Janicki’s Arm Is OK, but He’s Not Sure About Relief Role

Pete Janicki answers the first question before it’s completely asked, probably because it’s the first question he’s always asked.

“I’m doing fine,” he says. “My arm feels great.”

It’s not that Janicki, 26, wants to forget the stress fracture or broken elbow that stalled what was expected to be a swift ascent to the majors after being selected by the Angels in the first round of the 1992 draft.

After all, if he does make it, it will be that much sweeter, considering the obstacles he has overcome.

But any time something goes wrong along the way, Janicki said it’s automatically assumed there’s a problem with his arm. He heard it when the Angels assigned him to triple-A Vancouver after only a brief look during spring training. He’s hearing it again after getting off to a 1-2 start with an 8.33 earned-run average for the Canadians.

But he insists his arm is not the problem. What’s taken some major adjustment this season, he said, is going from being a starter to a reliever.

“I had never gone into a spring as a reliever,” Janicki said. “I didn’t know what to expect, and I should have thrown more on the side because the Angels had many guys to look at. I went into the regular season weaker than I have in other seasons. That was my fault.”

Janicki said he spent April building the arm strength he should have had in March. In May, he struggled with his pitching form.

It’s only been in June, when he lowered his ERA from 12.00, that Janicki has begun to resemble the pitcher that he and the Angels expected him to be.

Confidence has had to carry Janicki, a 1989 graduate of El Dorado High, through five bumpy years of pro ball.

Signed out of UCLA in 1992, his career was delayed a season while he recovered from a stress fracture that occurred during the 1992 Olympic trials. In his pro debut for Class-A Palm Springs, he fractured his right elbow in his second inning of work.

“I never nailed down what happened,” Janicki said. “I’m sure I threw too much in college and the Olympic trials. The stress fracture took a long time to diagnose, and I don’t think it healed right.

“I gave the bone a year to heal [after the second fracture], and I’ve had no problems since.”

But he still has to convince the Angels.

He took a step toward doing that in 1995, finishing with a 9-4 record and 3.06 ERA in 20 starts for Class-A Lake Elsinore. But last season he stumbled, going 0-4 in six starts before winning a game for Vancouver. By June, he was demoted to double-A Midland (Texas), where he was 1-3 in five starts. In July, he returned to Vancouver but pitched primarily in relief. By season’s end, his ledger stood at 2-9, 6.75.

“I still think I’m in the Angels’ plans. I hope so. A lot this year depends on where they’re at in the standings and their health. When I’m throwing at my best, I know they can use me. I’ve had bad outings and thought, ‘That’s no way to show you’re ready for the big leagues.’ But when I feel good, I feel I can pitch anywhere.”

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Longevity is an admirable trait. But it does not often exist in the world of minor league baseball.

It’s a rare breed who can continue to chase the major league dream for more than six or seven years.

Alan Newman is one such player. The left-hander out of La Habra is pitching for the Birmingham (Ala.) Barons, the Chicago White Sox’s double-A team. This is his eighth professional team over a career that spans three major league organizations and one independent league team since 1988.

And Newman, 27, a reliever, is pitching well enough to keep believing he’ll get a chance.

In 24 appearances this season, he is 5-1 with a 2.72 ERA and five saves. He has pitched 46 1/3 innings, given up 34 hits and 22 runs (14 earned), walked 26 and struck out 41. He has limited opponents to a .200 batting average.

In his last 32 2/3 innings, spanning 14 appearances, Newman has not given up an earned run, and no runs period in the last 21 2/3 innings. During that stretch he is 3-0 with five saves.

No wonder he still believes.

“If you get even one day up [in the majors], get that one chance, it’s worth all the work to get there,” Newman said.

Signed out of Fullerton College in 1988 by the Minnesota Twins, Newman got as far as triple-A Nashville in 1993. But he picked that year to have his worst pro season, going 1-6 in 14 games (11 starts) before being traded to the Reds. He finished at 1-3 in eight games (three starts) for triple-A Indianapolis. His combined ERA that season was 6.62.

From 1994 to 1996, Newman was 25-16 with a 4.16 ERA in 78 appearances as a starter and reliever. Baseball became a joy instead of a job.

“That was the most fun I’ve had playing baseball,” said Newman, 6-6 and 240 pounds. “I learned how to to pitch in the independent league. It was like a mini big leagues; the goal is to win, so you sacrifice your own goals to make the team better. In the minors, guys can be more worried about their stats.

“If baseball has taught me anything, it is how to be patient. If you try and push things, it usually doesn’t happen. Sit and wait your turn.”

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Because of the relatively small dimensions at the Saddleback College baseball field, many have speculated that home runs would be a common site at Mission Viejo Vigilantes’ home games.

But that hasn’t been the case. The Vigilantes have homered only 17 times in 19 games despite the fact that it’s only 320 feet down the left- and right-field lines and 380 to center.

One of the reasons for the lower-than-expected totals is the damp air that blows in each night around 8:30, making late-inning homers rare.

The Vigilantes have hit 10 homers on the road.

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This week in minor league baseball history:

July 4, 1929--One of the longest estimated home runs was hit by Oakland Oaks’ Roy Carlyle, who reportedly hit a ball 618 feet over the clubhouse in deepest center field at Emeryville Park in Oakland. Carlyle’s blast came off Mission’s Ernie Nevers, famed Stanford All-American football star, in a Pacific Coast League game.

July 6, 1952--Marv Throneberry, perhaps best known for his appearance in beer commercials, doubled into a double play as an 18-year-old rookie first baseman with the Quincy (Ill.) Gems (New York Yankees’ affiliate) in the Three-I League. Two base runners were thrown out at the plate on Throneberry’s drive.

July 7, 1951--Emmett Ashford, the first black umpire in organized ball, broke in behind the plate for a game between Yuma (Ariz.) and Mexicali, Mexico, in the Southwest International League. He would finally make it to the majors in 1966, working in the American League through 1970.

Staff writer Steve Kresal contributed to this story.