Garland Is Losing Sleep, but Not Efficiency

Ah, life in the minor leagues. Sleep til noon, hang out for a couple hours, then play under lights on balmy summer evenings.

That’s the way Jon Garland, the Chicago Cubs’ first-round pick from Kennedy High, envisioned it. But his first year of pro ball has been one rude awakening after another.

As in, his alarm clock goes off at 5 every morning.

Playing in the Arizona Rookie League, Garland is at the field by 6 a.m. and working on drills by 7. Games begin at 10 a.m. and are done about the time the brutal afternoon heat kicks in.

Garland and his teammates duck back to their Mesa, Ariz., hotel rooms for a nap, then have dinner.

As a routine, it’s kind of like kindergarten.

“When I first got here, it was hard to wake up so early, but I’m used to it now,” Garland said. “You lose track of the days. Time flies. It comes to a day off and I have no idea if it’s Tuesday or Friday.”

Time is marked by pitching appearances. His pitch limit is up to 80 after beginning at 35 and he usually goes five or six innings.

Any adjustment period was short. In Garland’s second outing, he struck out six and walked none in three shutout innings.

“I could tell things would go pretty well after that one,” he said.

Indeed. Garland has walked six and struck out 36 in 37 innings. He is 3-2 with a 2.43 earned-run average and was hit hard only once, by the Mariners’ rookie team.

He is basically the same pitcher who dominated City Section hitters the past couple of years, throwing a 90-92 mph fastball, a hard curve and circle changeup.

Garland’s mechanics, already polished by his cousin and Kennedy pitching coach John Bushart, have been left alone. He is throwing far more changeups than he did in high school, about 15 per game.

Every outing does more to convince Garland he made the right choice not to hold out. He signed in June for a bonus of about $1.325 million, all of which is sitting safely in a bank account.

“I’m having fun,” he said. “I don’t regret anything. It helps in the long run to get out and play instead of arguing over a contract.”

Although he doesn’t turn 18 until Sept. 27, Garland is only mildly homesick. Good thing. He gets only two weeks at home in early September before reporting to the fall instructional league.

“That’ll be good, there will be more coaches from the ball club,” he said. “I’ll be back here on my birthday, but it’s all right. I’d rather be home but it’s what you have to do.”

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How’s this for putting the brakes on power: 51 to 0 in one change of uniform.

High on the list of reasons Adam Kennedy was as All-American at Cal State Northridge and was a first-round draft choice of the St. Louis Cardinals was his extraordinary pop for a shortstop. He hit 26 home runs last spring and 51 in his three-year Matador career.

But in 55 professional games--29 with the New Jersey Cardinals and 26 with the Prince William (Va.) Cannons--Kennedy has yet to go deep.

Everything else is going well. He batted .342 at New Jersey of the short-season Class-A New York-Penn League and is batting .300 since being promoted to the high Class-A Carolina League. His defense has been stellar.

What about the power outage?

“I’ve hit five balls off the top of the fence,” he said. “I’m not concerned about it. I’m using the whole field and I’m adjusting to a wood bat.”

Kennedy is the only player from this year’s draft in the Carolina League. He was promoted when shortstop Jason Woolf left the team because of migraine headaches and has proven he can handle it.

The biggest adjustment is realizing he can’t dominate the way he did at Northridge.

“You don’t hit .480 any more, so I’m concentrating on my defense,” Kennedy said. “That’s keeping me happy. I’m playing more naturally, instead of so by the book.”

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Until Stacy Kleiner was promoted to double-A Arkansas last week, Prince William had area products at first, second and shortstop.

Kennedy and second baseman Kleiner (Taft High) are having solid seasons. Kleiner batted .314 at Prince William and is hitting .269 in his first six games at Arkansas.

But first baseman Nate Dishington (Hoover), a Cardinals’ second-round pick in 1993, is enjoying a breakthrough season with 27 home runs and 101 runs batted in to go with a .275 batting average.

Until this year, the 6-foot-6 Dishington, 22, was untapped potential, hitting only 19 home runs in three seasons and striking out about one-third of the time.

Now he’s a strong candidate for the Carolina League’s most valuable player award.

“He’s definitely awesome,” Kennedy said. “They don’t even pitch to him here and he has 27 home runs. His maturity level is very high. I’m really impressed by him.”

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Not promoted. New position. The signs were ominous for David Lamb at the beginning of the season.

A shortstop since the day he picked up a glove, Lamb was moved to second base and sent to Frederick, Md., of the Carolina League, his fourth Class-A stop since the Baltimore Orioles made him a second-round draft choice out of Newbury Park High in 1993.

Had the prospect some scouts believed would inherit Cal Ripken’s position become a bounce-around-the-minors bust?

To his credit, Lamb, 22, didn’t sit around wondering what happened. He began making it happen.

The transition to second went well enough that he made the Carolina League all-star team, and in June was promoted to the double-A Bowie (Md.) Baysox.

Who promptly made him a third baseman.

Good fortune finally shone on Lamb when one shortstop, Augie Ojeda, was promoted to triple A, and another, Juan Batista, was traded to the Chicago White Sox.

Lamb is back at shortstop. And if contentment is reflected in strong offensive numbers, it’s apparent he’s overjoyed.

In 60 games with the Baysox, Lamb is batting .342 with 18 doubles and three home runs in 222 at-bats. The switch-hitter is batting nearly .400 left-handed and about .280 right-handed.

“I’m back at home now playing shortstop,” Lamb said. “Looking back on it now, I’m glad things happened the way they did. It’s good to know all three infield positions, it makes you that much more valuable.”

A lack of power the past few years had the Orioles thinking Lamb might be just a utility infielder at the major league level, but he hit 21 doubles at Frederick, giving him 39 this season.

“I got a little stronger,” he said. “It’s the only thing I’ve changed. This is the year everything’s happened for me. It’s just like, it was time.”

Lamb’s defense has improved too, especially his throwing.

Since Bowie is a short drive from Baltimore, the timing for a breakout year couldn’t be better.

“Somebody from the Orioles’ front office is at nearly every home game,” Lamb said. “I know I can play shortstop in the big leagues. This is a good opportunity to show what you’ve got.”