One-Pitch Wonder

Greg Jacobs had this vision before, or at least a version of it:

He’s warming up in the bullpen and the Angels’ starting pitcher is laboring. Manager Mike Scioscia goes to the mound and signals for him. “Let’s go, lefty,” Scioscia says. “Get this guy out and get back to the dugout.”

Then one pitch. One ground ball. One final out.

One day . . . one day.

Except this really happened. There were witnesses, including his mother, Georgia Jacobs, who traveled 2,000 miles to see that one pitch.

OK, so it was only an exhibition game . . . against Cal State Fullerton . . . on the Sunday before the regular season was to start, when most of the Angels, the real ones--Tim Salmon, Mo Vaughn, Darin Erstad, etc.--were home resting.

Still, Jacobs was in an Angel uniform. He may have been a one-pitch wonder on that day, but dreams do come true.

Reality takes a little more work.

“They got to see me throw,” said Jacobs, who opened the season at Class-A Lake Elsinore. “And they got to see a hard-throwing left-hander that they don’t have many of in this organization, which is probably a good thing to have on my side.

“I was glad. I got to put on an Angel uniform and be with the big guys and show my stuff.”

That’s what this season is about for Jacobs: showing his stuff. His first two seasons in the Angel organization were spent learning how to prepare, how to act, how to pitch. Now, he has to prove he has what it takes.

Few do.

Only about 10% of players signed ever spend a day in the major leagues, let alone have a career, according to a Baseball America survey.

While others have lost their way, Jacobs, who played at Canyon High and Cal State Fullerton, remains on track heading into his third professional season. About the same time Jacobs was told he would be in uniform for the exhibition game, the Angels were making their final cuts. Some of his friends were packing their bags.

There but for the grace of a 94-mph fastball . . .

Jacobs was a 13th-round draft pick in 1998 and one of 35 players at Class-A Boise that season. Two years later, only 20 remain in the organization. The other 15 will never throw one pitch, or take one swing for the Angels . . . even in an exhibition game.

“I had a hard time in spring training watching friends get released,” Jacobs said. “It was like someone died that day. That’s basically what it is when you get released. Your dreams and everything you have worked for are over, unless you find another team.

“It sinks into your own heart when some of your good friends get released. You’re like, ‘Man, what if that was me?’ But then, you’ve just got to go out that day and work that much harder.”

*

That one pitch he threw two weeks ago won’t get Jacobs to the major leagues, but . . .

“Any time you get a chance to be seen by someone with the big club,” Scioscia said, “it is to your benefit. You can open some eyes.

“He did his job. He came in and got the batter out. I remember he threw hard.”

Must have been some pitch.

“Fastball,” Jacobs said.

Impressions, though, are important this season. There is a new Angel regime for Jacobs to impress. The turnover started at the top, with the hiring of General Manager Bill Stoneman, and trickled down. Former Angel catcher Darrell Miller, a special assistant scout with the team from 1993-99, became director of player development.

The 23-year-old Jacobs was a warm, if not hot, commodity with the Angels last season. His fastball has been clocked in the mid-90s. Although he was 2-5 with a 4.44 earned-run average at Class-A Cedar Rapids, he did strike out 106 batters in 105 1/3 innings.

In the postseason evaluation, Jacobs was rated as having a major league arm, and had showed significant improvement as a pitcher. The Angels sent him to the Arizona Instructional League, where he honed his off-speed and breaking pitches. Soon after, he was under new management and Jacobs certainly noticed the changes.

“There was a whole new manual,” Jacobs said. “The rule that stuck out was no facial hair. I have had a goatee the past three years. Everyone knows me because of my goatee . . . and because I bleach my hair blond. I’m not a big fan of [that rule] at all.”

Said Miller: “He has a type-A personality. Personality is everything. You want to be separated from the group and have people notice you. Greg . . . you don’t miss him. He is not going to get overlooked. He has some flamboyance and you need a little of that.”

Flamboyance may help. Talent helps a lot more.

Making the jump to double-A Erie won’t be easy, though Angel officials have indicated Jacobs is capable. They told him to purchase a suit, just in case. The Erie team flies on road trips instead of grinding them out on a bus, and players are required to wear suits.

Still, it is by no means a lock.

“This is the level where a player has to show us,” said Ken Forsch, the Angels’ assistant general manager. “The first two years we teach them. Now they have to execute. Going from Class A to double-A may be the most difficult jump.”

