McDowell Blazing Trail to the Majors : Stanford Pitcher Tackles a World Series on Journey Toward Professional Career

Before an April game against Stanford, UCLA Coach Gary Adams pitched batting practice--standing only 45 feet from home plate. But after watching a few throws, one Bruin regretfully informed Adams that this method wasn’t working. Adams’ pitches still weren’t reaching batters as quickly as Jack McDowell’s.

It’s a familiar story to those who have had to face McDowell. Armed with a 90-m.p.h. fastball, McDowell, 21, has spent the past three years frustrating many of college baseball’s best hitters, often making them look as inept as a Little Leaguer taking his first cuts against the “Sandy Koufax machine” at the local batting cage.

Behind McDowell (12-5), a junior, Stanford finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the nation and is among the final three teams in the College World Series. He had a six-game winning streak broken Thursday by Oklahoma State--the nation’s top scoring team at 11.7 runs per game--but stopped Robin Ventura’s NCAA-record 58-game hitting streak. The last time Ventura had failed to get a hit was March 23.

In his first World Series start last Saturday, McDowell was limited to six innings because of a 14-hour rain delay but stopped Georgia, 3-2, on four hits, allowing only an unearned run and striking out six.

The Chicago White Sox made McDowell, a 6-5, 185-pound right-hander from Van Nuys, the fifth selection overall in Tuesday’s draft. Contract negotiations will not begin until next week, but McDowell spoke briefly with White Sox management Tuesday and anticipates being sent to the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Hawaii. He may not stay there for long.

“We wanted a college player for immediate help,” said Al Goldis, director of scouting and player development for the White Sox. “Along with his physical ability, it was his intelligence and his intense desire to win that impressed us.

“Physically, he can pitch at a very high level. Emotionally, I think he may be ready as well.”

Those who have coached against McDowell agree.

“He has the potential to be a very good pro,” said Don Buford, an assistant at USC who watched McDowell pitch his sixth career shutout--a Pac-10 record--against the Trojans this season. “He has good command of pitches and is consistently around the plate. He’s the type of man who finds a way to keep his team in the ballgame.”

Said McDowell: “They told me that I’ll be invited to spring training with a chance to make the club next year. But if I make a good showing real quick, there’s no reason why I can’t be called up by the end of the season.”

Chicago ranks sixth in the American League in earned-run average and is desperate for starting pitching. In recent weeks it has been reported that the White Sox want to trade Richard Dotson and Floyd Bannister, who earn $1 million and $930,000, respectively, and are believed to be near the end of their careers.

And in recent years, several pitchers have made almost immediate transitions from college campuses to big league ball parks.

Roger Clemens, who attended the University of Texas, was Boston’s first-round selection in 1983 and pitched 18 games in the minors before winning nine for the Red Sox in 1984. Last season, Clemens was 24-4 and won the American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards. Greg Swindell made only three minor-league appearances, then won five games for the Cleveland Indians in 1986--the same year he was drafted out of Texas.

McDowell is less than a year shy of earning a degree in communications, but to him the question of signing is simply a matter of common cents. He hopes to receive a signing bonus of at least $175,000. One agent contacted said that’s a plausible figure for someone with McDowell’s credentials.

The sum he is seeking is between 700% and 1,600% more than he would earn at a first job in his field of study, according to Marian Lowenstein, a communications professor at Stanford.

“I consider myself a person who can adjust well to any situation,” McDowell said. “Now I think I’m ready to go into pro ball.”

McDowell had that opportunity three years ago after his senior year at Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks but turned down a reported $80,000 package to sign with the Red Sox, who drafted him in the 19th round. It’s a decision he doesn’t regret.

“College ball is more team oriented and more competitive than the minor leagues,” he said. “In the minors your goal is to get to the majors and it doesn’t matter who you step on. Team competition is what I thrive on and I don’t think I could have learned any more about the game or about pitching than at Stanford.”

McDowell never had any doubts about being picked in the first round. The only question was how high. Baseball America magazine named McDowell its Freshman of the Year in 1985, a second-team All-American in 1986 and this year ranked him as the third-best collegiate prospect in a preseason article.

But a slow start attributed to a freakish off-season injury temporarily reduced his desirability. Home for Christmas break, McDowell attended a party in Westwood on Dec. 23, the day before he was to begin training for the 1987 season. About midnight, McDowell said, he was saying goodby to some friends when they noticed a man harassing four women in a car.

The group confronted the man, who then fled up the apartment’s outside stairs. The man threw objects as he ran and McDowell was struck in the face by a large, clay flower pot.

McDowell took 300 stitches from a plastic surgeon to close the wound. Although it never was considered career-threatening, McDowell was terrified by the incident.

“I never saw the cut,” McDowell said, “but it bled a hell of a lot.”

The day after the accident, McDowell’s Stanford roommate didn’t recognize him.

“I looked in the window at his parents’ home and I saw this guy all wrapped up in bandages,” said Paul Marca, who played with McDowell for two seasons at Notre Dame High. “I thought, ‘Who do they know who has a broken nose?’ ”

Doctors advised McDowell to avoid bending for several weeks, but he ignored the warnings and began throwing two weeks later, trying to rush himself into shape for the most important season of his life. He pulled a groin muscle and was sidelined for another two weeks.

Marca began to notice that the episode had done more damage than just the four-inch scar on his friend’s forehead. McDowell’s easy-going personality, Marca believed, had changed considerably.

“When he came back after the injury he was pretty sedate,” Marca said. “He became a little bit sharp and was tough to live with. We have this big chair in our place and he’d just sit there by himself.”

Said McDowell: “It was a mental strain. There were a lot of days and nights when I didn’t know if I’d ever come back.”

Once the groin injury healed and he was able to throw regularly, McDowell’s attitude returned to normal.

McDowell struggled early in the season and at the end of April was 6-4 with a 4.68 earned-run average, well above his conference-leading mark of 2.51 in 1986.

“I think I let the pressure get to me a little,” McDowell said. “A lot of people were coming out early expecting to see things that I couldn’t do.”

Said Stanford Coach Mark Marquess: “I just told him that we couldn’t rush things. But he was really frustrated because he’s so competitive.”

McDowell was 6-0 in May and lowered his ERA to 3.92. He won two games in the West regional playoff and was named to the all-tournament team. Last week, Baseball America named him to its All-American third team.

On May 25, McDowell became Stanford’s career leader with 330 career strikeouts, surpassing Jeff Ballard’s mark of 315. McDowell has 34 career wins, three shy of the school record set by Ballard, who pitched at Stanford for four seasons.

McDowell credits the turnaround to his intense determination, something that high school opponents often resented.

As a senior, McDowell was 10-0 and had an 0.30 ERA for Notre Dame, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today before losing to Long Beach Millikan in the semifinals of the Southern Section 4-A playoffs. McDowell’s numbers earned him the 4-A Player of the Year award and the reputation as ringleader of the Southern Section’s rowdiest team.

Notre Dame was involved in a brawl early in the season and its image spiraled from there. But Marquess hasn’t had any problems with McDowell, who now--along with Marca--claims his competitiveness was misunderstood.

“A lot of high school people don’t consider winning as important as I do,” McDowell said. “At Stanford I’m thriving on it and others pick up on that.

“It’s nothing that I have to change. It’s something I have to make sure I don’t lose.”

The White Sox feel the same way.

McDOWELL’S CAREER AT STANFORD

Year IP SO W-L ERA 1985 128 88 11-4 4.15 1986 136 129 11-4 2.51 1987 122 113 12-5 4.13 Career 386 330 34-13 3.56