Harrington Is Worth the Trip to Palmdale

When General Manager Kevin Malone of the Dodgers decides to drive 35 miles down the Antelope Valley freeway from his home in Santa Clarita to watch a high school pitcher throw for three innings, you know the guy must be pretty good.

So there was Malone on Thursday at Palmdale High, along with more than 20 professional scouts, evaluating right-hander Matt Harrington, who has become the region’s most acclaimed pitching prospect since Roger Salkeld of Saugus was chosen as the third pick in the 1989 draft.

Harrington disappointed no one, allowing one hit in six innings with 12 strikeouts and no walks in Palmdale’s 7-1 Golden League victory over Lancaster.

The Dodgers have the 17th pick in the June draft, but Malone expects Harrington to be gone by then. He dropped by to visit with old friends from the scouting profession, but he must have left gushing about Harrington.

Harrington’s fastball was consistently 94 mph and his curveballs and sliders were equally effective. He retired the first 15 batters, 10 on strikeouts.

In the sixth inning, his bid for a perfect game ended when he hit Robbie McGaughey with a pitch. Then Dustan Stowe reached base on catcher’s interference.

With two out, Tony Ortiz broke up the no-hitter, beating out a slow roller to shortstop. When the throw was wild to first, Lancaster scored its only run.

“It actually upsets me,” Harrington said of the hit. “One thing I can’t stand is they get a hit and it wasn’t crushed.”

Lancaster (12-7, 6-3 in league play) didn’t come close to another hit off Harrington (8-0). The 6-foot-4 senior was in such dominating form that he didn’t have a single three-ball count.

He has surrendered 16 hits in 45 innings, and has 84 strikeouts and an 0.62 earned-run average.

The pressure and scrutiny continues to build, not to mention requests for autographs, but Harrington seems to be handling everything quite well.

“It’s fun,” he said. “People say a lot of stuff. It gets stressful sometimes knowing you have to pitch well every time they’re watching you. But it’s baseball, a game I love to play.”

The Harrington of this season is superior to the one of last year. He has become more than a thrower--he’s a real pitcher, mixing his fastball and slider.

“His windup is so effortless you don’t think he throws that hard, then it’s right on top of you,” Coach Lance Pierson said.

In moving two games ahead of Lancaster and Highland in the league race, Palmdale (14-4, 8-1) received two hits and three runs batted in from Drew Kennedy and two hits and two RBIs from Tyrone Culver.

Pierson’s main task for the rest of the regular season will be trying to develop a dependable No. 2 pitcher so the Falcons can be a contender in the Southern Section Division II playoffs.