There’s Something Special in Denmark : Baseball: Despite the small-school setting, the exploits of hard-throwing Travis Denmark of Julian are becoming harder to overlook.

We’ve taken a drive up to this mountain town today, not to hike among the pine trees and manzanita or play tourist along Main Street.

Instead we’ve come to Julian High, where enrollment is around 200. Yep, an hour and 15 minutes from downtown San Diego, 45 minutes from the nearest divided highway . . . for baseball.

Coming in on Highway 78, take a right at the only stop sign in town, at Main Street. The diamond is about a mile down on your left. Don’t let the grass-less “field” with a crater in center and a 15-foot embankment immediately in front of the outfield fence scare you.

This small town has a big-time pitcher.

His name is Travis Denmark. He’s a Degano Indian from the Santa Ysabel Reservation who is said to throw an 85 m.p.h. fastball. But because Denmark plays in a far-off corner of the county, few have noticed.

Some of those who have noticed say that because Denmark plays in the 1-A Coastal League, his statistics are inflated by weak competition. Were Denmark to wade into the 2-A or 3-A leagues, they say, the fire he throws would be doused by the bats of better players.

But that’s just theory. In reality, Denmark has been downright unbeatable.

In 19 innings, Denmark, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior, has struck out 42 batters. He has allowed just one run, four walks and six hits. His record is 3-0, his earned-run average 0.36.

One might think such statistics would build confidence, or at least feed dreams of one day playing in the major leagues. But Denmark remains pessimistic about his chances of continuing past the high school level.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen after June,” Denmark said. “I’d like to go on and play baseball somehow without going to college.”

Denmark has reason to doubt the possibilities of doing just that. Two years ago, when Julian won the San Diego Section 1-A championship, shortstop Kenny Teter put up some respectable numbers of his own; he finished the year with a .540 batting average. But he got little attention, and it remained so it came time to hand out scholarships and make draft picks.

“It’s kind of hard to get noticed (in the 1-A Southern Conference),” said Teter, who now works in construction. “It’s so small, nobody really looks at you.”

Scouts did watch Teter play a couple times, but he was facing 60-m.p.h. pitching, and, well, the scouts figured anyone could bat .540 against that kind of competition.

Today, Teter spends his afternoons shagging fly balls with the current Julian High players, helping coach the team.

Coach Carl Focarelli fears the same fate for Denmark.

“It’s the same old story,” Focarelli said. “Up here in Julian, it’s real, real difficult to get anybody to drive up and look at players. I read the papers, and all I hear about is the 2-A and 3-A kids. I read about some kid who has 20 strikeouts in 14 innings, and they’re making a big deal about him.

“It’s hard for me to get my point across and get scouts up here to look at Travis.”

So the only baseball people talking about Denmark are opposing coaches and umpires.

Coach Greg Yeaw of Borrego Springs has seen enough of Denmark to put his name down on a prospects form sent out by the Padres.

“He’s a big, hard-throwing kid, and I think he should be looked at by the Padres,” Yeaw said.

The last time Denmark pitched against Borrego Springs, he struck out 13 in a 4-0 victory. Saul Nass umpired that one and left in awe.

“Watching that kid pitch made the two-hour trip worthwhile,” Nass said. “I haven’t seen a high school pitcher of his level, and I’ve been umpiring here for over two years (Nass previously umpired college games in Los Angeles).

“He just had real good command of his pitches. He had a good fastball, a curveball that broke a couple feet and a knuckleball that danced all over the place. The catcher could not catch that pitch. The hitters were all fooled by it. If they swung at it, they missed it by a couple feet. If they didn’t swing, half the time it was over for a strike.”

Denmark, who doesn’t tout his talents with much relish, does enjoy talking about his knuckleball.

“It moves a whole lot,” he said. “And I usually don’t throw it for a strike, but everybody swings at it.”

Focarelli elaborated.

“He throws it with speed, which is really baffling to hitters,” he said. “He throws it without the seams moving at all, and when you get a guy who throws an 85 m.p.h. fastball who can also throw a knuckleball like that, it’s devastating.”