*

There is one other pitch etched in Jacobs’ mind, and this one hurt. A line drive ricocheted off his left ankle last Saturday against Rancho Cucamonga in Lake Elsinore’s third game of the season.

“I got drilled right on the shin,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs got out of the inning, then retired the side in order the next inning. The following day, his leg was swollen up to his knee.

Jacobs returned two days later. He pitched the final two innings, giving up no runs and striking out two, in a 4-0 victory over San Bernardino on Wednesday.

“Things could end that fast, but I don’t really think about that,” Jacobs said. “Anything can happen.”

As Jacobs knows all too well. Getting ready for spring training this year was a pain . . . literally.

Jacobs injured his hamstring while pushing himself in a shuttle drill a month before camp opened.

“I was trying to get ready for that drill because they give a steak dinner to the guy with the best time,” Jacobs said.

He said he remembered the food provided by the team from his first spring training. “I really wanted that steak dinner,” he said.

Jacobs also suffered a partial tear of his right chest muscle . . . while walking his 85-pound boxer.

“He took off and I grabbed a wall,” Jacobs said. “But it was my right side. I always walk my dog with my right hand. I do everything but pitch with my right hand. I’m not going to stick my left hand in the oven while cooking and get it burned. That left arm is going to be my livelihood . . . hopefully.”

The injuries might have slowed his progress, but he tried an experimental treatment. He was placed in a chamber where he breathed 100% oxygen.

Jim Bouton, former Yankee pitcher, wrote in his book “Ball Four” that if there was a pill that guaranteed 20 victories but might take five years off your life, pitchers would take it.

The treatment, which was not nearly so threatening, did help the muscles heal, Jacobs said, which led to an impressive performance in his second spring training.

“This year is my production year basically,” Jacobs said. “I had a good season last year. It’s time to say that was not a fluke. I can put up the stats at any level and I’m prepared to do it.”

He backed that up with a solid spring.

“I think I only had one walk in 12-13 innings and I had a stack full of strikeouts,” Jacobs said. “Facing triple-A and double-A hitters really helped. If I didn’t get ahead on the count, they were going to teach me a lesson. I really stressed throwing that first pitch for a strike instead of trying to hit corners. That was a little new for me, and it works.

“I figure if I pitched to those guys and did well, I can do it [at Lake Elsinore].”

*

Jacobs did have that pinch-me feeling against Fullerton.

“[Angel pitching coach] Bud Black said, ‘Hey Jacobs, how long does it take you to get warmed up?’ ” Jacobs said. “I said, ‘I don’t know, maybe 10-15 pitches.’ He told me to get down to the bullpen.

“I threw about 10 pitches in the bullpen and all of a sudden I saw Scioscia go out there and I was like, ‘Oh no, here we go.’

“Hopefully, I put a little note in the back of their heads as to what kind of left-handed pitcher I am.”

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Caught in the Draft

Greg Jacobs was selected out of Cal State Fullerton in the 13th round of baseball’s amateur draft in 1998.

Over the years, the Angels have been successful taking pitchers with their top pick. They tabbed Andy Messersmith in 1966, Frank Tanana in ‘71, Chuck Finley in ’85 and Jim Abbott in ’88.

In the past few years, however, position players have made the greatest impact. Left fielder Darin Erstadt was the club’s No. 1 pick in 1995 and third baseman Troy Glaus was the top selection in ’97.

The Angels’ No. 1 draft selections in the 1990s (not all in the first round):

1999--John Lackey, P. Starting 2000 season for Angels’ triple-A team in Edmonton.

1998--Seth Etherton, P. With Edmonton.

1997--Troy Glaus, Inf. Angels’ starting third baseman.

1996--Chuck Abbott, Inf. With Edmonton.

1995--Darin Erstadt, OF. Angels’ starting left fielder.

1994--McKay Christensen, OF. Reserve with Chicago White Sox.

1993--Brian Anderson, P. Starter with Arizona Diamondbacks.

1992--Pete Janicki, P. Retired.

1991--Eduardo Perez, OF. With St. Louis Cardinals’ triple-A team in Memphis.

1990--Phil Leftwich, P. Played in Japan last season.

Source: Angels media guide and Major League Baseball

Reported by Bob Rohwer