Wright Would Prefer a Steady Diet of Opposing Hitters

Jaret Wright did not expect his summer diet to consist of blended beef stew, pureed burritos and cheeseburgers, Cream of Wheat and protein shakes. He also did not expect to have to suck up those tasty meals through a syringe with his mouth wired shut and a metal plate in his cheekbone.

But that is what the Cleveland Indians’ top draft pick in 1994 is dealing with after he accidentally walked into a practice swing before the Class A All-Star game in Rancho Cucamonga two weeks ago.

Some of Wright’s initial frustration has worn off, but he still gets testy when people tell him to look on the bright side.

“They keep telling me I’m lucky,” Wright said Monday from his parents’ home in Anaheim. “That it could have been my arm or my shoulder, but I still broke my jaw in three places.”

Wright’s mother, Vicky, said even though people are trying to be nice, they obviously don’t know her son’s love of food when they attempt to rationalize his injury.

“He keeps looking at them and thinking, ‘How can you say I’m lucky when I can’t eat,’ ” Vicky said. “Remember this is a kid who loves his Del Taco.”

Because of his penchant for fast food and food in general, Wright has always been a little on the chunky side for someone 6 feet 2. But Vicky Wright said Jaret came home two weeks ago in better shape than she has ever seen him. The last thing he needed was a diet of pureed food.

Somehow Wright has managed to keep his weight around 200. He said he has lost only five or 10 pounds and he has managed to keep his arm loose by doing some light throwing with his father Clyde, the former Angels’ pitcher.

“The pain in my jaw is gone but my teeth hurt and I can’t eat or talk,” Wright said in a muffled tone.

Wright has kept himself entertained by going to Angel games with his father, playing miniature golf with his family and going to the beach with cans of vanilla shakes, which give him about 350 of the 3,000 daily calories he needs to maintain his weight.

It’s not the summer he had planned, but the worst is over. Wright has only two more weeks of wires in his mouth before he can start running, throwing and eating solid food again. Wright said he hopes to rejoin his Kinston teammates by early August.

Mark Shapiro, the Indians’ director of minor league operations, said Wright’s broken jaw was unfortunate but not devastating. Shapiro expects Wright to make up for the missing two months by pitching in the Arizona Fall League.

Shapiro said the worst thing about Wright’s accident was its timing.

“He was making tremendous progress on his ability to throw the breaking ball for strikes and all his pitches for strikes,” Shapiro said. “His mechanics were progressing. He’s worked very hard on developing a changeup and his fastball has even improved. He’s been averaging 93 or 94 miles an hour and he’s throwing it more consistently for strikes.”

Wright, in his third season of professional ball, was easily having his best statistical year. In 67 2/3 innings, he had 76 strikeouts and had given up 43 walks and 43 hits. In 13 starts, his earned-run average is 2.53 and his record is 4-4. In one game, Wright struck out 12 in five innings, including seven in a row.

Shapiro called Wright, 20, and Bartolo Colon, 21, the best two pitching prospects in the Indians’ organization and two of the top pitching prospects in baseball. Shapiro said he expects Wright to pitch next season in double-A Canton-Akron. He raised the possibility that Wright could get an invitation to the big league camp next spring, though that might depend on how Wright’s arm reacts to two months of inactivity.

“If at the end of this year in Arizona we decide that Jaret has a chance to impact the major league team next year, then we’ll bring him up in the spring,” Shapiro said.

In two years, Shapiro said he could see a starting rotation of Wright, Colon, Albie Lopez, Julian Tavarez and Charles Nagy, with Brian Anderson or Chad Ogea also in the mix.

While watching the Indians-White Sox game on television Sunday, Wright had a similar vision.

“You have to look at yourself in the big leagues,” he said. “I surely don’t see myself in Class A in two years. You have to look at the big picture.”

*

Wright is not the only Orange County player on the Kinston Indians’ disabled list this season. Noe Najera, who played at Cypress College, has been on the disabled list for two weeks with biceps tendinitis. Gerad Cawhorn of Golden West and Brea Olinda missed the first half of the season with a broken left wrist after being hit with a pitch on his first plate appearance of the season.

Najera, who is expected back this week, has been a pleasant surprise after being picked in the 19th round in 1992. Najera, a 25-year-old left-hander, is 5-2 in 13 starts with a 2.59 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 80 innings. He has given up 67 hits and 28 walks.

“He’s definitely opening some people eye’s within the organization from a statistical standpoint,” said Gordy Gutowsky, Indians’ assistant director of minor league operations.

Cawhorn, a second and third baseman, has played only 17 games since coming off the DL and is hitting .262 with seven RBIs.

Another player, second baseman Eric White, has a county connection, even if it’s in his own mind. White, who attended Diamond Bar High School, told Kinston public relations director Josh Wetzel that he played one season at Cal State Fullerton. Fullerton officials, though, said there was no record of White playing for the Titans.