Bautista can do no wrong for Royals so far

JOE POSNANSKI


Column idea: Denny Bautista — two innings was all the Orioles needed to see.

— PH, 45 minutes ahead of his time

TEMPE, Ariz. — Every spring training camp needs a phenom, a prodigy, a kid who makes scouts' eyes pop out of their heads. The man on the mound fits the story. He's 24. He's 6 feet 5. He throws a 98-mph fastball. He throws a slider that bears in on you like a car salesman at a dealership. He throws a curveball that dives like Louganis.

Some scouts think his change-up is his best pitch.

He walks to the mound on Thursday to face the California Angels of Anaheim in Los Angeles County at Camden Yards — or whatever this goofy team is called now — and it's a good time to take a look at the man's statistics. Coming into this game, he has not given up a run yet in the spring. He has struck out more hitters than any other pitcher in spring training. Already, he has inspired Royals pitching coach Guy Hansen to say these words: “He's the most intimidating pitcher I've ever seen in my 30 years of baseball.”

“I'll tell you what,” says the harder-to-impress Allard Baird, the Royals' general manager. “This guy's got some serious, serious stuff.”

This guy is Denny Bautista, and as he warms up effortlessly, throwing mid-90s fastballs as if that's as easy as blowing bubbles in the back yard, you can't help but wonder how this happened, how the Royals got this phenom. Pitchers like this don't just happen. They don't just appear. They don't just end up with the Royals.

The quick answer is the Royals got him from Baltimore last June in a trade for a 36-year-old middle reliever, Jason Grimsley. But the quick answer doesn't seem to add up.

Let's explain: It was June, and the word from Baltimore was that the Orioles felt as if they were in playoff contention (they were nine games under .500 and 9 1/2 games out of the wild-card spot). Apparently, the Orioles felt like a 36-year-old middle reliever might be just the thing to push them over the top.

So they called about Grimsley. And called again. And again. Baird kept asking for Bautista. And one day — desperation can do things to a team — the Orioles just said yes.

Grimsley did not bring the Orioles that playoff spot. He did blow out his elbow.

Meanwhile, around Kansas City, baseball people keep asking the same question: “What's wrong with Bautista?” They kept trying to guess what was wrong. Maybe he was wild. Maybe he had off-the-field issues. Maybe he was in the Witness Protection Program. Maybe. Maybe.

All they knew for sure is there had to be something, because the Orioles would not just deal a young pitcher with one of the game's most overpowering fastballs and other dazzling pitches for Jason Grimsley. No way. There had to be something wrong.

The thing is, the Royals can't find anything wrong with Bautista.

“He's throwing all his pitches for strikes,” Baird says as we watch him throw those fastballs. “If he keeps doing that …”

And he stops, because he doesn't really know what follows. He honestly does not know how good a pitcher can be who throws Roger Clemens' fastball and Pedro Martinez's change-up and that big curveball and that nasty slider. He's awed by the possibilities.

After Bautista finishes warming up, we get word that Bautista has developed a small blister on his finger. It's nothing at all — happens every spring — but because of the blister, he won't throw his curveball or slider. This actually makes Baird happy — he wants to see how Bautista will react without his full arsenal of pitches. If he could, Baird would send Bautista out there with a full body cast to see how he would react.

He just wants to see what this kid is made of.

He just wants to see what's wrong.

And Bautista struggles a bit. Maybe it's the blister. Maybe it's the pressure of trying to make his first team. Whatever, he has some trouble finding the strike zone. He has worked all spring on keeping the ball down — now his pitches are coming in too low. He keeps throwing low fastballs, and he walks Darren Erstad. He gives up a single to Chone Figgins. After getting Vladimir Guerrero to bounce a ball back to him for an out, he loses track of the runners. They double-steal on him.

He gives up his first run of the spring when veteran Steve Finley punches a single up the middle. Bautista then works his way out of the jam without giving up any more runs.

“He showed me something working out of that without any of his breaking stuff,” Baird says. “That's pretty impressive.”

It gets more impressive. The next inning, Bautista breaks two bats with fastballs. He ignores the blister and unleashes a vicious slider. It's clocked at 88 mph — faster than most Royals' fastballs. He also throws his mesmerizing change-up that coaxes Angels shortstop Erick Aybar to hit into a double play.

By the end of the three innings, Bautista — even without a single curveball — has so overwhelmed the Angels hitters that Figgins desperately tries to bunt for a single with two outs. He pops it up. Bautista catches it.

“Why would you do that?” Baird asks, but he knows why. Figgins believed it was his only chance. That's what it's like to face the phenom these days. Bautista has now pitched 10 2/3 innings in the spring; he has struck out 12. He has an 0.84 ERA.

“He's pretty good,” Baird says.

Yes, he sure looks pretty good. One year ago, during the season, Denny Bautista pitched two innings for the Baltimore Orioles. He gave up eight runs. Maybe the Orioles saw enough. Or maybe they didn't see anything at all.

To reach Joe Posnanski, call (816) 234-4361 or send e-mail to jposnanski@kcstar.com.


i cant wait for the season,the royals might suck but the developing players are going to be great to watch,especially Bautista and Greinke,what a 1 2 punch that could be!

it'll be interesting to see if he makes the team.

sounds like Sid Finch from the Mets back in the 80's

Post this in august.

Stories like this depress me because you know the Royals won't be able to afford him if he lives up to expectations.

they signed sweeney to a big deal

And? The Royals have had one of the best farm systems of the past 10 years as far as big-time talent is concerned, and they've been able to keep, oh maybe one or two of those guys... if he gets good they won't keep him... he'll go to Boston or something

he's my cousin.

he's an asshole too.

- spaceballs

who from their farm system has gone elsewhere besides beltran?

Damon.

None of their other "prospects" have really amounted to shit over the last 10 years. Bob Hamelin!

dee brown!

Pitching is at a premium these days, I could totally see the AL East machine (okay, just the Yankees and Sox) throwing crazy money at him in a couple years if he turns out to be good. I doubt he'd turn that down.

okay here's from memory a list of prospects the R's have had that have had decent productive careers.
Chris Stynes-
Jeff Suppan-
Johnny Damon-
Joe Randa-
Jermain Dye-
Michael Tucker-
Glendon Rusch
Carlos Beltran
now thats off the top of my head,
but this year we've got some amazing prospects in MLB-AAA
like
Zack Greinke,Ruben Gotay,David Dejesus,Runelvys Hernandez,Mark Teahen,John Buck,Mike Wood,Andres Blanco,Matt Diaz,and Denny Bautista
this is definitly going to be a good young team to watch and if the Royals can keep them together for a few years they'll definitly contend,and who knows fans might start coming to the games so we can keep this talent.

just an update,
Denny Bautista 8 innings pitched 1 earned run 8 K's 3 or 4 hits.
and all against the Angels regulars,struck Vlad out twice.

i have him on my fantasy team! hope he keeps it up!

well let me say you made a smart pick. Denny started out blazing,he had 7 K's through 4 innings,after that he forced a ton of groundouts,i'm very excited about our staff.if not for this year the next few,Runelvys gave up one earned,greinke looked good in his couple of innings,and not to mention a few minor league pitchers.

Dee Brown and Rob Bell (now a pitcher for Tampa) went to high school together about a half hour from where I live. They were reunited on the D-Rays this Spring.

And Dee just got cut. Heh.

alls i can say about Dee Brown is.......4A.
he used to tear up AAA pitching,but then he'd get called up and suck,he'd then be benched,and he started to bitch.
when he and Mark Quinn came up together it was a bright day for KC,but then they turned out to be a whiner(Brown) and a head case(Quinn)