Saarloos seizes opportunity

[The Entertainer]

[quote][size=3][b]Saarloos seizes opportunity[/b][/size]
Sinkerballer's versatility key to his value

BY KEVIN KELLY | KKELLY@ENQUIRER.COM


SARASOTA, Fla. - The last thing David Ross wants to see during an early spring batting practice session is somebody like Kirk Saarloos supplying the pitches.

"Even playing catch with him, the ball moves all over the place," the Reds catcher said. "He can't throw it straight if he wanted to."

Ross caught Saarloos the first time the sinkerball specialist pitched to Reds hitters this spring.

As a courtesy, Ross offered teammates a quick warning when each stepped into the batter's box for the first time.

"I know in live BP, the last thing I want to see is somebody with a heavy sinker right off the bat," Ross said. "So I was telling all of them that he's got a good, heavy sinker. I didn't want them coming in there and fouling one off their ankle or snapping a bat."

The Reds acquired Saarloos from the Athletics last month, and the right-hander is among the candidates to make the club either as the fifth starter or as a reliever.

He won 10 games as Oakland's surprise fifth starter in 2005 and began last season in the bullpen. In 35 appearances with the A's, including 16 starts, Saarloos finished 7-7 with a 4.75 ERA.

"I loved my time in Oakland," Saarloos said. "We made the playoffs. I met a lot of great guys. But I think here, with the way Oakland was set up and the way this team is set up, I feel this is a better opportunity for me."

The clubhouse included one familiar face. First baseman Scott Hatteberg was a teammate in Oakland during the 2004 and 2005 seasons. The two have remained friends since, gathering with their spouses for the occasional offseason dinner. Both couples live near Seattle.

Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky consulted with Hatteberg before making the trade.

"If he needed a PR guy, I might be it," Hatteberg said. "I'm a huge fan of his. He's just one of those guys that make a team better silently, is undervalued and under-appreciated.

"He's not much to look at in that he's a small guy (6 feet, 180 pounds). He does nothing flashy or spectacular as far as lighting up the radar gun. But he's a guy you just have to appreciate when you're in the batter's box."

Hatteberg also has a theory about how Saarloos gets so much movement on his pitches.

"He's got these circus fingers," Hatteberg said. "They're so small. I don't know if he can even palm a golf ball. I think that's why his ball moves so much.

"He cuts it, sinks it. You just can't do much except beat it into the ground. And for our ballpark, gosh, what a good thing."

The challenge Saarloos faces this spring is considerably different from what he faced in 2005.

This time he's not coming off a season that ended in injury, or worrying about his mother, Linda, battling breast cancer. She is healthy and nearing the two-year point of being cancer-free.

"That was definitely an interesting spring training," Saarloos said. "I was thinking more about my mom than baseball, but baseball kind of gave me a little release.

"I don't think they were really looking for me to win that fifth spot. There was about five of us going for it. I just kind of went at it day by day and didn't really say anything, just worked hard and tried to let everything that happened on the field speak for itself."

He's taking the same workmanlike approach with the Reds this spring.

"Last year, he was a swing guy," manager Jerry Narron said. "He started and came out of the bullpen.

"He'll get a shot at the fifth spot, and if he doesn't (get it), we know we've got somebody we'll get some innings out of."

Saarloos prefers starting to relieving and is quick with a laugh when recalling his appearance at hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park.

Pitching in relief for the Astros on July 17, 2003 - the first game after the All-Star break - he allowed four earned runs on three hits over one-third of an inning.

The experience, however frightening the numbers, wasn't enough to scare him.

"I think it was more of an effect of not being ready that first day back as opposed to pitching in that ballpark," Saarloos said. "There are really no cheap home runs. They seem to fly out of there pretty far. ... It's still baseball and you've still got to make your pitches."[/quote]



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[The Entertainer]

[quote][size=3][b]Saarloos' statistics [/b][/size]

Right-hander Kirk Saarloos has a 27-25 record and 4.79 ERA over five major-league seasons with Houston and Oakland. A look at his career:

Year Team IP W-L ERA
2002 Houston 85.1 6-7 6.01
2003 Houston 49.1 2-1 4.93
2004 Oakland 24.1 2-1 4.44
2005 Oakland 159.2 10-9 4.17
2006 Oakland 121.1 7-7 4.75

Also of note: He had two saves and one blown save for the A's last year.[/quote]



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