Split Decision

Pitcher Bryan Moore held back a little during his college career.

He was an effective reliever, first at Orange Coast College and then at Houston. But he always kept something extra in reserve.

His split-finger fastball.

“In college, I was a sinker and slider pitcher,” Moore said. “You can’t get away with too many mistakes because of aluminum bats. You can’t really work on things while you’re out there. It’s 60 games and every one is the end of the world.”

Things have changed now that Moore is at the beginning of his new world.

Moore, 23, was a 13th-round pick by the Florida Marlins last June. He brought his splitter out of storage and went 2-1 with a 1.54 earned-run average and nine saves in 26 games for Utica, a short-season Class-A team.

This season, Moore is 2-0 with a 2.30 ERA and has six saves in 12 appearances for Class-A Kane County. He is still developing his split-finger pitch, but now there’s time to do so.

“Obviously we want to win here, but there are 150 games,” said Moore, who went to Bolsa Grande High. “Here, the idea is to go out and get better and develop into a big-league player. Being the best A-ball player is not what this is all about.”

The potential for getting to the major leagues is there.

Moore, at 6 feet 8 , is an intimidating figure on the mound. He had 38 strikeouts in 35 innings for Utica last season. He walked only five.

He hasn’t been quite so overpowering this season, with six strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings. But Moore has not walked a batter and didn’t allow an earned run through his first 11 2/3 innings, covering nine appearances.

This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to those who faced Moore in college. He was 12-7 with a 3.37 ERA and five saves in two seasons at Houston. As a senior, he was 7-2 with two saves and a 2.55 ERA in 32 games.

“I threw middle relief and short relief,” Moore said. “Pretty much, when the game was on the line, I would go in.”

He had that success despite rarely using his split-finger.

Moore learned the pitch at Orange Coast, but used it only occasionally.

“At Houston, the coach called the pitches a lot and he didn’t have confidence in the pitch,” Moore said. “I needed time to develop the pitch and the game wasn’t the right situation.”

An occasional splitter, though, caught some eyes. Moore then threw the pitch extensively during a pre-draft camp in Houston.

“It was time to bring the splitter out,” Moore said. “You can’t keep anything on the back burner at this point.”

ONE MOORE TRY

Moore was on his way out of baseball after graduating from Bolsa Grande in 1994. He tried to walk on at Fresno State the next fall, but didn’t make the team.

“I just stayed in school,” Moore said. “I didn’t think baseball was in the plans. It was just something to have fun with. I loaded up on units, taking 18 each semester.

“In the spring, I went to see a couple Fresno games. They were a nightmare to watch. I knew I had to try again.”

Moore decided to try out at Orange Coast, but he hadn’t thrown a pitch in months and was out of shape. He spent the spring semester of his freshman year driving home on weekends to play in a Sunday recreation league.

“They had doubleheaders on Sunday,” Moore said. “I would pitch the first game, then mess around the second game, playing right field or designated hitter. Then I would get in the car and drive back to Fresno. There were a few people who wondered what I was doing trying to hold on.”

Moore showed them by making the OCC team the next fall.

CAST-OUT ANGELS

Former Angel first base prospect Chris Pritchett, now with triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre (Philadelphia Phillies), extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a two-run homer to give the Red Barons a 4-2 victory over Durham last Monday.

Pritchett, who hit .393 during the 16 games, had his streak ended the next day. Pritchett, who was hitting .309 for the Red Barons, was called up by the Phillies Thursday.

Former Angel catcher Todd Greene, released during spring training, had two solo home runs for Syracuse, Toronto’s triple-A team, Tuesday. He is hitting .286 with five home runs this season.

GONE FOR GOOD?

Steve Hagins’ efforts to make the major leagues may have come to an end. The former University High catcher was given his unconditional release by Erie, the Angels’ double-A affiliate, last week. He was hitting .186 with one home run and had driven in seven runs in 12 games.

But Hagins, 25, has beaten the odds before.

He hit .507 at University in 1993 and was projected as a first-round draft pick. But when it was learned he had a heart condition, teams backed off. He was drafted in the 23rd round by Cleveland.

Hagins signed with Arizona State, but was later told he would not be allowed to play baseball because of his heart condition. He enrolled and played at San Diego State instead.

The Angels drafted Hagins in the 31st round in 1997. He hit .357 with 17 home runs and drove in 56 runs at Class-A Butte that season. He hit .279 with 17 home runs and 68 RBIs with Class-A Lake Elsinore in 1998. He missed eight weeks because of a torn ligament in his left hand, which limited him to 40 games for Lake Elsinore last season.