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Young lefty giving Rays a change-of-pace option

Trevor Enders is earning attention on the mound, despite the lack of head-turning heat.

[Times photo: Michael Rondou] Trevor Enders relaxes before Saturday's game against Toronto at Florida Power Park.

By JOHN ROMANO

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 26, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- To be successful, it has been said, a major-league pitcher needs to consistently throw faster than 90 mph. Or slower than 80 mph.

Which explains why Trevor Enders has survived until the final week of spring training. His fastball looks like a changeup. His changeup looks like a batting practice pitch. Yet his statistics look mighty impressive.

The left-handed rookie has a 1.29 ERA and opponents are hitting .160 against him. He also may lead the Grapefruit League in incredulous stares.

"Sometimes I see it in a hitter's face. After they take the first pitch, they step back and look at the catcher and it's like they're asking him with their eyes, 'Is this guy for real? Was that his fastball or a changeup?' " Enders said. "There are times they swing out their butt at a changeup and I'll look back at them and they're smiling.

"I'm just trying to be one step ahead of what they're thinking. I don't have the luxury of making a mistake."

Such is the life for a modestly talented but immensely competitive athlete. Enders, 26, has lived with a lack of expectations his entire career.

At age 11, he said, he was a two-inning, one at-bat Little Leaguer. Hoping to be recruited out of high school by Texas or Texas A&M, he ended up with a scholarship at Houston Baptist University. Enders went undrafted after his junior season in 1996, but was offered a contract by the Rays.

His signing bonus?

"A glove and a pair of shoes, whatever they were giving away that year," Enders said. "That, and a plane ticket to Butte (Mont.)."

Enders understands he was filler. A body. An extra arm to put in the lower minor leagues to fill out a roster. That was how the Rays were looking at him, Enders said. That was not how Enders thought of himself.

He systematically moved through Tampa Bay's minor-league system. By the end of five seasons, he had a 28-11 record with a 2.89 ERA in the minors.

Enders has survived with sleight rather than speed. When a hitter is expecting an 81 mph fastball, he gets a 68 mph changeup. When he starts sitting on thechangeup and curve, that fastball suddenly looks 90 mph.

Manager Larry Rothschild said Enders also deceives hitters with varying release points as he delivers pitches.

"The idea of pitching is to keep hitters off-balance," catcher John Flaherty said. "He's able to throw his breaking pitches for strikes at any time in the count and that keeps hitters guessing. When they're looking for off-speed stuff, his fastball becomes that much better. He's figured out how to get hitters out with his repertoire, and that's the name of the game."

Of course, it is easier to catch hitters guessing in Double A than in Detroit. Enders had a brief visit with the Rays at the end of last season and allowed 19 baserunners in 91/3 innings for a 10.61 ERA.

The feeling was that Enders was okay when hitters did not know what to expect. When he went through a lineup for a second time or faced a team for the second time in a series, he was hit hard.

"A few guys have figured out what I try to do, so I've had to switch against them. I've gotten better at making adjustments quicker," Enders said. "A lot of that I learned in the few weeks I was up there. I pitched well against Oakland and the next time they lit me up. That taught me these guys make adjustments quicker than in the minors."

Despite the five years of work Enders put in to reach the majors, much of it was wiped out in those few weeks in September. The Rays took him off the 40-man roster in October and Enders cleared waivers without being claimed and was returned to the Durham roster. A month later, he was released by a winter league team in Puerto Rico.

Figuring he had come too far to let it all slip away, Enders returned to Houston and began working out. He changed his diet, started running to lose weight and worked on his pitching mechanics.

He arrived in spring as a non-roster invitee and a long-shot contender among the 10 left-handers looking for a bullpen job. A month later, he is one of three lefties remaining.

The Rays likely will keep two left-handers, and Doug Creek and Jeff Wallace have more big-league experience and better stuff.

Still, Enders has made an impression this spring. As a situational lefty -- one who would only pitch to a few batters a game -- he could have success. After watching Albie Lopez or Bryan Rekar throw 92 mph for six or seven innings, hitters could be temporarily befuddled by an 81 mph fastball.

"It'd be great to throw 90. Who knows what I could do with that kind of arm. But I don't, so why worry about it," Enders said. "I figure I throw just below the average hitting speed. If I bumped it a couple of miles an hour, I could be in trouble."

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