Billingsley Following His Father’s Footsteps : Pitchers Both Transferred to Cal State Fullerton

Al Billingsley transferred to Cal State Fullerton from Brigham Young in 1973 hoping to revive a once-promising pitching career imperiled because of a rotator cuff injury.

Billingsley hoped the warmer weather of his native California might help, but it didn’t. “I tried it all that fall, but it was still so bad that I couldn’t move my fingers to tie my shoelaces after I pitched,” he said. “It was really hard to have to give up on a dream, but I had to do it.”

More than two decades later, his son, Brent, transferred to Fullerton hoping to revitalize his pitching career after a disappointing season at East Carolina. For him, the change has been a godsend.

“It’s turned out to be the best possible decision I could have made,” Brent Billingsley said.

Billingsley has gone from a lackluster redshirt freshman with a 4-4 record at East Carolina to No. 1 starter on a team bidding for a third consecutive trip to the College World Series. He takes a 10-1 record and 2.83 earned-run average into this weekend’s series against UC Santa Barbara, the final Big West regular-season games.

“He’s definitely a late bloomer,” said George Horton, Fullerton’s associate head coach. “He was just another guy in high school.”

Billingsley attracted little attention at Chino High, and was planning to attend Mt. San Antonio College until East Carolina showed late interest.

“My high school coaches didn’t think I was ready for Division I baseball then, and I know they pretty much told people that I was at least a couple of years away,” Billingsley said.

Billingsley, 5 feet 10 and about 155 pounds his senior year, pitched in only 11 games over two high school seasons. He played mostly at first base as a senior, but East Carolina pitching coach Roger Williams saw potential and convinced Billingsley to redshirt his freshman year and strengthen himself physically.

By the time Billingsley was ready to pitch in college, he was 6 feet 2 and 200 pounds, but by then Williams had become an assistant at North Carolina.

“He was the main reason I went there,” Billingsley said. “Then I didn’t think I was progressing the way I felt I should with the coach who replaced him. He tried to get me to do some things the way a right-handed pitcher would. It didn’t work for me, and I got all messed up and never could get it back. When I decided to leave East Carolina, I had no clue where I was going.”

Billingsley also wanted to be closer to home after the death of his younger brother, Scotty, in October, 1994. “He had brain damage when he was 4 months old, but lived until he was 16,” Billingsley said. “I thought if I was closer after that, it would help my parents.”

Billingsley received his release from East Carolina, then asked Randy Kapano, who runs a baseball academy in West Covina, to help him find a new school. “I think it took courage on his part to walk away from a scholarship at East Carolina, not knowing what would happen,” his father said.

Kapano contacted Horton, among others.

“UCLA offered me a partial scholarship,” Billingsley said. “Coach Horton told me that Fullerton couldn’t offer me anything but an opportunity, but I took it because I really needed someone who could help me learn pitching. I was still rough around the edges, and I knew I needed help.”

Billingsley says Horton has made a big difference.

“The big thing was probably him teaching me the slider,” Billingsley said. “I went from three pitches to four, and we worked on some other mechanics last fall that also helped. I found myself throwing harder right off the bat.”

Horton calls the pitches, and Billingsley’s occasional control problems keep the coach on the edge of his chair.

“He’s a fasten-your-seatbelt kind of guy,” Horton said. “He gets into a lot of three-ball counts, and that can be frustrating at times for a pitching coach. Sometimes you expect him to be giving up five or six walks, but you look down and it’s only been one or two.”

Horton normally worries more about Billingsley’s control early, but last Friday night against Long Beach State, the fire didn’t flare until the sixth inning.

Billingsley retired the first two batters before giving up a hit. But then he walked two, and hit a third to force in a run. That wildness cost him his first loss of the season, even though he gave up only five hits in seven innings.

Before that, he had two consecutive complete-game victories. Billingsley gave up only four hits in each of those games, striking out 13 in one and nine in aother.

“Even though you feel like you’re walking the tightrope with him sometimes, he’s exceeded all our expectations,” Horton said. “When he came to us, he had a good curve, but it’s tough to throw that pitch consistently for strikes. But he picked up the slider fairly easily, and that’s helped him become a more complete pitcher.”

Horton says he focuses mainly on trying to get Billingsley off to a good start. “I’ve just been telling him that he needs to throw more strikes early,” Horton said.

Billingsley says pitching for a team with Fullerton’s hitting strength has helped.

“When I pitched at East Carolina I didn’t get many runs,” Billingsley said. “This year, I come out knowing that I’m going to get help from the offense, and our defense has been so good that it’s a lot easier to pitch. And [catcher Brian] Loyd is great. If I throw a ball in the dirt, I know he’s going to block it. Nothing bothers him. He picks me up all the time. He’s aggressive about throwing behind runners at first, and his arm makes it tough to steal a base.”

Billingsley’s success this season has attracted interest from pro scouts. Although a sophomore from eligibility standpoint, Billingsley is eligible for the June draft because of the redshirt year.

Angel scout Rick Ingalls, who watched Billingsley Friday night, says he was impressed. “He’s not a [radar] gun guy with great speed, but it’s good enough to at least get him to the door of the majors, and being a left-hander helps,” Ingalls said.

The success this season has been a special joy to Billingsley’s father, who was drafted in the late rounds by the Oakland A’s after helping Santa Fe Springs Santa Fe High--the same school where the Titans’ Mark Kotsay played--advance to the Southern Section finals in 1969 at Dodger Stadium, where they lost to Long Beach Millikan. He passed up the pro contract for college, and never had the chance again because of his injury.

“I’m really pleased for Brent,” said Al Billingsley, who graduated from Fullerton even though he was never able to pitch for the Titans. “I knew he had the potential, and now things have worked out so well for him.”