No blues for new Ray
Chuck Tiffany was dealt by his beloved Dodgers but is as driven and confident as ever.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published March 26, 2006
ST. PETERSBURG - Chuck Tiffany's first pitch to Tommy Lasorda was a memorable one.
The Dodgers icon was walking through Los Angeles International Airport several years ago when Tiffany, then a 14-year-old baseball rat, approached him with a startling introduction.
"I looked at this kid and he said, "Take a good look, because you're going to see me when I'm pitching for the Dodgers,"' Lasorda recalled last week from Dodgertown. "I was really shocked that a 14-year-old kid would come up to me and say something like that. ... Turns out he was right."
Or close, anyway.
Tiffany grew into a legitimate prospect, starring for Charter Oak High School in Covina, Calif., while regularly making the 20-minute trip to Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers made him a second-round pick in 2003, and his family cried at their good fortune. He flashed his potential with a five-inning no-hitter and a seven-inning perfect game in a three-week span in 2004. He ranked among the top young prospects in the pitching-rich Los Angeles organization.
But something happened on his way to Chavez Ravine.
The kid who literally was raised in Dodger blue, with a Dodgers switch plate in his room, a Steve Garvey Dodgers bat on his wall, Dodgers towels on the curtain rods and a "Follow Me to Dodger Stadium" license plate frame on his truck, was traded with Edwin Jackson in January to the Devil Rays in the deal for Danys Baez and Lance Carter.
"Growing up, it was always blue and white," Tiffany said. "It's actually nice getting black cleats and wearing some other colors. I've always liked green. It's one of my favorite colors. I like it over here. I really do."
The Rays are as glad to have him.
Though Jackson is closer to the major leagues, Tiffany, a 21-year-old left-handed starter, eventually could have a bigger impact.
The Rays are cautious in their praise because this season will be Tiffany's first at Double A, often a key stage in a pitcher's development, but the potential is obvious. In 2112/3 minor-league innings, he has 279 strikeouts with a 16-9 record and 3.91 ERA.
"Chuck has an extremely advanced feel for pitching for someone his age," Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman said. "We expect him to start the year in Montgomery and to have the same type of success he had in advanced Class A last year, which was extremely impressive considering his age."
Tiffany has more than a good arm.
He considers himself a ruthless competitor who will work as hard at a Sudoku puzzle or a game of pool as he does on the mound. He loves the baseball environment so much that, though he doesn't use the stuff, he keeps an open can of Skoal smokeless tobacco as an air freshener in his truck because he loves the smell. He wants to be on the mound so badly that he came back two weeks early last year from surgery to remove a precancerous mole from his back, pitching with the stitches still in.
And he is so driven to make the majors that he says an entire life's work would be worth it even if he had only one day in the big leagues.
"I was brought up to do it," he said. "That's my goal of all time, to be a major-league pitcher."
Tiffany, who is 6 feet 1 and 200 pounds, doesn't have overpowering stuff - a mid 80s to mid 90s fastball, a curve and a changeup - but he knows how to use it. He is constantly working to learn more and get better. And he doesn't lack confidence.
"I like to go for the strikeouts," Tiffany said. "I like to get ahead in the count and I like to put guys away when I get a chance. ... When I get a guy 0-and-2, I don't like to mess around. Either I strike him out or somehow he gets a hit."
Tiffany made some lasting impressions pitching against the Rays prospects who were in Charleston (S.C.) in 2004.
Outfielder Elijah Dukes remembered him as "real tough to hit" and "a smart pitcher." Infielder Wes Bankston called him "definitely legit." And outfielder Delmon Young said he is so impressive he wonders why the Rays didn't bring him to major-league camp this year. "I know he's good," Young said.
But it was during a three-week span with Class A Columbus (Ga.) in 2004 that Tiffany established himself as a potential jewel, pitching the first five innings of a seven-inning no-hitter vs. the Marlins' Greensboro (N.C.) squad May 3, then coming back against them May 20 - with Lasorda watching - and pitching a seven-inning perfect game.
"It was unbelievable," Tiffany said. "It was all a blur at the end of the perfect game because it was like, "How did that actually happen?' I guess when your stuff is good and you're down in the strike zone and you throw a lot of strikes, there's a lot of possibilities."
Lasorda said he is pretty sure Tiffany will reach his goal, even though it may be with Tampa Bay rather than L.A.
"He's going to make a good pitcher if he takes care of himself to not put on any weight," Lasorda said. "He's a little cocky, which is good for you. Too much is not good. But he's got a little cockiness about himself that he can do this and do that."
If he does enough, the Dodgers could end up green with envy.