Pilkington Gets Dodger Pitch

When Tom Lasorda unexpectedly showed up at Brian Pilkington’s Garden Grove home last week, the Santiago High pitcher’s jaw dropped like an elevator with severed cables.

Lasorda, the Dodgers’ senior vice president, regaled Pilkington with stories and signed a bobble-head ceramic likeness of himself the team had given Pilkington during a recent visit to Dodger Stadium.

Then Pilkington, a 6-foot-5 right-hander and the Dodgers’ No. 1 pick in this month’s amateur draft, signed something for Lasorda and the team: a contract.

“He told so many stories you just can’t keep up,” Pilkington said. “They’re all funny, so you’re too busy laughing. It was a great honor to have him sit in my house.”

Of course, another name well known in baseball circles has been around that house. Pilkington is a nephew of Bert Blyleven, who was the winning pitcher in 287 games in a major league career spanning 22 seasons.

The Dodgers haven’t heaped those kinds of expectations on Pilkington, but they do anticipate great things from him after making him the 68th selection overall, giving him a $600,000 signing bonus, and assigning him to Great Falls, Mont., of the Pioneer League, where he reported Friday.

“He has a very polished delivery with tremendous control, and we believe there is a lot of projection left in Brian,” said Matt Slater, the Dodgers’ director of scouting operations.

Pilkington’s best pitch is a two-seam fastball that runs in on right-handers with a little drop near the plate. He learned the grip and release on his curve from Uncle Bert, who had one of the best big league breaking balls of his era.

As a youth, Pilkington spent countless afternoons watching his uncle pitch for Minnesota and Pittsburgh in World Series games on his parents’ VCR.

The day he was drafted, Pilkington called Blyleven, now a Twins’ broadcaster. They both wept.

“It was beyond a thrill, especially being drafted by a local team you’ve grown up watching,” Pilkington said. “All of a sudden you’re thinking, ‘Hey, I’m part of that organization.’ That’s a big thrill.”

Blyleven has seen his nephew pitch a couple of times, most recently three years ago in a tournament near his home in Fort Myers, Fla., but he didn’t even flinch after hearing that one of Pilkington’s goals was to surpass his major league win total.

“I hope and pray he does, but let’s take one step at a time,” Blyleven said. “I’ve told him, ‘Brian, don’t ever compare yourself to me. You are your own person. You are the one who does it. People can expect big things of you, but it’s what you expect from yourself that matters.’ ”

Pilkington, who turns 19 in September, said his goal is to make the Dodgers’ big league roster by age 21, but Slater emphasized that there is no rush.

“We’re not going to push him in his development,” Slater said. “We’re going to let his performance dictate how he moves forward.”

Said Blyleven: “Let’s win his first minor league game before he thinks about the big leagues.”

After the Great Falls Dodgers’ season ends in September, Pilkington will report to the Instructional League in Vero Beach, Fla. Then he will head to spring training, eager to climb the ladder that leads to Chavez Ravine.

And if Pilkington slips along the way, he can always turn to Blyleven for support.

“He’s not really putting his nose into [my career],” Pilkington said. “He’s just a guy who’s behind me 100%, no matter what I do.”