Escaping a Jam : Janicki Back on Track After Injuries Disrupted Pitching Career

Lake Elsinore pitcher Pete Janicki wasn’t at his best Wednesday. He knew it.

Janicki stepped off the mound several times on this warm night, just to suck air. Then it was back to work, grinding out innings in the California League.

From the stands, Ken Forsch, the Angels’ director of player development, watched and evaluated.

A fly out.

“He’s throwing effortlessly.”

A ground out.

“He’s moving the ball in and out well.”

A single.

“That one was up.”

A double.

“Oh.”

A ground out.

“He has a hard sinker.”

And so it went, pitch-by-pitch, inning-by-inning.

When Janicki was done, he had given up three earned runs and six hits in seven innings. He struck out four and walked one. He hit 88 m.p.h. with his first pitch and 90 with his last.

Still, he wasn’t sharp and he knew it. Still, he won his fourth consecutive game.

“I feel more comfortable out there,” said Janicki, a graduate of El Dorado High. “I had to really battle tonight. But I felt in control of each batter.”

A billboard-sized announcement a year ago. Just another road marker today.

Janicki finished talking, then went back to work, grinding his legs on an exercise machine.

This is the right-handed starter the Angels seem to be pining for these days. Or, at least, it might have been.

Janicki was the team’s first-round draft pick--eighth overall--in 1992. Considering Brian Anderson, the Angels’ 1993 top pick, made his major league debut later that same season, it’s not too far-fetched that Janicki might have rocketed down the same fast track.

That accelerated timetable was disrupted by arm problems. A stress fracture in his right elbow in 1992, which became a broken elbow in 1993. Then a sore shoulder that interrupted his 1994 season.

All delayed a career from Janicki’s standpoint and questioned it from the Angels’ point of view. They dropped him from the 40-man major league roster in November, put him on waivers, then re-signed him at a significant cut in pay.

So success this season will not be judged pitch-by-pitch, inning-by-inning. The long haul is what the Angels, and Janicki, are looking at.

“We want to see him put in a full season and see how he holds up,” Forsch said. “We would like to see him have a season with a lot of success.”

Nothing has diluted those goals. Janicki has had success, with tangible and intangible rewards.

After a 1-3 start, he has won seven of his last eight decisions. His earned-run average has dropped from 3.98 to 3.15. He is tied for second in the league with 102 strikeouts.

Janicki also speaks with pride on how familiar pitching feels. A one-out, first-and-third jam isn’t a foreign language any more. He’s again fluent in game situations.

But what everyone with the Angels focuses on are the 117 1/3 innings Janicki has logged.

“I think the organization’s biggest concern was how Pete’s arm would hold up,” Lake Elsinore pitching coach Howie Gershberg said. “He’s leading the league in innings pitched and hasn’t missed a start. He’s thrown seven to eight innings in almost every start. He’s been very, very durable.”

It’s been a long haul from very, very fragile.

Janicki was a brilliant draft pick, at least on paper. He was 23-12 in three years at UCLA and 9-4 his junior season, which ended with a marquee performance in the NCAA Mideast Regional. Janicki pitched 12 innings and got a no-decision against Oklahoma, then came back two days later and pitched seven innings in a victory over Mississippi State.

He was so impressive that Mississippi State fans gave him a standing ovation when he left the game.

His lively arm--150 strikeouts in 150 1/3 innings--didn’t come cheap. He signed for $585,000, which included a $90,000 bonus. Dan O’Brien, then the Angels’ senior vice president/baseball operations, found it difficult to mask the expectations.

“Everyone in our organization who has seen him pitch knows he has the potential to arrive in the major leagues in a very quick time,” O’Brien said at the time.

No one will ever know if O’Brien had vision on that.

Even before Janicki signed, he had arm problems. A stress fracture in his right elbow forced him to withdraw from the Olympic team trials in 1992 and prevented him from pitching until the following April.

His professional debut lasted 1 2/3 innings.

“I’ll never forget it,” Gershberg said. “He was pitching to [Ron] Villone. So you had two No. 1 picks going against one another. Pete threw a pitch and he looked at me and waved. I walked out and he said, ‘I just felt my arm snap.’ ”

Janicki threw a tantrum in the locker room--tossing chairs and tearing at his uniform--which subsided only after a teammate grabbed him.

It ended of his season, but, in a way, started his career.

“I was able to sit back and get a different outlook on the game,” Janicki said. “Everything came very easy when I was younger. I got a different view on work ethic.”

Janicki came into spring training this season in the best shape of his career. The result of his training, which has evolved from rehabilitation to preparation.

“The way he came to camp showed he was serious,” Gershberg said. “You could see he was on mission.”

One that leaves little time for worrying about his arm.

Janicki doesn’t flinch, merely shrugs, when reminded of the injury. These days, he is more concerned with developing a better curveball and practicing some Zen-pitching.

“The only thing I can control is how well and where I throw the baseball,” Janicki said.

That’s improved greatly in the past two months. Janicki started slowly, but once he got rolling, he gathered no moss.

“At the start of the season, the idea was for Pete Janicki to have a good, solid season,” said Bob Fontaine, the Angels’ vice president/scouting and player personnel. “Whatever we decide to do now is justified.”

Janicki pitched seven shutout innings, giving up two hits, against High Desert in May, which began his 7-1 run.

He doesn’t have a complete game, but has pitched into the seventh inning in all but two of his starts.

“I could have finished that [High Desert] game, but I had to come out because of a blister,” Janicki said. “But I’ll take a blister over a broken arm any day.”

The blister has been the closest thing to an arm problem for Janicki this season.

In a skewed view, Janicki’s injury was fortunate. There was no ligament or tendon damage, the likes of which have ended many pitching careers. There was no need for surgery, be it arthroscopic or otherwise.

The bone mended as strong, or stronger, than before. All it required was two months of inactivity. Rehabilitating the mind wasn’t as easy.

“I sat around trying not to feel sorry for myself,” Janicki said. “It gave me some humility. It gave me some character.”

He found positive ways to release his energy.

The elbow injuries may have cost him two seasons, but he did participate in major league spring training camps in 1993 and 1994. He finished off his last spring by pitching two perfect innings against the San Francisco Giants.

“The beauty of big league spring training is it builds your confidence,” Janicki said. “I would sit at home, feeling low. When you’re in high school, I would see games on TV and think, ‘I could get that guy out.’ After the injuries, I wasn’t so sure. But I got to camp and found out these guys are human, just like me. It was an instant confidence boost.”

Inspiring that with the Angels took a little more time and effort.

Janicki started last season in double A with Midland, but had limited success. He was 2-6 with a 6.98 ERA in 14 starts. He also developed tendinitis in his shoulder.

He finished with Lake Elsinore, where he was 1-2 with a 6.75 ERA in three starts. He missed the last month with shoulder problems.

Still, there were some positive signs.

“When a batter gets hit by a pitch, you need to see how he reacts the next time up,” Fontaine said. “We needed to see if Pete favored his arm at all. He showed no fear.”

There was no time for fear on Wednesday.

It was a hot night in the California League. Janicki wasn’t at his best. He knew it and just had to grind it out.

“I never really thought my career was over,” Janicki said. “I knew that when I got healthy and strong, I’d show everyone that I deserved to be a No. 1 draft pick. Now it’s just a matter of time.”