Fyhrie’s Elbow Gets a Hand From His Foot

This little piggy went to the market, this little piggy stayed home, this little piggy . . . went into surgery and saved Mike Fyhrie’s pitching career.

Fyhrie, the former Ocean View High School and UCLA pitcher, damaged the ulna collateral ligament in his right elbow and underwent what is commonly referred to as “Tommy John surgery” in 1990. Nothing unusual about that. “I was the fifth one Dr. (Lewis) Yocum did that week,” Fyhrie said.

But this one had a little twist. Yocum usually takes a ligament or tendon from the opposite wrist and inserts it into the throwing elbow. But because Fyhrie didn’t have enough material for the procedure in his left wrist, Yocum used a tendon from the third toe on Fyhrie’s left foot.

Fyhrie sat out his sophomore season (1990) at UCLA and pitched sparingly the following year, but the Kansas City Royals saw enough progress and potential to select him on the 12th round of the 1991 draft.

It’s shaping up as a pretty good move. In his third professional season and second as a starter, Fyhrie is 7-0 with a 2.35 earned-run averagefor the double-A Memphis Chicks.

“Everything is fine,” said Fyhrie, a reliever at Class-A Eugene, Ore., in 1991. “Mechanically, I’ve changed some things, and the elbow hasn’t bothered me at all.”

Fyhrie, a sinkerball pitcher, used to have a Tom Seaver-like motion, in which he dropped his elbow and drove his body toward the batter. Like the Hall of Fame pitcher, Fyhrie would even have a dirt spot on his right leg from where his knee hit the ground during delivery.

But that motion was too taxing on Fyhrie’s elbow, so, with the help of pitching instructor Jerry Cram, he switched to a more over-the-top delivery, in which he keeps his body high, throws on a downward plane and doesn’t drop his back knee to the ground.

Fyhrie, 24, also replaced his slider, which puts a heavy strain on the elbow, with a cut fastball while retaining his fastball, curve, sinker and changeup.

“Doctors said it would take up to two years to fully recover from the surgery and this is the third year,” Fyhrie said. “I knew if I just changed a few things in my delivery, everything would work out.”

Fyhrie was healthy and pitched well last season at Class-A Baseball City (Fla.) but didn’t have the record to show for it. He went 7-13 with an impressive 2.50 ERA.

“Last year it was the Jim Abbott story,” Fyhrie said. “I guess the run support is coming this year. I’m pitching better, the defense behind me is better, and we’re playing on Astroturf. I’m a ground-ball pitcher, so there are no bad hops.”

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Breaking out: Dave Stevens had no qualms with the Chicago Cubs relegating him to rookie-league teams his first two professional seasons. “I belonged there,” said Stevens, the former La Habra High infielder and Fullerton College reliever.

But Stevens completely bypassed the Class-A level his third year, landing in double-A, where he has established himself as a solid prospect. Stevens, who came on strong during the second half of the 1992 season at double-A Charlotte, is 5-1 with a 3.41 ERA for double-A Orlando.

Stevens, the 23-year-old right-hander finished 1992 with a 9-13 record and 3.91 ERA but went 8-6 after a 1-7 start. He spent the first seven weeks of this season in extended spring training, rehabilitating from a stress fracture in his right leg, but has emerged as one of Orlando’s top starters.

“I turned things around the second half of last year,” Stevens said. “I started learning how to pitch, using my changeup. That’s the biggest thing that helped me, learning another off-speed pitch.”

Stevens didn’t start pitching until 1990, when Fullerton College Coach Nick Fuscardo, unable to find an infield spot for Stevens but impressed by his arm strength, moved him to the bullpen.

His fastball has been clocked in the 90-m.p.h. range, his control is better and he’s throwing a wider variety of pitches, but Stevens isn’t sure if his future is as a starter.

“Hopefully some day they’ll put me in the bullpen--that’s where I want to be,” Stevens said. “I like the idea of playing every day, and there has been some talk of me moving there. But I don’t know what they want to do.”

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MVPs: Former Cal State Fullerton second baseman Steve Sisco and former El Toro High School, Cypress College and North Carolina State shortstop Sean Drinkwater won most valuable player honors in Class-A all-star games in June.

Sisco, who is batting .286 with 12 doubles and 39 runs batted in for the Kansas City Royals’ team at Rockford, Ill., had an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to lift the North to a 3-2 victory over the South in the Midwest League game June 21 at Geneva, Ill.

Drinkwater, who is batting .276 with seven homers and 53 RBIs for the San Diego Padres’ team at Rancho Cucamonga, had one hit, one run and an RBI to help the South defeat the North, 4-1, in the California League game June 22 at Stockton.