The
PRESENTS
Mickey Callaway
WHY???
Mickey is our nephew. Updated
Mickey
Callaway pitched five shutout innings Saturday before giving up the game's only
two runs in the sixth.
The Rangers signed Mickey
Callaway earlier this month after he was released by
Mickey Callaway made the most
of his Saturday night, pitching six solid innings against AL Central contender
Callaway held the Twins
scoreless on two hits for the first five innings. He then allowed the first
three batters to reach in the sixth, leading to two runs.
The Rangers are searching for
such results. And if they can't get
them from their own farm system, they'll search elsewhere, even the
scrap heap.
As the season has progressed,
the Rangers have grown frustrated with the lack of progress by heralded
prospects Colby Lewis and Joaquin Benoit. They are a combined 14-14 with a 6.87
ERA for 192 2/3 innings. They each are approaching 30 career starts.
In case the duo doesn't make
progress, the Rangers want insurance. That's why they grabbed Callaway when
After Callaway made four
starts for Triple-A Oklahoma, the Rangers gave him his chance Saturday. His
night might well turn into an instructional video for the Rangers' minor
leaguers. Three important factors in pitching at The Ballpark in
Callaway didn't walk anybody
in six innings. He allowed five hits, four singles and a double. He got 11 outs
on ground balls or strikeouts. And when he left after six innings, his outing
qualified as a quality start.
It was only one start, which doesn't determine anything, but you can be pretty sure it will earn Callaway more chances with the Rangers.
The Oklahoma RedHawks inched closer to the
division-leading Nashville Sounds after a 9-2 victory Thursday at Greer Stadium
in
Mickey Callaway(3-0) gave up two runs
-- one earned -- and five hits with four strikeouts over six innings to get the
win.
Jeff Pickler doubled and drove in three runs as the RedHawks (68-65) closed to within four and one-half games
of the first-place Sounds (72-60).
Prior to the go-ahead
hit by Pickler, Mike Lamb and Gerald Laird
each laced RBI doubles to erase the two-run deficit and Paul Ottavinia, Jermaine
Clark and Marshall McDougall all added a run-scoring single to
extend the RedHawks lead to six.
Ryan Christenson walked three times
and scored a pair of runs for
The Oklahoma RedHawks pitching staff extended their
dominance of the Fresno Grizzlies hitters, combining for their second straight
shutout with a 1-0 victory Saturday night at SBC Bricktown
Ballpark. The victory evened the RedHawks’ season
record at 64-64 and was their fifth win in six games.
Mickey Callaway (2-0), Dan Murray and Reynaldo
Garcia combined for a four-hit shutout of the Grizzlies as the RedHawks posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time
this season. The
With the RedHawks
pitchers in control the outcome swung in the fifth inning. After
Gerald Laird led off with a bunt single against Boof
Bonser (0-1), Paul Ottavinia
doubled to give the
Callaway allowed just three hits through five innings before
giving way to
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The Texas Rangers announced today that the club has signed free agent RHP
MICKEY CALLAWAY to a contract with
Callaway joined the RedHawks today.
Callaway, 28, was 1-4 with a 6.81 ERA in 17 games/four starts with the Anaheim Angels this season before being released on July 28. He was on the 15-day disabled list from June 6-July 23 with tendonitis in right shoulder and went 1-0, 2.95 ERA in seven games on rehab assignment at Salt Lake City in that span.
Callaway has a career Major League record of 4-7 in 30 games/14 starts with
the Tampa Bay (1999; 2001) and Anaheim (2002-03). The right-hander was 2-1,
4.19 in six starts with the Angels and 9-2, 1.68 ERA in 17 games/14 starts at
Previous history while with The
Angels ring up Rangers, 10-0 (
The Angels received their rings in a pregame
ceremony and then played like champions during a 10-0 rout of the Rangers on
Tuesday night. Mickey Callaway threw six shutout
innings and Brad Fullmer homered
in the third inning to lead the offense.
