What Zephyrhills senior pitcher Joe Duffau lacks in size, he makes up for in the scorebook.
By GREG AUMAN
Published April 9, 2004
ZEPHYRHILLS - Joe Duffau has been all about tiny numbers this season.
There's his microscopic ERA, lowest in the county, and there are those numbers that keep showing up on the scoreboard when he's pitching: two shutouts, three one-hitters and a two-hitter.
But the one impressively small number that might be working against Duffau is his height: at 5-foot-7, the Bulldogs senior hasn't drawn as much interest from colleges as one might expect. So instead, he's working on improving the numbers he can change.
"I think a lot of it has to do with my height," said the 17-year-old, who will go for his fifth win tonight against a team visiting from New York. "But I can't take a pill and make me grow. I can only do my part, do my talking on the mound."
It's refreshing, perhaps, to hear a baseball player lamenting that he can't make himself any bigger these days. The rest of the county would just as soon keep his size in check, conceding that his impact as a dangerous ace has been plenty huge as it is.
"I'm looking forward to seeing him pitch, though I don't know if my team is," said Ridgewood coach Larry Beets, whose team will face Zephyrhills and Duffau one week from today. "If you're going to do something in the playoffs, you're going to face pitchers like that. He's left-handed and he throws hard, and that's all I need to know."
Duffau's dominance is staggering - 82 strikeouts in 422/3 innings, allowing all of 10 hits along the way. He's given up either one or two earned runs all season (see accompanying box), making for an ERA of 0.16 or 0.32, ridiculously low either way.
All this much from a pitcher who couldn't throw for most of last season with rotator cuff problems but has bounced back with mid-80s heat, a deadly curve and a nasty changeup that have helped Zephyrhills off to a 7-9 start, already with two more wins than the Bulldogs finished with last season.
"He's sneaky fast, and he can throw that curve any time you need it," Cimorelli said. "Joe's been real good, every time we've given him the ball. He's just stepping up as a senior. He doesn't say much, but he's real competitive, not afraid of any situation."
Zephyrhills hasn't made the region playoffs since 2000, but is in a position to challenge for one of the two spots in Class 4A District 10. Duffau (4-2) has suffered two losses by scores of 1-0 and 2-0 and drove in the only run in a 1-0 win against Pasco last month, but he said his success has only been possible by the improved play of his teammates.
"As a team, as a whole, we're a lot better," he said. "We mesh well, and a lot more of us get along. We're much better that way than we've been the last few years."
When the Bulldogs lost senior Jake Cimorelli to a season-ending knee injury, Duffau was left as the team's only proven pitcher. But sophomore Trey Anderton and junior Drew Jeffries have stepped up, providing reliable innings to keep the Bulldogs in games when Duffau isn't on the mound.
He's shown a potent bat as well, tying for third in the county with 20 hits and ranking sixth with a .417 average. For strikeouts, no county pitcher can come close to his 82, with Ridgewood's Erik Bua (50) as the only challenger with even half as many.
Coaches from the local region will meet Monday to select players for the Florida Athletic Coaches Association's postseason all-star classic, and Cimorelli is confident that no pitcher in the area can match Duffau's statistics. A strong showing in the Sebring all-star game this summer could improve Duffau's exposure with college scouts, who are showing more interest with each start he makes.
"Stat-wise, Joe is probably the best pitcher I've had," Cimorelli said. "People try to zero in on the fastball, but he has such control of his curveball. A lot of kids have a good curveball but can't throw it consistently for strikes, and this year, he's been pretty consistent putting it where he wants."
Hillsborough Community College and Pasco-Hernando Community College have shown an interest in signing him, and he's taking a college entrance exam with the hopes of qualifying to play at Saint Leo. He'll pitch the rest of the season hoping to fulfill his dream of pitching at the next level, and if recruiters continue to overlook him, he said he won't feel shorted.
"Nothing's for sure, but I hope I can get on a team somewhere," he said.
"It makes me feel a lot better to know somebody has an interest in me. It makes me play a lot better, lets me know I can play beyond the high school level."
