THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507160137
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Former Old Dominion University baseball standout Geoff Edsell happens to be the losingest pitcher in the minor leagues this season. An even dozen losses for Lake Elsinore, the California Angels' affiliate in the Class-A California League, have his name on them.
So Edsell, drafted in the sixth round after the 1993 season, a couple weeks ago said, what the heck? Came up with a slider, almost out of the blue, maybe out of desperation. Threw it in the bullpen one day for a pitching coach who saw it, adjusted his dropped jaw, then said something like, ``Use that baby.''
Edsell, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound righthander better known as a first baseman at ODU, threw the slider in his next game, struck out 10 in seven innings but lost. He threw it again in his next start, July 4. He won. Big.
Against the Baltimore Orioles' High Desert farm team, Edsell was one out away from a no-hitter when a high chopper tipped off his glove. The charging second baseman made a nice play behind Edsell, but the batter beat the throw to first with a dive.
Edsell retired the next batter in an 8-0 one-hitter in which he walked one, hit one and struck out 10 again. Maybe, Edsell thought, I'm on to something.
``I'm eager to see if I've come up with something that could turn my whole career around,'' said Edsell, who said alterations in his delivery, including focusing only on the catcher and ignoring the batter, have also helped him.
``With 12 losses under your belt, you might as well try something different, and you can try just about anything. What's 13 losses when you've got 12? I had never thrown a slider before, but it's absolutely been a gem for me. It's nothing short of unbelievable.''
The pitch, if it retains its luster, could be what brings it all together for Edsell, whose hometown, Montoursville, Pa., boasts Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina and Japanese League hitting star Tom O'Malley as favorite sons.
Edsell, 23, still is relatively raw goods on the mound. His lively arm - he hits the low 90s on radar guns - got him drafted as a pitcher though he worked only 57 2/3 innings his junior year.
He hated giving up first base, he said, and frankly thinks he could outplay every first baseman in the Cal League. ``But my job now is to pitch,'' said Edsell, who is 5-12 with a 4.37 ERA. In 111 1/3 innings, he has 108 strikeouts, third in the league. ``That's where I'm slotted as having the greatest potential.''
This season, though, Edsell said he's had ``the worst luck of anyone I've ever seen in baseball.'' That's in reference to his five losses in which Lake Elsinore managed no more than two runs. And the 20 unearned runs that have scored against him.
``I wouldn't let the statistics bother you too much,'' Lake Elsinore pitching coach Howie Gershberg said. ``I've come to feel he's a good prospect for us. His delivery has improved, his walks have been cut down and his strikeouts have increased.
``The losses don't concern me because he's not a loser. And this is a good learning experience for him. If he's healthy and durable, I see no problems in him moving up next year.''
By then, perhaps, that elusive chopper in his one-hitter might have stopped haunting him.
``I've replayed it in my head at least a thousand times,'' Edsell said. ``I could've got it if I'd just jumped higher.''
More agonizing is the memory of throwing what he thought was strike three to the batter who, one pitch later, broke up the no-hitter.
``I was upset,'' Edsell said. ``But I know if I let the ball go up the middle, the second baseman fields it and it's over. I know I struck him out and it was over anyway. So it really doesn't bother me.
``I've never come that close to anything like that. For me just to be in that situation was an unbelievable rush. It's something I've never ever felt before. It was awesome.''
Which seems fitting in that, after all his woe, Edsell was due for a little wonder. ILLUSTRATION: Geoff Edsall may lead the minors in losses, but with his slider
he's a nearly unhittable winner.
by CNB