It’s also somewhat unique in high school baseball. Very few pitchers even on the pro level can throw a knuckleball effectively; almost no high school pitchers can. Those that do save the pitch for a changeup when they’re ahead in the count.

“I’ve seen a few of them around this year,” said Dennis Pugh, coach at Mission Bay High, who has had several pitchers move on to college and minor league ball. “But you just don’t see many around who can get it over for strikes. If you can get it over for strikes, it’s basically impossible to hit at this level.”

Pugh, while saying he wouldn’t want to see Denmark pitch against his team, also voiced what seems to be a universal concern about him.

“The problem is he’s doing it at the 1-A level,” Pugh said. “Would he be successful at a higher level?”

While Denmark has had to fight the small-school label, playing in the back country has brought one benefit.

Roger Craig, guru of the split-finger fastball and currently manager of the San Francisco Giants, moved to nearby Ranchita a year and a half ago. Denmark’s father, Dan, poured cement for Craig’s new home.

When the job was done, Dan Denmark asked Craig if he might give Travis a few pointers.

So before the high school season started last year, Travis went to Ranchita and threw in front of a major league manager. Craig helped Denmark with his delivery, showing him how to pitch with his entire body, not just his right arm.

Craig also added another pitch to Denmark’s repertoire--the split-finger fastball.

Craig didn’t throw any compliments Denmark’s way (“My arm was real bad then,” Denmark said), but he did tell the pitcher to keep in touch and send a copy of his statistics after last season.

Well, Denmark never got around to it, even though the numbers were impressive enough to make Denmark the only non-senior on the 1-A all-section team--and the only unanimous pick. He struck out 112 batters in 63 innings and compiled a 2.57 ERA and a 7-5 record.

His record, according to Focarelli, is somewhat misleading.

“He could have easily been 12-0,” Focarelli said.

Four of Denmark’s losses were by one run. One was a 13-inning, 2-1 loss to Francis Parker, the eventual 1-A section champion. Denmark pitched all 13 innings and allowed just two hits, the first in the fourth inning.

For nine innings thereafter, Denmark pitched no-hit ball, with 13 strikeouts. But after giving up a second base hit in the 13th, a walk and an error allowed the winning run to score, and Denmark had only a loss to show for his effort.

Unlike Focarelli, Denmark doesn’t put the asterisk on last year’s record. In fact, he remains rather silent about his accomplishments.

“He rarely changes his expression,” Focarelli said. “You can’t tell if he has just hit a home run or if he has just struck out. He just remains on an even keel.”

He’s the same way at home, according to his mother, Virginia.

“He’s a really quiet boy,” she said. “He never gives us any problems.”

Focarelli uses the word “shy,” and tells of a time Denmark asked not to pitch in a game because he knew the competition was weak and would only serve to pad his statistics.

Perhaps his introverted demeanor explains why Denmark never got back to Roger Craig.

“He just doesn’t brag about his talents,” Focarelli said.

He also possesses them at the plate. Denmark is 11 for 14 (.786) with two home runs, three doubles and nine RBIs.

But what is Denmark to do next?

“Everybody wants me to go to college, but I never really thought of it,” Denmark said. “I’m kind of tired of school right now.”

Denmark says he’s doing just enough to keep his grade-point average at 2.0. His father says Travis has been getting some mail from colleges.

“He’s had the feelers,” Dan said. “Pepperdine and San Diego State seem interested, but Travis hasn’t expressed any interest. I’m sure he could get a full scholarship somewhere, but that’s not what he wants to do.”

So Denmark will continue hoping to attract the attention of a major league scout, something that might not be out of the question. If he continues at his current pace, he would strike out 227 and obliterate the section season record of 170 set by Ron Scayliotti of Monte Vista in 1962.

“If he keeps on doing it all year, someone will notice him,” said Mission Bay’s Dennis Pugh. “Like I say, it’s not what you do in March, it’s what you do in May.”