Garner Excels in His Mind Game

What’s his secret?

What has made Fullerton pitcher Michael Garner--who’s 9-1 with a 0.37 earned-run average--immune from the pounding many other county high school pitchers have absorbed in 1996?

It’s not the glasses. He wears contacts on the field.

It’s not the arm. Garner’s best fastball is probably in the mid-80s.

The difference, apparently, is all in his head.

Garner, the Freeway League player of the year, succeeds with pinpoint control and throwing the pitch the batter is least expecting.

“I think his best pitch is his brain,” Sonora co-Coach John Link said after watching Garner beat his team twice this season. “He’ll be successful because he’s so smart and incredibly competitive.

“The last lefty I saw like him in the Freeway League was Dave Bird, who was 13-1 for Sonora in 1986. Garner doesn’t look like he can throw the ball by you, but he’s a ‘backwards’ pitcher; he’ll get you out with a fastball late in the count because he sets up the fastball by using a curve early in the count. Then he changes patterns.”

Garner tries not to think about how and why he has been the dominant pitcher in the county this season, leading Fullerton to its first Freeway League championship in four seasons. Fullerton hosts La Verne Damien in a Southern Section Division II first-round playoff game at 3:15 p.m. today.

“I’m just trying to appreciate the year I’ve had,” Garner said. “The ERA is more a tribute to the team’s defense.

“I’ve never had a year to compare to it. The closest thing would be playing on the Pico Rivera Royals two years ago when we came in third during the Mickey Mantle World Series.”

This has been a banner year for the senior. He was a wide receiver on the school’s football team, catching 33 passes for 472 yards to help the Indians win their first outright league title since 1983. But that has been overshadowed by his performance on the mound.

In 74 innings, Garner has given up only 40 hits and 17 runs, four of those earned. He has three shutouts. He has walked only 26, and leads the county in strikeouts with 116. Overall, opponents are hitting .173 against him.

Garner started to enjoy pitching in the eighth grade.

“I found I like being in command,” he said. “I had the game in my hands. I wanted that control.”

As a sophomore at Fullerton, he learned his signature pitch: a late-breaking knuckle-curve that looks like it’s coming in straight, then drops off a cliff. When hitters swing, they’re apt to swing over it.

“The curve I had in the ninth grade wasn’t doing much, so I started fooling around with this and saw it had a late break,” Garner said. “When I showed it to the coaches, they told me to stick with it.”

Fullerton catcher Manny Ramirez said when Garner is effective, “it feels like just the two of us out there playing catch.”

Marty Berson has 28 years of experience as a baseball coach but, before coming to Fullerton this season, only five were in high school. Those five years were spent at Savanna, and Berson had an excellent pitcher--Brian Hayes, who was an All-American at USC.

But Hayes “never had this [0.37] ERA,” Berson said. “In fact I’ve never had anyone with the ERA Michael has carved out.”

Although Garner is hitting .494 with seven RBIs, Berson said his future in baseball is on the mound.

“He might get drafted [by the pros] but they’re looking for guys who throw in the 90s. He’ll get bigger but not taller. He’ll always be a small lefty in the scouts’ eyes, but people have no idea what kind of competitor he is,” Berson said.

Link and Sonora do. The Raiders, the defending Division II champions who set a county record with 42 home runs, had expected another league romp this season. But Sonora hitters could not lay a bat on Garner; they struck out 26 times and batted .143 against him. His two league victories against Sonora were the difference between first and second place.

“Fullerton did a great job as a team,” Link said. “It did all the things it needed to do to win: play sound defense and score runs when it got the opportunity.

“But Garner is one of those kids who comes once every 10 years that has something special.”

Link is not alone in his praise of Garner, who has signed to attend Cal State Fullerton.

“His numbers are conducive to being the top high school pitcher in the county,” said George Horton, Cal State Fullerton associate head coach. “There are other pitchers who may be better professional prospects because of their size and velocity, but Mike has been the most effective pitcher.”