Eby Removes the Flaws With Smooth Delivery : Prep baseball: Improved mechanics and attitude have helped Westlake left-hander cruise to 10-0 record.

In his three varsity seasons at Westlake High, Mike Eby has heard plenty of snickers and barbs.

And he’ll probably hear them again today when he takes the mound at Bishop Amat in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section 5-A Division baseball playoffs.

After all, a 78 m.p.h. fastball doesn’t do much for a high school pitcher’s ego. Neither do the bench jockeys.

Hey, I’ve seen better arms on a clock! There’s better pitch on a tree!

And, of course, a pastime classic. Some joker will make a reference to his elderly grandmother’s fastball.

Even Eby laughs. “I’ve heard them all,” he said.

Then something really funny happens.

Eby keeps that not-so-fastball at the kneecaps. He spins a few 65 m.p.h. curveballs on the inside corner. And leaves batters flailing at changeups that caress the outside corner.

The laughs turn to moans.

The opposing dugout, so jovial two hours earlier, is like a morgue littered with tossed helmets and mangled bats.

“I’ve always told my teammates that I wish I had a tape recorder in (the opposing teams’) dugout after the game,” Eby said. “I’d love to hear what they’re saying then.”

The quiet left-hander’s pitching has said plenty this season. A combination of sound mechanics, good location and maturity has led to a 10-0 record, 1.43 earned-run average and nine school records.

It also has silenced his doubts, and those of others, concerning his talent. Eby has been as steady as a downpour, completing 10 of 12 starts, and is headed for UCLA on a partial scholarship in the fall.

“When I hand him the game ball, I know he’s going to get the job done,” Westlake Coach Rich Herrera said.

Yet the extent of Eby’s success is as baffling as his change of speeds. He entered his senior season with a 12-8 record and was caught in the dissension that was as abundant as errors during Westlake’s 11-13 season last year. Eby was soured by the Warriors’ attitude and his 6-5 record.

“People look at my 10-0 record and don’t think I’ve had any bad times,” Eby said. “But I had a lot of them last year. Sure, I had a good ERA (1.61), but I got hit hard more times than I wanted to, and I had no confidence in my fastball.”

Eby, 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, began building that confidence during the next six months. He altered his mechanics and added a changeup. But perhaps the most important turnabout involved his attitude.

“I used to get caught up in the publicity, and it went straight to my head,” Eby said. “I wasn’t a jerk, but inside I was real conceited. I thought I was the best thing that ever walked this earth. This year, things were going to be different.”

That Eby--a congenial, easy-talking 18-year-old--ever had an attitude problem is as perplexing as his repertoire of pitches.

He has assumed the role of a leader and considers Herrera a close friend. When Eby isn’t pitching, he starts at first base and contributes offensively (.342 batting average). He quickly shuffles credit to his family, his coaches and the teammates who play defense and score runs.

His father, Richard, is the public-address announcer. His girlfriend of 1 1/2 years, Leeanne March, is Westlake’s scorekeeper. His mother, Carolyn, administers ice packs after games.

“He’s the kind of kid who knows what he wants to accomplish, and he’ll go as far as he can to reach it,” Herrera said. “You not only can count on him pitching-wise, but you can count on him just being there. Every ballclub should have that type of kid.”

Eby is so focused that he has asked Herrera to keep him out of the batting order when he pitches so he can concentrate on his pitching.

“I’m kind of in a bad mood (when I pitch), and I don’t really like anyone to talk to me,” he said. “I’m kind of snotty and guys say, ‘Look out, Eby’s in one of those moods.’ ”

Eby’s leadership is one reason the Warriors consider themselves family. Last year’s stabs have become pats on the back.

“Most of us have known each other since we were 12,” Eby said. “We can joke with each other and pop off. Nobody ever fights.”

Eby has changed stride in more than one way.

With a fastball that peaked at 75 m.p.h. last year, he was in desperate need of velocity. Weight training and running helped, but a shortening of his pitching stride was the key adjustment.

Richard Eby has emphasized fundamentals since Mike first picked up a baseball at age 5. The two spent countless hours in the family’s back yard working on location.

Suddenly, after 12 years of developing habits, they were gambling with a change of mechanics.

“He struggled with it for a while, but you could see consistent progress,” Richard Eby said.

Richard also used a video camera to detect other mechanical flaws. His son was rushing his delivery, jerking his front shoulder open and not using his legs.

With the help of Dick Bank, then a scout with the Chicago Cubs, and plenty of work in a bullpen, Mike perfected his pitching motion. “Once the smoothness came back, so did his control,” Richard said.

He has been as sharp on the mound as he is in a classroom, where he has a 3.40 grade-point average and scored 1,200 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. In 78 1/3 innings, he has walked just 24 and struck out 67. His fastball occasionally exceeds 80 m.p.h., and he’s no longer forced to aim for the outside corner.

“His biggest change is that he’s much more aggressive,” Richard Eby said. “As a sophomore and junior, he spent too much time living on the outside corner. Now, he’s more willing to come inside.”

He is also more willing to use a three-fingered changeup that seldom found the strike zone last year.

“Last year it was a pitch that I hoped to get a guy out with,” Mike said. “This year, it’s my out pitch.”

Bank said that Eby is not gifted with a “live arm.”

“But that changeup keeps the hitters off balance and makes a 77-78 mile an hour fastball look like 82 or 83,” Bank said.

Herrera said it has been the key to Eby’s success.

“I really believe that Mike’s changeup has made him a 10-0 pitcher,” Herrera said.

As if the changeup isn’t already enough, Eby douses the opponent in poise.

Channel Islands Coach Don Cardinal received a steady dose of that poise March 30 when Eby spun a one-hitter to overshadow Manuel Padilla’s two-hitter in a 1-0 Westlake win.

Eby needed just 60 pitches.

“I’ll tell you what, that kid just won’t allow himself to be beaten,” Cardinal said. “He stands up there and makes you hit his pitches. His poise was the difference.”

After two years of seeing Eby, Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers felt that the Pioneers had an encyclopedia worth of information on Eby. Watch for the changeup when you’re behind in the count, he told his batters, and don’t fall for the curve-in-the-dirt trick.

Eby, admittedly less-than-sharp, beat Simi Valley in both meetings this season.

“We thought we pretty much knew what he’d throw, when he’d throw it, and he still beat us,” Scyphers said. “That’s the sign of a great pitcher.”