The Quirky Prodigy

He’s a New Age thinker from baseball’s old school, a pitcher whose passion for Taoism and other Eastern religions is equaled by a love for Ken Burns’ nostalgic PBS series, “Baseball.”

He travels the American League circuit with a stuffed dog, pink satin pillow cases his mother made and a stash of scented candles to create a more relaxing hotel-room environment for his breathing exercises.

He’s a 22-year-old who, when forced by veteran teammates to wear a wedding dress as part of a rookie hazing ritual on a September trip, sized himself up and said, “I don’t mind . . . it’s pretty cool.”

He is Barry Zito, the Oakland Athletics’ junior Zen-master and pitching prodigy, the kid who knows yoga and Yogi, and just in case you were wondering, yes, he is a left-hander.

“He’s quirky--he’s what left-handers are all about,” A’s reliever Mike Magnante said. “But that son of a gun can pitch. He’s probably the best I’ve seen at his age, and he’s only going to get better.”

That’s a scary thought for the rest of the league. After his mid-July recall from the minor leagues, Zito went 7-4 with a 2.72 earned-run average in 14 starts to help Oakland win its first division championship and playoff berth since 1992.

Zito played a huge role in Oakland’s playoff surge, going 5-1 with a 1.72 earned-run average in six September starts to help the A’s win 22 of their last 29 games and overtake the Seattle Mariners in the AL West.

Less than a year and a half since the A’s used the ninth pick of the 1999 draft to pluck him from USC, Zito has reached the postseason and is scheduled to start Game 4 of the division series against the New York Yankees. Game 1 is tonight in Network Associates Coliseum.

“He’s got a lot of composure for a young guy,” Angel first baseman Mo Vaughn said after Zito defeated the Angels last week. “He’s got a good fastball, changeup and cutter, and he has one of the better curves I’ve seen from a starting pitcher.”

But what separates Zito from most young pitchers is his mental makeup. Zito doesn’t believe his games are won or lost on the mound. Success for him begins with a 45-minute pregame ritual that includes stretching, yoga and breathing exercises that relax his body and sharpen his mind.

“My thought creates my environment--it’s mind over matter,” said Zito, a graduate of San Diego University High who also played at UC Santa Barbara and Pierce College. “If I go out there and know I can dominate, I can. If I question myself, I won’t.”

Mark Fydrich used to talk to baseballs. Zito seems to use mental telepathy to will baseballs away from the fat parts of bats.

“It’s eerie,” said Zito, who is 6 feet 4, 205 pounds. “I can throw a fastball down the middle, and if I know they’re not going to hit it, they won’t. If I question it, they’ll crush it. It helps with my confidence, and on those days I’m not feeling great physically, I know I’m going to battle.”

Zito’s approach was honed in part by his mother, Roberta, a former pastor at San Diego’s Teaching of the Inner Christ Church, which Zito said adheres to principles of metaphysical Christianity, and Oakland pitching coach Rick Peterson, who stresses mental conditioning as much as physical conditioning.

“The whole Zen philosophy is very sound,” said Peterson, who was hired by Zito’s father, Joe, as a consultant when Peterson was Toronto’s minor league pitching coordinator in 1996.

“It’s all about staying mentally strong. It seems quirky, but they thought Steve Carlton was quirky because he was into martial arts. He went 500 games--13 seasons--without missing a start. That’s not quirky.”

Zito likes to think of himself as progressive.

“Every guy has his own thing, whether it’s walking around in a 1970s plaid suit or eating the same meal on the day you pitch,” Zito said. “Some of it might be superstition, but it’s all a precursor to getting your mind ready to pitch. It’s all mental.”

Zito’s emphasis on mental discipline has helped him avoid the emotional extremes that plague most rookies.

“With me there’s no highs or lows,” Zito said. “It’s a flat line. Whether we win or lose, I’m the same guy. . . . If an umpire is [squeezing] me, I don’t complain. If I give up some cheap hits, I don’t get frustrated. That’s being weak-minded, by blaming things that are out of your control.”

The A’s got an early glimpse of Zito’s poise in his major league debut against the Angels on July 22. Trailing, 7-1, in the top of the fifth inning, the Angels loaded the bases with no outs and seemed ready to mount another of their patented comebacks.

But Zito struck out Vaughn, the No. 3 batter, looking at a curve, cleanup batter Tim Salmon on a check-swing fastball and Garret Anderson swinging at a curve in the dirt, and the A’s went on to a 10-3 victory.

Zito’s success is no accident. This is exactly what Joe Zito had in mind when he retired when Barry was 7 and moved his family from Las Vegas to San Diego.

Joe was 57 when he gave up his career in the entertainment industry--he had arranged music for Nat King Cole and worked with Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra--to devote more time to Barry’s budding baseball career.

“He didn’t have a baseball background, but he managed a lot of high-profile acts, and he knows the signs of failure,” Barry Zito said. “He said whenever you stop learning, whenever you get complacent, you can fail.

“He’d tell me I couldn’t hang around with my friends sometimes because I had to pitch, but when I got my signing bonus [$1.5 million], it was all worth it. It’s great to see him in the stands and know how proud he is.”

Zito tries to honor baseball’s forefathers as well. While many of today’s players wear dark socks and their uniform pants near the ankles, Zito opts for the traditional stirrups worn high, his pants stopping just below his knees.

He devours biographies of old-time players and was mesmerized by the Burns series chronicling the history of the game. While brash and cocky seem to be the way for some young players today, Zito is modest and unassuming.

“We have to realize we’re not the first ones here, and we won’t be the last,” Zito said. “It’s selfish to think I’m a star this year, because I could get hurt next year, and no one will remember me.

“I realize the groundwork that has gone into this game, and that we’re part of this never-ending cycle that is the national pastime. The guys in high school now are the future hall of famers.”