Wise Willing to Play Waiting Game

Matt Wise, a former Cal State Fullerton pitcher, began this season in a starting rotation along with Seth Etherton, Brian Cooper and Jarrod Washburn for the Angels’ triple-A team at Edmonton.

Etherton, Cooper and Washburn have since been called up by the Angels, and Wise thinks his chance to pitch in the major leagues will come eventually.

“‘I’m playing the patience game now,” Wise said. “This is my first season in triple A. It’s a learning experience for me, and I’m trying to take advantage of it.”

Greg Minton, the pitching coach at Edmonton, rates Wise as a solid major league prospect.

“He’s gotten to triple A quickly,” Minton said. “He’s still throwing at only about 80% of his potential, and he’s going to get better. I wouldn’t be surprised if Matt passes some of the people who have been ahead of him, in time.”

Wise, a right-hander, has shown promise throughout his minor league career.

He is 6-4 with a 3.54 earned-run average this season. He had won four consecutive starts before a 5-4 loss to Sacramento last Monday. Wise came back Saturday to pitch a six-hitter in a 5-1 victory over Omaha.

Wise was 2-1 with a 2.73 ERA in May, when opponents batted only .238 against him. In 29 2/3 innings during the month, he struck out 22 and walked eight.

Drafted in the sixth round in 1997 out of Fullerton, Wise was 9-1 with a 3.25 ERA in his first professional season with Boise. He was 9-10 with a 5.42 ERA the following season with Midland of the double-A Texas League.

Wise was also enjoying a good season last year with an 8-5 record and 3.77 ERA for double-A Erie (Pa.) before he had surgery in July to remove a small bone chip in his right elbow.

“It was fairly minor, although it’s never minor when it’s on you,” Wise said. “But I still was out most of July and all of August. Fortunately, my rehab was very aggressive and I was able to get back for the Arizona fall league.”

Wise was invited to start spring training with the Angels.

“I learned a lot there,” he said. “They worked with me on the small things about pitching, the things that everyone needs to polish. It gave me a lot more confidence.”

Minton encouraged Wise to develop a hard slider, and use it more often.

“When I was at Fullerton, just about everything I threw was a fastball, but my slider has helped me. It’s around 81 to 83 [mph], and it works well off my fastball. It’s not that big looping curveball.

“I’ve also been working to keep the ball down in the strike zone. Get the ball up against some of these guys I’m facing now, and it’s out of the park.”

Minton says Wise has “a good natural changeup.” Wise said he also has worked to get more movement on his fastball, which is in the 90-91 mph range.

“I’m trying to focus on every pitch I make,” Wise said. “That’s one of the things the Fullerton coaches always stressed. I was fortunate that I came out of that kind of program, where they breed that kind of mental toughness.”

Wise had a thin physique when he pitched for the Titans, and it hasn’t changed. He is 6 feet 4 and 190 pounds, and can’t seem to add more weight.

“If he could add a few more pounds, I think it would help him,” Minton said.

But Wise is pleased his arm has felt strong this season.

“I feel good about the way I’m pitching,” he said. “If I keep on doing that, I think I’ll get my chance to move up when the time is right.”

LOYD AN ALL-STAR

Catcher Brian Loyd, who played for Cal State Fullerton’s national championship team in 1995 and the Olympic baseball team in ‘96, has been selected as the designated hitter for the Eastern Division team in the double-A Southern League All-Star game Tuesday in Greenville, S.C.

Loyd is playing for the Tennessee Smokies of Knoxville, a farm team for the Toronto Blue Jays. He is second in the league in batting with a .335 average and has driven in 15 runs through 45 games.

Loyd, drafted in the fifth round by San Diego in 1996, played 2 1/2 seasons in the Padre organization before being sent to the Blue Jays in the 1998 trade that brought relief pitcher Randy Myers to San Diego.

Loyd batted .281 with 11 home runs and 65 RBIs with the Smokies last season. All were career highs for him in the minors.

JONES PITCHING WELL

Marcus Jones, a former Esperanza High and Long Beach State pitcher, was moved up to Oakland’s triple-A team at Sacramento in April and has pitched well.

Jones is 5-2 with a 4.36 ERA in 11 starts for the River Cats.

He was called up from Class-A Visalia for a spot start when Sacramento had to play four games in three days after Mark Mulder had been called up to the A’s. Jones gave up seven hits and three runs in seven innings in that outing and has stayed with Sacramento.

Jones pitched most of last season for Visalia, posting a 6-4 record in 10 starts. He moved up to triple-A Vancouver for three starts and was 2-1, but finished the season with Class-A Modesto.