pirate4state
07-10-2008, 10:48 AM
ALANIZ AIMS TO CONTINUE HIS STORYBOOK CAREER
Senators’ pitcher fashions an amazing real-life sports resume
07/10/2008
by Ron Gardner
If you’re an aspiring writer looking for one of those “too-good-to-be-true” sports stories to bring to the big screen one day, you should begin to closely follow the budding professional baseball career of Senators’ pitcher Adrian Alaniz. His real-life athletic exploits are probably way better than anything you might dream up.
Alaniz’ story begins in the tiny town of Sinton, TX, a not-very-well-known speck on the map of less than 6,000 residents (with no mall, movie theatre or even a McDonald’s) in the southeastern corner of the Lone Star state about 28 miles north of Corpus Christi. As you might expect from a player who has advanced to the Double-A level in the minors, Alaniz was a four-year letter-winner for the Sinton High School (with an enrollment of 610 students) baseball team, seeing action as a pitcher, first baseman and shortstop.
You’re thinking not that big a deal, right? We’re just getting started.
As a freshman, Alaniz lost the first game he ever pitched in – a relief appearance in an early season tournament – and then went on to win the next 48 decisions in his high school career. Alaniz cruised to a 12-1 record with 0.79 ERA his first season, but earned first-team All-State honors as a first baseman after batting .468 with seven home runs and 34 RBI.
He dropped his ERA to 0.35 as a sophomore and became the team’s starting shortstop (taking over for his older brother Emi who graduated) when he wasn’t pitching. Then as a junior, he led Sinton to the 2002 AAA state championship, going 17-0 on the mound while batting .475. As a senior, Alaniz powered Sinton back to the state finals for a second straight year with a perfect 11-0 pitching mark, 0.90 ERA and a .430 batting average. He came through with a game-winning double in the 10th inning of the state semifinal game after pitching nine full innings and striking out eleven. And even though the Pirates fell short this time in the championship game, Alaniz’ near-legendary status in Sinton baseball history was assured.
OK – so now you’re at least a little impressed. Hold on, we’re not nearly done yet.
Alaniz was also the quarterback for Sinton playing in a pass-happy “run-and-shoot” offensive system, starting every game in his four-year high school football career. In his junior year, Alaniz earned All-State honors and led the undefeated Pirates to the AAA state championship game against Evermin High School. For three quarters of that contest, it appeared that Alaniz’ two touchdown passes in the first half was going to carry Sinton to its first state football championship, but a pair of Sinton fumbles in the second half took the ball out of Alaniz’ hands and the Pirates lost 25-14.
Prior to his senior year, Alaniz was one of the most sought-after players in the nation, with one major scouting service ranking him as the seventh-best quarterback prospect in football-crazy Texas. Even though Sinton’s season ended in the regional semifinals that year, Alaniz was rewarded with scholarship offers to play quarterback at high-profile Division I college programs like UCLA, Baylor, Nebraska and Colorado.
These on-field heroics in two sports also lifted the soft-spoken Alaniz to near-celebrity status in his tiny hometown.
“People joked that I could probably run for mayor of south Texas,” Alaniz says with a huge grin. “But I kind of take it with giggles and all that. It was a fun time for me. I was a high school kid in a small town and had a lot of publicity for going and doing these great things for this town, which really hadn’t done quite much. Especially in south Texas – there’s not a lot of great things that go on, where people win state championships. That’s more of a Houston, Dallas, northern area (thing). It was a lot of fun to be a part of.”
Fun to be sure, but also provided Alaniz with a wealth of opportunities that most schoolboy athletes could only dream about. His menu choices included scholarships to go to college and continue to play both football and baseball at the Division I level. Or he could choose to go full-time in either football or baseball. And plenty of scouts had swung by the Alaniz house and spent time in his living room to talk with him about being drafted and beginning a career in professional baseball.
Like the proverbial kid in the candy store, Alaniz sorted through this myriad of options, ultimately choosing baseball over football. And rather than turn pro out of high school, Alaniz decided the next stop in his baseball career was the University of Texas, a perennial college baseball powerhouse, which had offered him a scholarship there after his junior year at Sinton.
“It was a tough decision, but I think I chose the right one,” Alaniz said. “I loved playing football and enjoyed it - being underneath the lights on Friday night playing football or going to a big college and playing and getting treated the way they did. I really don’t regret choosing baseball. I look at football and I really don’t see myself as being a top NFL quarterback. I was kind of looking toward a future and I didn’t see myself doing that, not being as tall or strong. You look at guys now in the NFL and they’re specimens out there. Baseball was a little bit of an easier path as far as injury – football obviously you can get a beating in there.
