ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603250017
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
The first hint Dick Balderson had bad news for people in the Salem precinct of the Carolina League was when he started talking in general terms about this year's Avalanche.
``I anticipate pretty good pitching and kids who can catch the ball and throw it,'' said the parent Colorado Rockies' farm director.
So far, so good.
``As for the offense, we'll just have to wait and see,'' Balderson said.
Uh, oh. What about Derrick Gibson, the can't-miss, 32-homer, 115-RBI, 31-steal phenom who spent last season with Asheville, N.C.? Or how about Todd Helton, the football-flinging, baseball-bashing prodigy from the University of Tennessee who was the Rockies' No.1 draft choice last year?
``It looks like Gibson and Helton are going to be going to [Class] AA,'' Balderson said.
That's why the offense for the Avalanche will be difficult to predict, at least at first.
``That's right,'' Balderson said.
Oh, well.
As he said, the pitching should be all right.
Brent Crowther, the Canadian right-hander who went 3-5 with a 3.53 earned run average here during part of last season, could be back to start the year, as could Salem alumnus Matt Pool (7-6, 4.68 ERA in 23 starts).
``Crowther and Pool are both in between [Class AA] New Haven and Salem right now,'' Balderson said by telephone this past week from the Rockies' spring training facility in Tucson, Ariz.
It seems more probable that lefty Doug Million (5-7, 4.62), the organization's top draft pick in 1994, and right-hander Mike Saipe (4-5, 3.48) will be back in Salem. Million arrived last year with a weight problem and only occasionally showed the form expected of a top draft pick. Saipe, a player pitching coach Billy Champion fondly recalled as either the next-to-last or last player to make the team a year ago, surprised everybody by becoming one of its more reliable hurlers until arm woes shelved him.
Mark Brownson, who had a nice season (6-7, 4.01, 94 strikeouts in 99 innings) at Asheville before putting in a cameo appearance in Salem last year, probably is on his way back here, as is right-hander Neil Garrett, hurt before anybody could get a good look at him last year.
As for position players, such familiar faces as catcher Johel Pozo, outfielders Pookie Jones and Brian Culp, first baseman/designated hitter Nate Holdren and outfielder John Giudice have a better-than-average shot at being back in Salem, at least in the short term.
For Culp (.283, eight home runs, 55 RBI) and Giudice (.261, 8, 45), past performance would hint at a shorter stay this time around. Giudice has the added calling cards of a bomb-throwing outfield arm and a damn-the-torpedoes attitude about the physical consequences of his all-out style of play.
Jones is a terrific athlete (he played quarterback for the University of Kentucky) who was beset with injuries while he was here last year.
Other probable Avalanche players include center fielder Ronnie Hall (.291, 53 runs scored, 20 steals at Asheville) and Chad Gambill (.256, eight homers, 40 RBI at Asheville) in the outfield and the double-play combination of shortstop Kyle Houser (.214 at Asheville) and second baseman Elvis Pena (.215 at Portland, Ore.).
Hall and Jones are probable starters in the outfield, with Giudice and Gambill battling and/or alternating in the remaining slot.
``We're going to have to release some players who would have made some clubs last year, which indicates our talent level is coming up,'' Balderson said. ``I'm real excited. We've got some young kids who can really play.''
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB