Wallace Gets Relief in Royals’ Bullpen

Derek Wallace pitched in three consecutive games for the Kansas City Royals this week, but he isn’t complaining about overuse.

He’s waited so long for the opportunity he’d gladly take the ball every day until the end of the season.

The right-hander from Chatsworth High is back in the big leagues after a frustrating and frightening two years that included surgery to remove an aneurysm from his right shoulder and an uphill recovery that ended at a roadblock in Norfolk, Va.

Wallace, 27, pitching in triple-A, was traded by the New York Mets to the Royals on Aug. 13. The Royals put him on their roster--releasing Matt Whisenant, former Glendale High left-hander, to make room--and Wallace made his American League debut Tuesday against the New York Yankees, retiring the two batters he faced.

He pitched scoreless innings against the Yankees on Wednesday and Thursday. In his third appearance, he retired the side in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings. The Royals won in 11, 4-1.

“I had butterflies, but I waited for this a long time,” Wallace said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

In 1996, Wallace was heir apparent to Mets’ closer John Franco after notching 26 saves for the triple-A Norfolk Tides. He was promoted to the Mets in August and had three saves in three opportunities with a 2-3 record in 19 appearances.

But the aneurysm was diagnosed during spring training the following year and he missed most of the season, pitching only 16 innings in the minor leagues.

Last year Wallace appeared on track, going 5-2 with 16 saves in 60 innings at Norfolk. However, he was back in triple-A this season.

When Franco was injured in June and Wallace remained at Norfolk, it became clear he wasn’t in the Mets’ plans.

Wallace is the Tides’ all-time save leader with 39, a dubious honor considering nobody wants to be in triple-A long enough to hold a career record.

But there is opportunity with the Royals, whose bullpen has blown 26 saves, the most in the major leagues.

“We are continuing to address our needs and looking to upgrade ourbullpen situation,” said Allard Baird, the Royals’ assistant general manager. “We hope that Derek can strengthen our bullpen, not only for the remainder of this year, but also as we look toward the 2000 season.”

*

One Detroit Tigers rookie has muscled his way onto the cover of more magazines in the last year than any baseball players except Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

Another was ascending the ranks of the minor leagues too quickly to stop for a photograph.

Gabe Kapler and Jeff Weaver started strongly. But, like their team, they are struggling down the stretch.

Funny. The game never came easy to either player growing up. But just when they seemingly had it mastered, hardship returned.

The powerful Kapler--popular in body-building as well as baseball magazines--was a 51st-round draft pick from Moorpark College and Taft High who developed into the Minor League player of the year last season and began this season as the Tigers’ center fielder.

The tall, lean Weaver was a reserve at Simi Valley High who blossomed into a three-time All-American at Fresno State and first-round draft pick in ’98. He shot through the farm system and by May was in the Tigers’ starting rotation.

Kapler, 23, held his own early, hitting 12 home runs and driving in 32 runs through the all-star break. But he hit only one homer in July and a recent one-for-16 slump put him on the bench.

The center fielder of late is Kimera Bartee, 27, whose only extensive big league experience came in 1996 when he batted .253 with 20 stolen bases. Bartee is batting only .219.

Weaver was promoted from double-A Jacksonville in April, posting a 6-3 record with a 2.89 earned-run average through May.

The 6-foot-5 right-hander was touted as a rookie of the year candidate.

But Weaver (7-9) hadn’t won since May 27, a span of 13 starts, until a 5-0 victory over the Angels on Saturday night. He allowed three hits in seven innings.

“Things just aren’t going the way they were for me early in the season,” Weaver said. “It seems like I get two outs in an inning and I can’t get out of it.

“My mind wanders and I try to put too much extra on the pitch, and that’s when I leave the ball inside and hit somebody, or leave the ball up in the zone, instead of staying within myself and throwing pitches I know I can.”

Weaver and Kapler are not the only struggling Tigers. The team is 27 games under .500 and 27 games behind Cleveland in the A.L. Central Division entering Saturday’s game against the Angels.

“It’s really hard for me to deal with,” Kapler said. “The pressure I put on myself has increased because of the losing. It’s a first-time experience for me, this losing day after day.”

Kapler tripled for Detroit’s only hit against Wilson Alvarez of Tampa Bay on Wednesday.

*

Robert Fick, Cal Northridge All-American catcher from Newbury Park High, has recovered from shoulder surgery and is playing for the first time this season.

“It still feels weak and I don’t have quite the full range of motion, but I’ve got to play,” he said.

Fick played three games this week for the Tigers’ rookie league team in Lakeland, Fla., where he had been rehabilitating the shoulder for two months. He caught and played first base, and went three for eight with a double and a stolen base.

On Friday he moved to Class-A West Michigan, where he was most valuable player of the Midwest League in 1997, and went one for three as a designated hitter.