“I think baseball was one of those things – I grew up playing it, I enjoyed playing it, and it’s a game that I love doing. It was going to be the best career decision for me. I like football - I like playing the game - but I don’t know that I absolutely love it as much as I do baseball.”
OK, here’s where the storyline picks up again.
At Texas, Alaniz was redshirted and sat out his first year in 2004, partly to rest a throwing arm that accumulated a ton of pitches and passes thrown while at Sinton, but mostly because the Longhorns pitching staff was loaded with talented hurlers, included three returning starters and corps of relievers that included Huston Street (the 2005 American League Rookie of the Year and current closer for the Oakland Athletics), J. Brent Cox (drafted in the second round in 2005 by the New York Yankees and currently pitching at the Triple-A level) and J.P. Howell (who presently sports a 6-0 record pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays).
The following year, Alaniz began the season in the bullpen, but was soon named the team’s Sunday starter. He went 8-3 with a 2.67 ERA, highlighted by an efficient 91-pitch no-hitter against Oklahoma Sooners on April 16 – the third no-hitter in the history of Big 12 conference play.
“It was amazing,” Alaniz said. “I would say that my arm really didn’t feel the best. But I had just good enough stuff that day to get it done. I was hitting my spots and I was (getting) ground balls and line drives right at our players. I worked really quick and got ahead of guys – I think I drew (a) 3-2 (count) on one guy in the fourth inning for the entire game and actually walked him. That’s what decided me from getting a perfect game. No threats at all.”
Alaniz was honored as First Team All-American and Freshman All-American in 2005, but cemented his place in Texas baseball folklore by going 2-0 with 1.93 ERA in 14 innings of work in the College World Series as the Longhorns captured their sixth national championship. Alaniz started the first game of the CWS against rival Baylor (which had swept all four games played against Texas earlier in the season) and limited the Bears to one run in seven innings as the Longhorns won 5-1.
Alaniz then came back to start the first game of the CWS best-of-three final series, limiting the hard-hitting Florida Gators to three hits in seven innings in a 4-2 Texas victory. The next day, Alaniz was celebrating a national championship, buried in a pile of his teammates on the pitcher’s mound after the Longhorns won Game #2 by a 6-2 score.
“It was funny because that whole series fell into a perfect place,” Alaniz said. “It was kind of a blur because we just ran through that thing so quick.”
In his three years at Texas, Alaniz compiled a 27-10 mark, with 3.11 ERA, including 255 strike-outs in 309.1 innings of work. He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 36th round in 2006 after his first two years with the Longhorns, but chose to stay at Texas for another year. Then, after going 12-3 with a 2.59 ERA in 2007, he was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the eighth round.
Hold on, there’s more to add to the story before we get to the big finish.
After quickly signing with the Nationals, Alaniz pitched for Vermont in the short-season New York-Penn League, amassing an 8-2 record with a 2.39 ERA and was a mid-season NYPL All-Star. But he wore down in August and September (3-2 with 4.40 ERA) after going 5-0 with 0.57 ERA in June and July. In all, Alaniz pitched a combined 164.2 innings for Texas and Vermont last year – a significant workload for a young pitcher.
Coming into 2008, the 24-year-old Alaniz figured he was headed for Low-A Hagerstown, but was pleasantly surprised when he was assigned to High-A Potomac to start the season. During spring training, Alaniz worked overtime to develop an effective change-up to complement his existing fastball, curve and slider arsenal. With this new pitch now at his disposal, the 6-2, 200-pound Alaniz went 9-0 with 2.62 ERA in 12 starts with the P-Nats before being promoted to Double-A Harrisburg on June 14.
In his first five starts with the Senators, Alaniz is 0-1 with a 4.18 ERA, but has pitched well in four of those outings. His only poor game came against Bowie at home on June 30, when he gave up six earned runs in five innings of work, including back-to-back home runs in the fifth from Luis Montanez and Nolan Reimold. But Alaniz quickly returned to form in his next start in Altoona on July 5, limiting the Curve to two runs and five hits in six innings, but didn’t figure in the decision.
Senators manager John Stearns said he likes what he’s seen thus far from Alaniz.
“He’s aggressive,” Stearns said. “He can hit both sides of the plate with his fastball (and) he’s got a good curveball. He’s just a real competitor on the mound. Right now, I like him a lot.
