class AA Carolina when the first half ends in two weeks. If it happens, great. If not, Pisciotta might be disappointed, but not disgusted.
Pittsburgh has two former Bucs, Jeff McCurry and Mike Zimmerman, with the Mudcats and Class AAA Buffalo, respectively, as bullpen aces. Mike Dyer already has nine saves for the Bisons, too.
"I think Marc really learned something from spring training," said Bucs' manager Trent Jewett. "He learned that there's not a whole lot of difference between the majors and here for someone like him, except fine tuning.
"There aren't a whole lot of stoppers being bred, and he is one. Everyone needs a stopper. How many Lee Smiths are there? The truth is, in my opinion, he could probably pitch at Pittsburgh right now somewhere in the middle [relief]."
Pisciotta, a 20th-round draft pick from Georgia Tech in 1991, showed he could be a bull in the pen immediately, when he allowed only one earned run in 34 innings for Welland in the New York-Penn League.
The next year, he went on the disabled list and watched more than he pitched. He also learned. Until then, pre-dating the days when he was 6-foot-2 at age 12, he simply threw it by smaller kids.
Bucs pitching coach Dave Rajsich has seen youngsters like Pisciotta before, and many of them don't learn to pitch until they reach his current level.
"His aggressiveness and mound presence, that's why he's doing well," Rajsich said. "He's all business. He's not afraid to challenge people. Pitching at this level, he should excel. He should be in Double A."
The Rockies considered keeping a 12th pitcher on their roster, but Pisciotta didn't get much chance to work, and then-Colorado general manager Bob Gebhard said the right-hander would likely go to the Rockies' new Class AA New Haven club in the Eastern League.
However, Rule 5 draftees must be kept on the major-league roster or be sent back to their previous club. Pittsburgh and the Rockies couldn't agree on a deal, so Pisciotta returned - but not before he gave up a Cactus League grand slam to Bo Jackson.
"I'd love to get out and move up," Pisciotta said. "I don't dwell on it, because pitching here is fun. This team is fun.
"Going out there in the ninth inning, when it means something has to make you feel good. You feel important. You're not just getting innings. Everyone wants to feel wanted."
Pisciotta should feel that way. The Rockies wanted him. The Pirates wanted him. And the Buccaneers want him to stay. But clearly, he's warming up for something bigger.
by CNB