Youngs Guns Trying to Turn It Around in Florida

One pitcher listens to Marilyn Manson records and wears nipple rings. Another collects baseball cards and laughs about his hairless chest. And then there’s Ryan Dempster, recently immersed in a clubhouse card game.

“Got any eights?” his playing partner asked.

“Go fish,” Dempster replied.

Dempster was playing with a teammate’s son at the time, but the point remains: These Florida Marlins pitchers are really young. They’re also the pride of a struggling franchise, and the Marlins expect to get better as their pitchers get older.

“Nobody in baseball has arms like this,” says reliever Dan Miceli, at 29 an old-timer compared with most of the staff.

The Marlins had the National League’s worst record in 1998 and 1999, and they may not be much better in 2000. But manager John Boles watches the daily parade of young pitchers in spring training and sees a brighter tomorrow.

“When you’re looking at the baby faces you say, ‘Whoa, this is something,’ ” he says. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can make a difference. We just don’t know when they’re going to start making a difference.”

Trying not to act their age are Josh Beckett, 19; Brad Penny, 21; Dempster, 22; A.J. Burnett and Jason Grilli, both 23; and Vladimir Nunez, 24. Dempster, Burnett and Nunez were in the rotation at the end of last season and will likely remain there. Penny and Grilli are competing for a starting spot, and Beckett, the best prospect of the bunch, could be in the majors by next season.

“These guys are legit,” Marlins ace Alex Fernandez says. “I see quite a future for the staff here.”

Such young talent seems especially tantalizing in spring training. Last year’s March sensation was Burnett, partly because of his sharp-breaking spike curve, and partly because of his piercings and enthusiasm for doom rocker Manson. The Arkansas native broke into the rotation late last season and went 4-2 with a 3.48 ERA.

This year, the buzz is about Beckett, the second player taken in the 1999 draft. The big Texan has a 95 mph fastball, a $7 million contract, 10,000 baseball cards and no nipple rings.

“I don’t even have any chest hair,” he says, pulling up his shirt to prove it.

If all of these young guns stay healthy, the Marlins envision a staff reminiscent of the Atlanta Braves of the 1990s. If all get hurt, the group would be reminiscent of the New York Mets of the early 1960s.

But the law of averages suggests at least a couple of the Marlins’ youngsters will blossom into something special.

“It’s like they’ve cornered the market on great young arms,” Tampa Bay manager Larry Rothschild says.

The Marlins did it by accumulating as many pitching prospects as possible when forced for financial reasons to dismantle the 1997 World Series championship team. Burnett, Grilli, Penny and Nunez were subsequently acquired in trades.

This season, some long nights--and long innings--are anticipated. The only established starter is the 30-year-old Fernandez, still feeling the effects of a shoulder injury in 1997.

But the Marlins believe the abundance of promising pitchers gives them the foundation for returning to the World Series. According to their rebuilding plan, the surplus of young arms will help them plug any holes in the batting order when they close in on pennant contention in another couple of years.