“He’s a polished-type pitcher. He’s a guy that was ready for high-A ball when he got drafted and he’s coming up the ladder now. (He) doesn’t possess a great fastball, he’s an 88-mph type guy, (but) he’s a pitcher, not a thrower. You get some guys who throw mid-90s, but they’re just throwers. This guy can pitch. He knows how to change speeds and locate. He’s on an upward-swing right now. I don’t know how high that is - I don’t know what his level is - but we’re going to find out.”
Harrisburg catcher Devin Ivany said Alaniz’ main strength is being able to throw any of his pitches for a strike at any point in the count – he’ll readily snap off a breaking ball to start off a hitter or when he’s behind in the count. Ivany said batters aren’t able to anticipate getting a fastball from Alaniz in situations where they’d customarily expect to see hard stuff.
“He has four quality pitches and he’s able to throw all of them for strikes,” Ivany said. “With him, you’ve just got to have a constant mix and use of all his stuff and keep hitters off balance. He doesn’t have overpowering stuff, so the key for him is being able to locate and he does that well with all four of his pitches. He’s not going to have to throw any pitch he doesn’t want to throw – he can go somewhere else if he feels a guy is on something.”
Harrisburg pitching coach Rick Tomlin, while pleased with Alaniz’ ability to locate his pitches, warns that as a pitcher without a dominating fastball, Alaniz’ knack to hit his spots is absolutely crucial.
“When he commands (his pitches) and he’s down on the plate and he’s (changing speeds) and moving in and out, up and down, he’s going to have a chance to be successful,” Tomlin said. “If he doesn’t do those things, he’s going to have a rough time. His margin for error is smaller. When a guy throws 100 mph, he can miss a spot. A guy who throws 88 - he better not miss too many spots. He’s done well. We’ll see how far his ability takes him.”
At this point, Alaniz says he has already exceeded his pre-season goal for 2008 – which was to make it to the Double-A level by the end of the year.
“Obviously, I’m very humbled about it,” Alaniz said. “But I also believe that hard work does pay off. I probably have to work a little bit harder than other guys, because I’m not an overpowering guy. When I get on the mound, I’m not going to light up the radar gun obviously, but I’m going to work hard enough to give my team a chance to win. I like to take every game one step at a time, one inning at a time and go out there and have fun and compete. I love competing.”
Senators’ pitcher fashions an amazing real-life sports resume
07/10/2008
by Ron Gardner
If you’re an aspiring writer looking for one of those “too-good-to-be-true” sports stories to bring to the big screen one day, you should begin to closely follow the budding professional baseball career of Senators’ pitcher Adrian Alaniz. His real-life athletic exploits are probably way better than anything you might dream up.
Alaniz’ story begins in the tiny town of Sinton, TX, a not-very-well-known speck on the map of less than 6,000 residents (with no mall, movie theatre or even a McDonald’s) in the southeastern corner of the Lone Star state about 28 miles north of Corpus Christi. As you might expect from a player who has advanced to the Double-A level in the minors, Alaniz was a four-year letter-winner for the Sinton High School (with an enrollment of 610 students) baseball team, seeing action as a pitcher, first baseman and shortstop.
You’re thinking not that big a deal, right? We’re just getting started.
As a freshman, Alaniz lost the first game he ever pitched in – a relief appearance in an early season tournament – and then went on to win the next 48 decisions in his high school career. Alaniz cruised to a 12-1 record with 0.79 ERA his first season, but earned first-team All-State honors as a first baseman after batting .468 with seven home runs and 34 RBI.
He dropped his ERA to 0.35 as a sophomore and became the team’s starting shortstop (taking over for his older brother Emi who graduated) when he wasn’t pitching. Then as a junior, he led Sinton to the 2002 AAA state championship, going 17-0 on the mound while batting .475. As a senior, Alaniz powered Sinton back to the state finals for a second straight year with a perfect 11-0 pitching mark, 0.90 ERA and a .430 batting average. He came through with a game-winning double in the 10th inning of the state semifinal game after pitching nine full innings and striking out eleven. And even though the Pirates fell short this time in the championship game, Alaniz’ near-legendary status in Sinton baseball history was assured.
OK – so now you’re at least a little impressed. Hold on, we’re not nearly done yet.