As of the
start of the 2003 season:::::::::::
It's a long way from G'town
to Anaheim
On baseball
By Don Wade
waded@gomemphis.com
This pitching story
eventually takes us to
But the story begins the
way most pitching stories begin:
Back home, back in the
bubble gum and baseball card days of childhood, back when a
Mickey Callaway could
always throw a baseball easily, which is the way a boy throws when he throws
hard. And Mickey threw hard, hard enough to bruise little hands if they didn't
catch the ball in the glove's pocket.
So by age 11 or 12 - he's
not sure when exactly - Mickey started having a problem:
Nobody wanted to play
catch with him.
But this is how it is
with most future big-league pitchers. They grow up in their little part of the
world as a miniature Nolan Ryan or Randy Johnson, striking out hitters
helplessly waving little metal wands.
And a dream starts to
grow.
"I just had a
feeling about him," says his sister Callie, who at 28 is a year older than
Mickey. "He knew he was really good, but he wasn't cocky.
"He knew if he
worked hard, he had a real shot at it."
Blessing in disguise
What he couldn't know was
that he would hurt his right arm while pitching for Germantown High, his
fastball already having been ticketed for traveling in the mid-90s.
It could have been the
beginning of the end, for that's an oft-told pitching story, too. Instead, it
was the beginning of the beginning, the genesis for transforming from thrower
to pitcher.
"After I hurt my
arm, I never threw as hard again," he says. "So I had to learn how to
pitch."
I had to learn how to
pitch. That, too, is a line in every pitching story that comes this far.
By 1999, Callaway was
making his major-league debut with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, pitching in five
games with a 1-2 record and 7.45 earned run average.
It would take two more years just to get his next five big-league innings.
Last year, he went 2-1
with a 5.52 ERA over six starts for the Angels and was in uniform - though not
on the active roster - throughout the playoffs and World Series.
A strong spring and
another pitcher's injury cleared his path to the mound tonight. He will carry
with him Callaway calm and confidence and what his pitching coach, Bud Black,
calls "pitchability."
"He has four quality
pitches he can throw anytime," Black says, describing his fastball as
"very capable" and his curve, split-finger and change as
"secondary pitches very complementary to his fastball."
Not exactly the same as
saying this guy brings the heat, is it? But then with his fastball now in the
88-to-91 mph range, what Callaway brings is the lukewarm.
Building a better
pitcher
Thing is, lukewarm works
if tactically placed. The changeup makes the fastball look faster. The fastball
is then just fast enough that the dipping split-finger cousin can trick a
hitter.
"You get to a point
in your career where you haven't quite made it and you figure out what you have
to do - make changes in your game," says Callaway. "I throw
everything differently from when I came up in '99."
The split-finger
fastball, which is a love/hate pitch because it can fool hitters and fry
elbows, he didn't throw at all. There were two reasons for this:
Stubbornness
and fear.
About the stubbornness,
Callaway laughs and says, "We all think we're good enough at the time - a
confident young pitcher."
When he speaks of the
fear, you can still hear it walking around somewhere deep in his mind, the
place where he ultimately decided to trade greater safety for a chance at
greater success.
He calls the split-finger
one of those "more risky pitches," but says his throwing it is a sign
of him becoming "a little more mature."
This is how pitchers -
not throwers - talk.
These are the choices
that 95 percent of the guys pitching in the big leagues eventually have to
make.
Or as
Black says, "Now's the time. The developmental stage is over."
Perhaps, there is already
proof.
Sister Callie - and what are sisters good for if not telling on brothers - reports
that Mickey bought himself the new PlayStation major-league baseball game.
"He had to see how
he looked on it," she says.
"I simulated a
season and I went 18-7," says The Mick. "That would be kind of
nice."
So who says you need to
bring the heat?
Bring on the 18-7 pitchability. Check out The Commercial Appeal at www.gomemphis.com
Other April 1, 2003 news items: HERE
..Mickey
leaving the dugout after Saturday's win
during the 2002 World Series
……….