A Rookie Long on Talent : Orioles’ 6-7 McDonald Speaks Softly, Carries a Big Pitch

The Baltimore Orioles spent 12 weeks last year negotiating with pitcher Ben McDonald, the team’s No. 1 pick in the free-agent draft. He eventually signed a three-year contract worth $925,000, which could reach $1.15 million with incentives.

Now, as it turns out, the Orioles might have gotten the better of that deal.

The 6-foot-7 right-hander has been tearing up the American League with a 95-m.p.h. fastball and a wicked breaking pitch, setting club records and giving the Orioles a fresh arm in time for the title race.

“McDonald is not just a rookie, he is an exception,” Oriole Manager Frank Robinson said. “He has outstanding stuff and because of that, he is an outstanding rookie. . . . very poised, he stays within himself and knows what he can do and what he can’t do.”

Wednesday afternoon against the Oakland Athletics, he had a one-hitter before giving up three hits and a run in the sixth inning. Even so, McDonald won his fourth consecutive start and the fifth consecutive decision of his career, setting one club record and tying another.

“He’s probably comparable to (Roger) Clemens,” said Jose Canseco of the Athletics. “He’s not afraid to pitch inside and for a young kid, he throws very well . . . real hard, and around the plate.”

Said the A’s Carney Lansford: “He’s tough. He’s one of those guys with the kind of stuff that if he avoids injuries, he’s going to be around for a lot of years.”

After signing with the Orioles last August, McDonald was sent to the Orioles’ Class-A minor league team in Frederick, Md., for two appearances, then was called back to the majors in September, when he got his first professional victory, 7-5 over the Toronto Blue Jays in relief on the last day of the season.

That capped the biggest turnaround in the Orioles’ history. They finished second in the American League East after going 54-107 in 1988, when they finished 34 1/2 games behind in last place.

McDonald made the team in spring training this season, but in April pulled the muscle that connects the ribs to the pelvis on his left side. He was put on the 15-day disabled list, then underwent rehabilitation at the club’s double-A affiliate in Hagerstown, Md., and later at the triple-A club in Rochester, N.Y.. But by July, he had recovered and was recalled. In his first start, at Baltimore on July 21, he shut out the Chicago White Sox on four hits, 2-0. That made him only the fourth Oriole to pitch a shutout in his first major league start.

“I can’t compare him with anyone else,” Oriole pitching coach Al Jackson said. “I think right now the best thing we can do for him, and for our organization, is to just give him the ball.”

When asked if McDonald is the kind of player a team builds its pitching staff around, Jackson said: “Eventually I think this probably will happen. At least I would hope so. . . . Ben’s very aggressive . . . but in a quiet way.”

Wednesday, McDonald tied Jerry Walker’s 1957-59 club record for most consecutive victories at the start of a career with five.

“Too much is happening too fast to worry about records,” McDonald said. “Maybe I’ll reflect on that in the off-season. But when (the team) scores three or four runs for me early, that’s going to make me that much better a pitcher. It relaxes me and it gives me confidence. And that makes me pitch better.

“I’m learning to pitch to hitters I’ve never seen before. So I’m relying totally on my catcher (Bob Melvin) to know how they hit and to help me,” he said.

McDonald speaks softly, shying away from compliments and crediting teammates for much of his success.

“He’s been the most publicized guy in town this season and it just runs off his back like water on a duck,” Jackson said. “You tell him what he has to do and he goes out and does it. He’s just a great athlete.”

McDonald grew up about 12 miles from Baton Rouge, the site of Louisiana State University, where he was a two-time All-American. He went to LSU on a basketball scholarship but after two seasons decided to play baseball only.

In his three-year career at LSU, he was 29-14 with six saves and 373 strikeouts in 308 1/3 innings.

In 1988, he helped the U.S. team win the gold medal with complete-game victories over Puerto Rico and South Korea in the Olympics.

And the following year, he was voted the college baseball player of the year, leading LSU into the College World Series and earning the highest rating ever for a pitcher from major league baseball’s scouting bureau.

Said Terry Reynolds of the Dodgers’ scouting office: “Ben has outstanding size and an outstanding arm. We saw him on more than one occasion before last year’s draft and it would be safe to say, if he had been available, there would have been a definite interest. He just went too high.”

The Orioles are in Anaheim this weekend for a series against the Angels but McDonald, who has a 1.43 ERA after 37 2/3 innings, is not expected to pitch.

McDonald said that his speedy rise to the majors revealed a few weaknesses in his game.

“The hitters are much stronger and more consistent (in the big leagues),” McDonald said. “In double-A you saw hitters swinging at bad pitches. In the majors, they force you to pitch strikes.

“I think I need to be more consistent with my breaking ball and I need to develop my changeup and start throwing some of them to break it up a little. . . . I’ve only got three pitches, so I’m hoping to work on my forkball in the off-season and have that pitch next year.”

When he isn’t talking baseball, McDonald likes to talk hunting and fishing in Louisiana, his voice betraying at least a bit of homesickness.

But there is more in Louisiana rivers than ducks and fish. There are alligators, too.

“Well, shoot, alligators are as common to the rivers in Louisiana as maybe dogs are around here,” said McDonald, who has hunted and wrestled alligators. “So alligators are something I’ve been used to since I was a kid. It’s not all that big a deal.”

Last winter, bored while playing in the instructional league in Sarasota, Fla., McDonald got to thinking.

He went into a swamp, caught an alligator, taped its mouth shut and put it in a teammate’s bathtub.

“They came out and screamed and ran into the parking lot and wouldn’t come out until I went in and got it and took it out,” McDonald said with a smile.

“Silly, huh?”