Padres happy former Arizona pitcher now on their side
By: BRIAN HIRO - Staff Writer | ∞
TEMPE, Ariz. ---- He had come upon a dead end on the road to the Show. His shelf life as a baseball prospect, even as an employable player, was perilously close to expiration.
Five years into his career in the Milwaukee Brewers' minor-league system, Steve Sparks had lost 5 mph off an already marginal fastball, making his fat, mid-80s offerings a feast for hungry hitters.
"I was getting throttled pretty good," the Padres' pitcher recalled of his three-year stint with Double-A El Paso of the Texas League in the early '90s.
Sparks was confronted with a choice: He could adapt, or he could fade away.
He adapted. Specifically, Sparks heeded the organization's urging that he learn to throw the knuckleball ---- that strange, unpredictable pitch that flutters to the plate like a butterfly and often confounds overanxious swingers.
"My first reaction was that they were giving up on me," Sparks said. "Then, after about a week, I started feeling grateful and flattered. I thought, 'If they like me enough to give me another opportunity, I'm going to give it my best.' "
In that moment was born Sparks' second life in baseball. Thirteen years later, it has made him one of only two established knuckleballers in the major leagues ---- Boston's Tim Wakefield is the other ---- and, at age 39, a strong candidate to break spring camp with the Padres as their designated inning-eater out of the bullpen.
"I think a guy like Sparks is great on a staff," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said of the veteran right-hander, who's locked in a tight race with Blaine Neal and Randy Williams for the last of seven bullpen spots. "You can start him, you can use him in relief. He's a professional pitcher, and those knuckleballers are valuable."
Sparks prides himself on being a pitcher who can bail out an overworked staff, because throwing lazy knucklers isn't nearly as taxing on the arm as flaming fastballs or biting sliders. But Sparks' mediocre career statistics ---- 59-76 with a 4.88 ERA in nine seasons, including 3-7 with a 6.04 ERA for Arizona last year ---- are a testament to the difficulty of mastering the pitch.
In Sparks' case, he gradually phased the knuckleball into his repertoire, which also features a fastball, sinker and slider. The first season, 1992, he threw it 30 percent of the time, then 50 percent the next year, then up to 70 percent.
Because of the dearth of experts on the pitch in modern baseball, Sparks taught himself through basic trial and error. He would study baseball cards of old-school practitioners of the craft ---- Phil and Joe Niekro, Charlie Hough, even going back to Hoyt Wilhelm and Wilbur Wood ---- for guidance on how to properly grip the ball. He even picked up some how-to books at the local library.
"I finally got a hold of (former knuckleballer) Tom Candiotti once I had some decent, educated questions," Sparks said. "He was very obliging and helped me a lot."
Boosted by the fresh knowledge, Sparks progressed through Triple-A New Orleans before finally breaking through as a 30-year-old rookie in 1995. He went 9-11 in 27 starts for the Brewers, only to be greeted by a new challenge the following year.
"The balls got noticeably harder the next season," Sparks said. "That's when they started winding them a little tighter, and it was harder to dig your fingernails into them. I broke my nails all the time. I didn't think I'd ever be able to throw a decent knuckleball with these new balls."
His nails since cut shorter, Sparks now throws his favorite pitch at least 80 percent of the time, at speeds varying from a glacial 52 to 75 mph. A slight mechanical flaw spotted this spring by Padres pitching coaches has him tossing what he calls his crispest knuckleballs of the past few years.
The moist atmosphere of San Diego would only aid his movement ---- and his cause.
After laboring to solve Sparks with the Diamondbacks last year, Padres hitters are happy he's on their side.
"It's one of those things that you can't really prepare for," second baseman Mark Loretta, an ex-teammate of Sparks in Milwaukee, said of the knuckleball. "You just try to react to it. I think I've done OK (against the pitch), but it's not like I look forward to it."
PADRES NOTES ---- Again displaying his refined, more direct delivery, RHP Adam Eaton threw three scoreless innings to start the Padres toward a 4-0 blanking of the Angels on Monday. "The comfort level is something I'm very happy with," Eaton said. "I've definitely noticed the ease with which the ball is going where it needs to." ... CF Dave Roberts supported Eaton with a spectacular diving catch deep in the right-center gap in the first inning, and RF Brian Giles paced a 12-hit attack with three singles. C Ramon Hernandez and 3B Sean Burroughs each had two hits and an RBI.
Contact staff writer Brian Hiro at b_hiro@hotmail.com.
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