Starter or reliever, Yan won't change

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 5, 2000

MINNEAPOLIS -- The transition from reliever to starting pitcher can be tricky, but manager Larry Rothschild has relatively simple advice for Esteban Yan tonight -- don't change a thing.

"He just needs to go out and throw the ball really," Rothschild said. "I don't think he needs to be a typical starting pitcher. ... I want to see him mix pitches and throw strikes and all those things, but I want to see him go out there and throw the ball."

One thing that made Yan a successful reliever is his ability to rear back and throw at close to maximum effort -- "borderline red line," pitching coach Rick Williams calls it. The Rays want Yan to remain aggressive as a starter, figuring he has the arm strength to work deep into a game.

The game plan is for Yan to use his fastball down in the strike zone to get ahead of hitters and then start mixing in his slider and changeup. "We know he's going to compete and we know he's going to battle," Williams said.

Yan was a starter at the beginning of his pro career in the Atlanta and Montreal minor-league systems, but began working out of the bullpen when he reached Triple A with Baltimore in 1996. He has made one start during his first two seasons with the Rays. "I'm happy and I'm excited," Yan said.

PROSPECT OUT: Ramon Soler, the organization's top shortstop prospect, will miss at least the first few months of the minor-league season after right shoulder surgery scheduled for today. Soler, 18, would likely have opened at Class A Charleston (S.C.). He was injured last season, tried to rehab the shoulder, then had further setbacks. "We're not going to rush him," farm director Tom Foley said.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Research continues, but it is clear Gerald Williams is in rare company after hitting a home run on the first pitch of the first game of the season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, there have now been 17 occasions in the past 25 years when a player homered to lead off his team's first inning -- either the top or bottom. Amazingly, it happened only three times in the 1990s and twice on Monday -- by Williams and Toronto's Shannon Stewart. Data is harder to find as far as homers on the first pitch of Opening Day, but Williams is at least the third to do so -- Boston's Dwight Evans went deep off Detroit's Jack Morris in 1986 and St. Louis's Ray Lankford did the same to Cincinnati's Jose Rijo in 1994.

BAM-BAM: Fred McGriff's fifth-inning homer on Monday gave the Rays grand slams in back-to-back games, if you count the inside-the-park slam Randy Winn hit in the final game of the 1999 season. Teams hit slams in consecutive games eight times last season. ... McGriff moved into 34th on the all-time home run list at 391.

RADKE KEEPS FOCUS: Minnesota ace Brad Radke said nothing has changed with his contract situation. That there won't be any negotiations during the season, that he'll keep pitching without worrying about his future, and that if it was up to him his first choice would be to come home and pitch for the Devil Rays. The bottom line, Radke said, is that he won't let the speculation become a distraction. "It's never been a problem," he said.

HANDS ACROSS THE BAY: The Rays will honor the Tampa Bay Bucs before Sunday night's game with Cleveland, with coach Tony Dungy and quarterback Shaun King throwing out ceremonial first pitches. All Bucs players and front office officials have been invited.

MISCELLANY: The Rays could learn today whether Bobby Smith has passed through waivers or if he was claimed by another team. ... Injured third baseman Vinny Castilla is scheduled to take batting practice today in St. Petersburg. If he comes through that okay he could play for the St. Petersburg minor-league team on Friday and Saturday and rejoin the Rays on Sunday. ... Monday's shutout was the 13th in franchise history.

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