THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 4, 1995 TAG: 9504040447
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORT ST. LUCIE, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
He is one reason the Norfolk Tides could be able to contend for the International League title this season. And if it weren't for fellow lefthander Bill Pulsipher, a hard-throwing extrovert who grabs a greater share of the hype, Chris Roberts would be the marquee pitching prospect about to hit town.
Not that the mild-mannered Roberts is apt to be overlooked by anybody on his way to the New York Mets' rotation. An outfielder and a pitcher on the 1992 U.S. Olympic team out of Florida State University, Roberts was directed solely toward pitching after the Mets made him the 18th player picked in the 1992 draft.
All he's done is win 13 games in each of his first two seasons - compiling a 3.02 earned-run average to go with his 26-13 record - and make pitching look easy.
``Working with Chris was a pure pleasure,'' said Randy Niemann, Roberts' pitching coach last season at Double-A Binghamton. ``He knows exactly how to pitch. It's so much fun watching Pulsipher pitch and then watching Roberts. They really are as opposite as you'd ever want to see two guys, personality- and pitching-wise.
``One thing I admired Chris for was he didn't try to go out and be Bill Pulsipher because he's not capable of being that type of pitcher. What he did was go out and pitch his kind of game and get the same results.''
Where Pulsipher can blow away hitters on naturally tailing fastballs and tight curves, Roberts works more of a finesse game not unlike Mets righthander Bobby Jones, who won 12 games for the Tides in 1993.
An outstanding changeup makes Roberts' decent fastball seem a little quicker. Filled out by a pair of breaking balls, Roberts' repertoire keeps batters off-balance.
``Everything is smooth,'' Niemann said. ``You very rarely see him overthrow a pitch, yet you'll see him add something to it. That was the one thing that caught my eye about Bobby Jones. He'd throw three fastballs - the hitter would have two strikes on him, then he'd throw one 2 miles an hour quicker.''
Roberts, 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, shaped his game growing up in Middleburg, Fla. He played on the Junior Olympic team and was a natural for the '92 team that finished fourth in Barcelona, Spain.
He might be an outfielder now, had another team drafted him. But Roberts knew that the Mets, feverish to stock up on young arms, had scouted him only as a pitcher.
``It was probably in my best interest, as far as getting to the big leagues quicker, or at all,'' Roberts said. ``I do miss playing, I like to play every day. It's different, but I've adjusted to it by now.''
He accepted it well enough to win his first eight decisions last season, even though Niemann smelled trouble over a mechanical flaw that left Roberts' fastball consistently high - thus easier to hit. Teacher and pupil talked about the problem, but Roberts did nothing until he started getting tagged in the middle of the season.
``In all fairness to him, I'm sure he was looking at me thinking I was crazy,'' Niemann said. ``Here's a guy who's been nothing but successful and I'm telling him he's got to make an adjustment in his mechanics.''
Once righted, Roberts pitched his best in the season's latter stages. He wrapped it up by striking out 12 to clinch the Eastern League championship.
That had to seem ages ago as Roberts, more than ready for his Triple-A indoctrination, trudged off the field last week in the humid, dwindling days of spring training.
``You've got to be pretty strong up top,'' Roberts said, tapping his head, ``to come out here every day and deal with this, over and over, playing to no crowds, nothing to get you fired up.''
The Mets figure Roberts has the goods, mentally and physically, to help fuel an anxiously awaited season in Norfolk. ILLUSTRATION: MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
Staff
Lefthander Chris Roberts, above and left, has won 13 games in each
of his first two years as a pro. Unlike teammate Bill Pulsipher, a
power pitcher, Roberts does it with finesse. ``Everything is
smooth,'' says Randy Niemann, Roberts' pitching coach last season.
by CNB