Boss prepares his pro pitch
Former Gator hopes to use an independent league team as a springboard to the majors.
By BRIAN SUMERS
Published January 15, 2006
DUNNELLON - A group of lanky high schoolers gathered along the leftfield fence, watching a former Florida Gators pitcher throw effortlessly from their bullpen mound.
He wasn't throwing hard - Tommy Boss never threw much faster than 90 mph during his college career - and his mechanics were a little rusty, but this crop of teenagers was impressed.
Thursday, for the first time since earning a win against Arizona State in the College World Series, Boss threw off a pitcher's mound.
For 10 minutes, he pitched to Austin Grybko, a 16-year-old Dunnellon High student pressed into catching duty despite wearing brown topsiders and white socks stretching past his ankles.
Grybko crouched and moved his mitt as Boss' curveball and fastball repeatedly danced at the last second. He caught some and missed others.
"He's not used to the ball moving that much," said Alex Frazier, an Arizona Diamondbacks minor-leaguer and Boss' training partner.
Then he yelled laughingly: "Take it easy, Tommy."
But Boss couldn't help himself. He was back on the mound. And it felt good.
Wearing a blue New Era Florida cap, a blue skintight Under Armour top and orange Florida baseball shorts, Boss worked up a sweat throwing about 40 pitches, the fastest probably cracking the mid 80s.
For Boss, who has only been throwing the past two weeks, this was just a warmup.
In several months, Boss, 22, expects to be a professional player. Boss, a 2001 Dunnellon graduate, plans to sign this week with the Joliet Jackhammers (Ill.) of the Northern League, an independent circuit not affiliated with Major League Baseball.
The contract, which Boss said will pay him about $800 per month for a 100-game season, arrived this week, though he has yet to study it. Boss, who played four seasons for the Gators, still hopes a major-league club will sign him and assign him to a minor-league affiliate. But as spring training nears and organizations finalize their rosters, Boss knows that chance lessens.
So he'll go to Joliet, where he'll be younger than most of his teammates, many of whom were cut by organizations and are seeking a second chance.
Boss just wants a first shot.
He went 9-4 with a 4.11 ERA for the College World Series runnerup, but no team selected him in the draft last spring, and though the Boston Red Sox seriously considered signing him, the club told Boss he failed a physical.
Boss maintains he never felt shoulder pain, but the Red Sox cited a torn labrum in his right shoulder and voided his contract in July.
The Red Sox were so sure he would sign that the organization let him sit in the dugout for its short-season Class A affiliate, the Lowell Spinners.
Instead, Boss came home where he was medically cleared by his own doctor. Still, with the season almost over, Boss started looking fo work.
Armed with his college degree (he's the first in his immediate family to earn one), Boss searched Monster.com and landed a job selling insurance in Ocala.
Despite his good looks and athletic physique, Boss quickly learned he wasn't much of a salesman.
"The thing I have a problem with is bothering people," Boss said. "I don't really care for it all that much."
He went from Gainesville, where he was a bit of a campus celebrity, to the grind of the working world. He has not had much luck making commissions and doesn't particularly relish working.
Though Boss knows another desk job may await him in the future, for now he just wants to go back to baseball.
"I want to go out there and prove that I can pitch," he said. "I want to prove that I still have a chance."
Boss insists he is healthy, but he likely will have to prove it in the Northern League. The Jackhammers told him they will release him from his contract if a major league team calls.
Joliet received an unusual tip about Boss.
For years his father, Tom, has been talking about his son at the Crystal River Progress Energy plant, where he works.
Turns out, one of his coworkers and friends, Terry Lanier, has a brother who manages the Jackhammers. Hal Lanier, who lived in Dunnellon until three years ago, played 10 seasons in the major leagues for the Giants and Yankees, and managed the Astros from 1986-88.
Lanier hasn't seen Boss pitch recently, but word of mouth was good enough for him. Though Lanier said he can't publicly confirm Boss' summer plans because the pitcher hasn't signed his contract, the manager said he is excited at the prospect of landing the former UF pitcher.
Plus, Lanier wasn't about to skip on his brother's advice a second time.
Back in 1990 when Hal was a coach for the Phillies, Terry told him to check out Crystal River baseball player Mike Hampton. Hal liked what he saw so much he called the team's headquarters.
"They said he was not high on our list," Hal Lanier recalled in a telephone interview. "And I went, "Whoa, wait a minute. How many left-handers do we have that throw 90-91?' "
Despite Hal Lanier's pleas, the Mariners selected Hampton in the sixth round.
Now, 15 years later, Lanier hopes his brother has found him another top-notch player. Though Lanier wants to win a Northern League championship this season, he said he also hopes Boss will get stolen away by a major-league organization.
"That's my No. 1 priority since I got into independent baseball," said Lanier, adding he has had 39 players sign with major-league clubs in the past 10 years. "I still have some contacts with organizations."
Perhaps by mid summer, Boss will be gone from Joliet. But even if he never signs a major -league contract, he'll always know he pursued his dream.
And his mother, Brenda Boss, is proud.
"He hasn't give up and I haven't given up on him," she said.
Brian Sumers can be reached at bsumers@sptimes.com or 564-3628.