Alaniz was also the quarterback for Sinton playing in a pass-happy “run-and-shoot” offensive system, starting every game in his four-year high school football career. In his junior year, Alaniz earned All-State honors and led the undefeated Pirates to the AAA state championship game against Evermin High School. For three quarters of that contest, it appeared that Alaniz’ two touchdown passes in the first half was going to carry Sinton to its first state football championship, but a pair of Sinton fumbles in the second half took the ball out of Alaniz’ hands and the Pirates lost 25-14.
Prior to his senior year, Alaniz was one of the most sought-after players in the nation, with one major scouting service ranking him as the seventh-best quarterback prospect in football-crazy Texas. Even though Sinton’s season ended in the regional semifinals that year, Alaniz was rewarded with scholarship offers to play quarterback at high-profile Division I college programs like UCLA, Baylor, Nebraska and Colorado.
These on-field heroics in two sports also lifted the soft-spoken Alaniz to near-celebrity status in his tiny hometown.
“People joked that I could probably run for mayor of south Texas,” Alaniz says with a huge grin. “But I kind of take it with giggles and all that. It was a fun time for me. I was a high school kid in a small town and had a lot of publicity for going and doing these great things for this town, which really hadn’t done quite much. Especially in south Texas – there’s not a lot of great things that go on, where people win state championships. That’s more of a Houston, Dallas, northern area (thing). It was a lot of fun to be a part of.”
Fun to be sure, but also provided Alaniz with a wealth of opportunities that most schoolboy athletes could only dream about. His menu choices included scholarships to go to college and continue to play both football and baseball at the Division I level. Or he could choose to go full-time in either football or baseball. And plenty of scouts had swung by the Alaniz house and spent time in his living room to talk with him about being drafted and beginning a career in professional baseball.
Like the proverbial kid in the candy store, Alaniz sorted through this myriad of options, ultimately choosing baseball over football. And rather than turn pro out of high school, Alaniz decided the next stop in his baseball career was the University of Texas, a perennial college baseball powerhouse, which had offered him a scholarship there after his junior year at Sinton.
“It was a tough decision, but I think I chose the right one,” Alaniz said. “I loved playing football and enjoyed it - being underneath the lights on Friday night playing football or going to a big college and playing and getting treated the way they did. I really don’t regret choosing baseball. I look at football and I really don’t see myself as being a top NFL quarterback. I was kind of looking toward a future and I didn’t see myself doing that, not being as tall or strong. You look at guys now in the NFL and they’re specimens out there. Baseball was a little bit of an easier path as far as injury – football obviously you can get a beating in there.
“I think baseball was one of those things – I grew up playing it, I enjoyed playing it, and it’s a game that I love doing. It was going to be the best career decision for me. I like football - I like playing the game - but I don’t know that I absolutely love it as much as I do baseball.”
OK, here’s where the storyline picks up again.
At Texas, Alaniz was redshirted and sat out his first year in 2004, partly to rest a throwing arm that accumulated a ton of pitches and passes thrown while at Sinton, but mostly because the Longhorns pitching staff was loaded with talented hurlers, included three returning starters and corps of relievers that included Huston Street (the 2005 American League Rookie of the Year and current closer for the Oakland Athletics), J. Brent Cox (drafted in the second round in 2005 by the New York Yankees and currently pitching at the Triple-A level) and J.P. Howell (who presently sports a 6-0 record pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays).
The following year, Alaniz began the season in the bullpen, but was soon named the team’s Sunday starter. He went 8-3 with a 2.67 ERA, highlighted by an efficient 91-pitch no-hitter against Oklahoma Sooners on April 16 – the third no-hitter in the history of Big 12 conference play.
“It was amazing,” Alaniz said. “I would say that my arm really didn’t feel the best. But I had just good enough stuff that day to get it done. I was hitting my spots and I was (getting) ground balls and line drives right at our players. I worked really quick and got ahead of guys – I think I drew (a) 3-2 (count) on one guy in the fourth inning for the entire game and actually walked him. That’s what decided me from getting a perfect game. No threats at all.”
Alaniz was honored as First Team All-American and Freshman All-American in 2005, but cemented his place in Texas baseball folklore by going 2-0 with 1.93 ERA in 14 innings of work in the College World Series as the Longhorns captured their sixth national championship. Alaniz started the first game of the CWS against rival Baylor (which had swept all four games played against Texas earlier in the season) and limited the Bears to one run in seven innings as the Longhorns won 5-1.
Alaniz then came back to start the first game of the CWS best-of-three final series, limiting the hard-hitting Florida Gators to three hits in seven innings in a 4-2 Texas victory. The next day, Alaniz was celebrating a national championship, buried in a pile of his teammates on the pitcher’s mound after the Longhorns won Game #2 by a 6-2 score.
