Spring Training / Padres : Show Tries Out Split-Fingered Fastball

Millionaire relief pitcher Bruce Sutter, now with the Atlanta Braves, has made the split-fingered fastball famous, but he may have company this season.

Eric Show of the Padres has been toying with the split-fingered fastball since the third day of spring training. He’s learning the pitch from Jack Lamabe, the Padres’ Double-A pitching coach.

“We were fooling around with the pitch, and it moved right off the bat when I threw it,” Show said. “I took to it real quick. Right now, I don’t look at it as one of my main pitches. I look at it more as a side pitch.”

Show’s repertoire already included a fastball, slider, change-up and slow curve.

The split-fingered fastball is thrown as the name implies it would be. A pitcher splits his second and middle fingers further apart on the ball than he would while throwing a normal fastball.

“It takes a while to master the pitch,” Padre pitching coach Galen Cisco said. “Eric feels he can give hitters a little more to look at. It will make his other pitches that much more effective. The key is whether he can control the pitch.”

General Manager Jack McKeon says he is going to renew the contract of Kevin McReynolds at $165,000. The Padres could have renewed McReynolds at last year’s salary of $57,000, but McKeon said he decided not to.

McReynolds is seeking a one-year contract of about $275,000. The Padres would prefer to sign McReynolds to a long-term deal.

McKeon is scheduled to meet in Phoenix next week with McReynolds’ agent, Tom Selakovich.

“We have had talks of a multi-year contract,” McKeon said. “I’m willing to settle either way, as long as it’s decent for both sides.”

With only four roster positions unsettled, the Padres have had a tranquil spring training so far.

“All we have to do is make sure our pitchers are in shape and figure out who will fill out the roster,” Manager Dick Williams said. “A lot of times when you win championships, you have that luxury. At Oakland, we were just looking for back-up guys each year. It was different at Boston (in 1968) because my best pitcher, Jim Lonborg, was out until June after a skiing accident. Here, we have good pitching. Even the final two we keep if we go with 10 pitchers will be very capable.”

Right-handers Luis DeLeon and Greg Booker are top candidates for the final two pitching spots. But since Lefferts is the only left-hander in the bullpen, the Padres may elect to keep a second left-hander in either Bob Patterson or Gene Walter. In that case, either DeLeon or Booker would have to go.

Bumbry, a 12-year veteran of the Baltimore Orioles, now seems a good bet to make the team.

“I like what I see of him,” Williams said. “But I always liked what I saw of him, even when he was on the other side of the field. He gives us another dimension because he runs so well. I’ve been impressed with how hard he works. He’s always one of the last guys out on the field.”

Padre Notes

The Padres will be honored for their 1984 National League championship in a Yuma parade this morning. Then, this afternoon, they will have their first intrasquad game of the spring. Another intrasquad game is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. The Padres will work out Monday morning before heading to the Phoenix area for their first exhibition game Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs in Mesa, Ariz.