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Brazelton has plenty of stress, success

Last year's top pick fights nerves in pro debut, then pitches two strong innings.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published March 5, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- After he awoke at 7 with an intense stomach ache, after he paced the clubhouse so much his teammates kept telling him to sit down, after he called his mom out of the stands to talk for an hour as a soothing diversion, after he drank two bottles of Pepto-Bismol, after one of the coaches had to tell him not to start warming up two innings early, after he overcame all the nerves and jitters and pressure that came with his first professional game appearance, Dewon Brazelton pitched.

The kid, it turned out, was all right.

Brazelton, the 21-year-old top draft pick of a year ago, made an impressive two-inning exhibition debut Monday for the Rays, allowing singles to his first two Philadelphia batters, then retiring the next six.

"It was very nerve-racking at first," Brazelton said. "My first big-league experience and I get up there and you've got John Mabry, Scott Rolen, Doug Glanville, Bobby Abreu, all these guys I was watching on TV and admiring six months ago, and I was supposed to get these guys out. It was an experience. It was neat, really neat."

Since the Rays made Brazelton the third overall pick in the June 2001 draft, since they signed him to a $4.8-million contract that included a callup to the majors for the final month of the season, and since he has spent the spring making it clear to anyone who asks that he thinks he is ready to pitch in the major leagues, the primary question has been how would he do once he actually got on the mound.

The answer, at least this day, was pretty well.

"He looks like he's got really good stuff," Glanville said. "He's got a good arm, a real good changeup and he's got that curve. Once he masters the control he's probably going to be pretty nasty. His movement is tough."

Brazelton, whose last game in which the score was kept was in May for Middle Tennessee State, gave up a bloop single to Glanville to open the fifth and a single up the middle to Rolen on what he thought was an excellent fastball.

With two on and none out, with his first pro inning about to go bad, Brazelton struck out Abreu, the Phillies star, on an excellent changeup, then got Travis Lee on a grounder and Dave Doster on a fly ball. The next inning was a breeze. He struck out John Mabry, got Johnny Estrada on a grounder and fanned Tomas Perez.

"I hadn't proven I could get anybody out and the first two guys I get get hits and it was, "Shoot, can I get these guys out or not?' " Brazelton said. "Once I started throwing quality pitches and got my stuff going, I'm like, "Yeah, I can do this.' The next inning I came out and it was like Middle Tennessee State. They're good hitters, not to take anything away from them, but I just felt like I was at home and comfortable."

Overall?

"I feel like that was a solid foundation," he said. "I didn't show everything I could do, but it gave you really a glimpse of what I could do. I was really pleased."

Pitching coach Jackie Brown said he couldn't have been happier with what he saw. "He showed me a lot today. He really did because I know he was nervous," Brown said. "Between innings I was talking to him, it was, "Yes sir, yes sir,' and he was so hyper the bill of his cap was actually flip-flopping."

Manager Hal McRae said Brazelton will get the chance to pitch again. "He's going to pitch," McRae said. "How long, I don't know. I'm sure he won't be among the first to be cut."

The day was such a blur, Brazelton said he couldn't remember if McRae or Brown said anything to him when he left the field. After he was done pitching and doing interviews, Brazelton sat alone at a table in the clubhouse, seemingly exhausted by the long day.

Diane Darlington, the woman who helped raise him and whom he calls mom, had flown from Tennessee to see the game with her husband and father, and Brazelton's agent was there, too.

It turned out to be quite a memorable day.

"I think I ought to be sponsored by Pepto-Bismol because I believe I drank two bottles of it today. They don't have any more in the training room," Brazelton said. "I woke up this morning at 7 o'clock and my stomach was just killing me. It wasn't fear or anything like that, it was just nerves. It was a big day for me."

Bigger ones could be ahead.

-- Staff writer Frank Pastor contributed to this report.

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