Player in the Spotlight: Ben Sheetsby Daniel PaullingMarch 14, 2005 Name:
Ben Sheets
The story of Sheets’ life began in Louisiana, a state not known for producing top baseball talent. A teacher asked Sheets what he was going to do with his life and whether he was going to be a baseball player. Sheets began to think that wouldn’t be a bad idea. The idea of playing pro ball has turned out to be a horrible idea. By that, I mean horrible for his opponents. Actually playing baseball began in 1999, which was the year that the Brewers drafted Sheets in the 1st round, 10th overall. Throughout the minor leagues, Sheets never put up good numbers across the board. Sure, his K/9 in the Rookie League was 13.5 and his ERA in Double A was 1.88, but Sheets never had a season in which he put up great stats in every category. Of course, this is not a bad thing. The Brewers believed that Sheets was ready to move up all the time. And he has not proven them wrong. Prior to throwing to Chad Moeller, Sheets made many mental mistakes, but last year he became more consistent with his mechanics and toughened mentally. Moeller, along with pitching coach Mike Maddux, has helped harness his talents by increasing Sheets’ velocity with his four-seam fastball. The fastball combines with deadly curveball and good changeup to give Sheets a great collection of pitches. He has also increased his -command to the tune of 8.25 strikeouts per walk, which is an ace-like figure. But probably the game most indicative of Sheets is a game last year against the Angels. He pitched a compete game, one hitter against one of the strongest lineups in the Majors, only to get a no-decision. In another game, Sheets fanned ten Astros over six scoreless innings. “You could see it was just different. You just don’t abuse Biggio and Bagwell and Berkman the way he did. It was flat out abuse. Bagwell is a guy I have incredible respect for as a hitter, and in one at-bat, he saw two fastballs and a curve, and that was it. He knew he was beaten and didn’t have a chance,” said Sheets’s personal catcher Chad Moeller. One month later, Sheets struck out eighteen Braves in one game. His dominance was so profound that Braves slugger Andruw Jones said “The way he was pitching, he could have thrown a no hitter. When people pitch like that, there’s nothing they couldn’t do.” This off-season, though, Sheets had surgery to deal with a bulging disk in his back. He has rehabbed the entire off-season and is not behind schedule. Two other pitchers, Randy Johnson and David Wells, both had similar procedures and are completely fine. Sheets is on track to produce like he did last year; no worries about his status, draft him like the ace he is. But perhaps Chad Moeller gives the best scouting report on this quirky ace. “He was so lights-out all year and got zero support, but he was always so positive. You gotta love him, because his personality is so fun-loving and he enjoys the game. He’s just a big kid.” Here’s
to hoping that the big kid produces the way he’s capable.
Feel free to leave comments in the forums or e-mail Daniel at daniel@athomeplate.com. |
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