Fundamental Issues
Basics Being Sacrificed in the Push Through Minors
By John E. Sacco

The next time a major league player makes one of those base running blunders that prompts fans to wonder what happened to fundamentals, one might consider that the player may not have been taught the proper way to run the bases.

For the handful of Pirates who played college baseball before professional, the answer is easy: collegiate baseball better prepares a player in the area of fundamentals. Often in the minor leagues, an individual's development is paramount to the good of the whole.

While the competition level in college is often questioned, and the fact that hitters are permitted to use aluminum bats skews the statistics of both hitters and pitchers, collegiate baseball is flourishing.

More games are televised. The super conferences produce a wealth of talent and each year the College World Series creates more enthusiasm.

Catcher David Ross, who spent the better part of the first half of the season with the Pirates before being traded to San Diego, recently said he wants to return to the college game after his playing career ends.

"I am not a big fan of minor league baseball because guys are trying to (attain) certain numbers and trying to establish themselves," Ross said. "It's a little different mindset in college baseball. The only goal in college is to win the game at any cost. I like that. I like striving to be the best team."

Ryan Douglass never played a game of collegiate baseball. But he understands when former college players say they were taught better and enjoyed the game more than they did as minor leaguers.

Douglass, a Pittsburgh native and Canevin product, spent the past eight years in the minor leagues after being drafted by Kansas City in 13th round of the 1997 draft. He spent six years in the Royals' organization before signing with Montreal. Douglass is currently pitching for the Washington Wild Things of the independent Frontier League.

Last season, he spent most of the year with the Class AA Harrisburg Senators after beginning the season in Class A for the Brevard County Manatees.

Douglass never made it to the big leagues and he watched as others were shoved through the Royals' system, sometimes to justify the money given to the player at the time of signing or the round in which the player was selected.

"It's a business," Douglass said. "There is no question, in the minor leagues, players are most concerned with getting to the next level. That's just the way it is.

"I learned over the course of my time there that (organizations) want their top picks to make it because they have invested a lot of time and money in them."

Ross said the greatest advantage of playing Division I baseball was learning the game and understanding its different aspects.

Ross started his college career at Auburn and then transferred to Florida, where he teamed with Pirates' pitcher Josh Fogg. Ross participated in two consecutive College World Series' with two different programs, and said it gave him a unique perspective on the game.

"I learned how to be a team player, how to call a game, and how to work hard individually and as a group to achieve certain things," Ross said. "The work ethic at that level is pretty incredible. You learn to play hard all the time. I don't think I'd be the player I am today without gaining that experience in college baseball.

The really neat thing, though, everywhere in Division I baseball, is that you have everyone pulling on the same end. Everyone is shooting for one goal: to make the College World Series."

That is the most significant difference between college baseball and the minor leagues.

In the minors, players are forced to concern themselves with their own game, striving to be moved to the next level.

The emphasis from organizations is placed on high-round draft picks and getting them moving through the system. The minor leagues are more "me-oriented" and far less team-oriented than the collegiate ranks.

Ty Wigginton, who started the season with the Pirates before being demoted to Indianapolis, said there are "many more selfish ballplayers" in the minor leagues as a result.

"One thing you know in college ball is that winning is everything," said Wigginton, who played at North Carolina-Asheville. "That's not the case in the minor leagues. Guys are trying to get their numbers to move up. Fortunately for me in the minor leagues, I always kept in mind that winning was the main goal."

Pitcher John Van Benschoten, recovering from Tommy John surgery this year, was a standout hitter at Kent State. He said the college game is so organized and team oriented that player often don't concern themselves with their statistics. You become close friends with so many other players all that matters is the success of the team.

"I just wanted to play well for the other guys on the team," Van Benschoten said. "That's what really becomes important at that level. I think that really helps you mature and gain a better perspective on baseball."

Wigginton contends the coaching in college baseball is more focused on the fundamentals of the game.

"In college, coaches teach different things, different ways," Wigginton said. "I think you gain better fundamental teaching from college coaches because they can spend more time on them."

Van Benschoten added that fundamentals are engrained in college baseball players because of the time spent and the focus on that aspect of the game.

"Going through the Division I baseball ranks is well, well underrated," Van Benschoten said. "You are not only preparing for games, you are learning a lot more fundamentals along the way.

"I think the college game teaches you how to grow up on and off the field. I think it teaches you to respect the game, to balance your schedule, to grow up."

Jason Bay played collegiate baseball at Gonzaga in 1999 and 2000, hitting .360 with 20 home runs as a junior and winning the West Coast Conference batting championship as a senior.

Most important for Bay was that the college experience allowed him to fend for himself, understand what being on his own meant, and what being part of a team that was pulling in one direction was all about.

"The most important aspect about my days at Gonzaga was that they prepared me for life," said Bay. "Coming out of high school, you don't know what it's like to be on your own. The whole college experience was important for my development."

Infielder Bobby Hill said his time at the University of Miami taught him the "ins and outs" of the game.

Fogg added that college baseball helps mature young men beyond those years and that the coaches at Florida instilled in the players that winning is the main goal.

"And it stuck," Fogg said. "Then they taught us how to go out and get it done. You really start to hate losing."

Said pitcher Mark Redman, who won a NCAA title playing for Oklahoma in 1994: "Our team was always together. We had a baseball dormitory. We ate together in our own food hall. You become a family."

John E. Sacco has covered the Pirates and major league baseball for PSR since October 1998. He previously covered the Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and is a former member of the Baseball Writers of America Association, Pittsburgh Chapter.