“It was funny because that whole series fell into a perfect place,” Alaniz said. “It was kind of a blur because we just ran through that thing so quick.”
In his three years at Texas, Alaniz compiled a 27-10 mark, with 3.11 ERA, including 255 strike-outs in 309.1 innings of work. He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 36th round in 2006 after his first two years with the Longhorns, but chose to stay at Texas for another year. Then, after going 12-3 with a 2.59 ERA in 2007, he was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the eighth round.
Hold on, there’s more to add to the story before we get to the big finish.
After quickly signing with the Nationals, Alaniz pitched for Vermont in the short-season New York-Penn League, amassing an 8-2 record with a 2.39 ERA and was a mid-season NYPL All-Star. But he wore down in August and September (3-2 with 4.40 ERA) after going 5-0 with 0.57 ERA in June and July. In all, Alaniz pitched a combined 164.2 innings for Texas and Vermont last year – a significant workload for a young pitcher.
Coming into 2008, the 24-year-old Alaniz figured he was headed for Low-A Hagerstown, but was pleasantly surprised when he was assigned to High-A Potomac to start the season. During spring training, Alaniz worked overtime to develop an effective change-up to complement his existing fastball, curve and slider arsenal. With this new pitch now at his disposal, the 6-2, 200-pound Alaniz went 9-0 with 2.62 ERA in 12 starts with the P-Nats before being promoted to Double-A Harrisburg on June 14.
In his first five starts with the Senators, Alaniz is 0-1 with a 4.18 ERA, but has pitched well in four of those outings. His only poor game came against Bowie at home on June 30, when he gave up six earned runs in five innings of work, including back-to-back home runs in the fifth from Luis Montanez and Nolan Reimold. But Alaniz quickly returned to form in his next start in Altoona on July 5, limiting the Curve to two runs and five hits in six innings, but didn’t figure in the decision.
Senators manager John Stearns said he likes what he’s seen thus far from Alaniz.
“He’s aggressive,” Stearns said. “He can hit both sides of the plate with his fastball (and) he’s got a good curveball. He’s just a real competitor on the mound. Right now, I like him a lot.
“He’s a polished-type pitcher. He’s a guy that was ready for high-A ball when he got drafted and he’s coming up the ladder now. (He) doesn’t possess a great fastball, he’s an 88-mph type guy, (but) he’s a pitcher, not a thrower. You get some guys who throw mid-90s, but they’re just throwers. This guy can pitch. He knows how to change speeds and locate. He’s on an upward-swing right now. I don’t know how high that is - I don’t know what his level is - but we’re going to find out.”
Harrisburg catcher Devin Ivany said Alaniz’ main strength is being able to throw any of his pitches for a strike at any point in the count – he’ll readily snap off a breaking ball to start off a hitter or when he’s behind in the count. Ivany said batters aren’t able to anticipate getting a fastball from Alaniz in situations where they’d customarily expect to see hard stuff.
“He has four quality pitches and he’s able to throw all of them for strikes,” Ivany said. “With him, you’ve just got to have a constant mix and use of all his stuff and keep hitters off balance. He doesn’t have overpowering stuff, so the key for him is being able to locate and he does that well with all four of his pitches. He’s not going to have to throw any pitch he doesn’t want to throw – he can go somewhere else if he feels a guy is on something.”
Harrisburg pitching coach Rick Tomlin, while pleased with Alaniz’ ability to locate his pitches, warns that as a pitcher without a dominating fastball, Alaniz’ knack to hit his spots is absolutely crucial.
“When he commands (his pitches) and he’s down on the plate and he’s (changing speeds) and moving in and out, up and down, he’s going to have a chance to be successful,” Tomlin said. “If he doesn’t do those things, he’s going to have a rough time. His margin for error is smaller. When a guy throws 100 mph, he can miss a spot. A guy who throws 88 - he better not miss too many spots. He’s done well. We’ll see how far his ability takes him.”
At this point, Alaniz says he has already exceeded his pre-season goal for 2008 – which was to make it to the Double-A level by the end of the year.
“Obviously, I’m very humbled about it,” Alaniz said. “But I also believe that hard work does pay off. I probably have to work a little bit harder than other guys, because I’m not an overpowering guy. When I get on the mound, I’m not going to light up the radar gun obviously, but I’m going to work hard enough to give my team a chance to win. I like to take every game one step at a time, one inning at a time and go out there and have fun and compete. I love competing.”