Young Pitchers

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- He started at one of the far corners of the Orioles' spring training complex. His hands behind his back and clutching a blue binder that detailed the day's itinerary, Rick Kranitz observed four of his new students throwing side by side, balls popping into catchers' mitts in unison. Satisfied with what he saw, Kranitz walked briskly to an adjacent field, settling behind a batting cage to get a view of Jamie Walker delivering the last of his practice pitches. When Walker was done, Kranitz met him outside the third base line and patted the pitcher on his left shoulder.

When Aubrey Huff passed his physical yesterday, finalized a three-year, $20 million deal and was introduced as the newest Oriole, it likely represented the last major move for the club in a busy offseason. The Orioles signed nine free agents, including two of their own, and made two trades. The bullpen was overhauled, the starting rotation received a new member and the lineup was bolstered by two veterans with solid track records. "It's one of those things where we don't know how good we are at this point," said Orioles executive vice president Mike Flanagan, who called Huff the type of hitter the club has been seeking all offseason.

Major League Baseball isn't planning any dramatic action to stop the offensive avalanche that has descended on the sport. The mound isn't going to be raised anytime soon, and there has been no attempt to change the specifications of the supposedly juiced baseball.Instead, baseball commissioner Bud Selig said recently that the onus is on the individual clubs to improve the quality of their pitching staffs, which would be no small feat in this era of diluted talent.There is one other possible solution.

The Orioles know what can happen when expectations get out of control. The positive energy that flowed out of their "Why Not?" season of 1989 turned the following spring into an exercise in false optimism and set the organization up for a major disappointment.Could it happen again?The upbeat 1992 season bore some similarities to the tremendous turnaround of '89, but manager Johnny Oates would prefer to dwell on the differences as his club prepares to make another run at the American League East title.

When the Orioles chased the Toronto Blue Jays down to the final weekend of the 1989 season, they did it with basically two starting pitchers. The battle cry that year was "Why Not?" but it easily could have been "Ballard and Milacki, then things get wacky."A month ago, it appeared the Orioles had the makings of a solid four-man rotation. At the time, the only one struggling wasveteran right-hander Rick Sutcliffe. Rookie Arthur Rhodes was on a four-game winning streak. Ben McDonald had won three straight.

When Adam Loewen was striding from the Aberdeen bullpen toward the dugout to launch his professional pitching career, he was besieged by autograph hounds along the right-field line at Ripken Stadium. He politely refused their pleas and concentrated on business. "Everybody was after him to sign," said IronBirds pitching coach Steve "Doc" Watson. "We had told him to stay on the grass while he was walking in and go straight to the dugout. Adam told them, `I'll sign, but I can't right now.' After he pitched, he spent time with those people.

A year ago, it was impossible to talk about the Orioles' top pitching prospects without getting into a depressing discussion about injuries and derailed potential. Mention the same topic to an Orioles official these days, and he'll start brimming with pride and beaming with excitement as he forecasts the future for a large new crop of talent. Since Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan have taken over the baseball operations, a combination of trades, draft signings and an improved player development system has garnered a slew of young pitchers, and the rest of the industry is taking notice.

It will be months before the Orioles are mathematically eliminated from the American League East race, but you could make the case that they were medically eliminated yesterday. The announcement sent a justifiable shiver through the entire organization. Left-hander Adam Loewen, one of the cornerstones of the club's supposedly bright pitching future, became the fourth Orioles starting pitcher to go on the disabled list ... and not just for a couple of weeks. Turns out, Loewen's lingering forearm soreness is the result of a stress fracture in one of the franchise's most valuable left arms.

The Orioles had not officially announced the decision to jettison veteran catcher Chad Moeller in favor of inexperienced backup Craig Tatum, but the Orioles clubhouse was buzzing about it Tuesday morning, and a lot of people were scratching their heads. No disrespect to Tatum, who has worked hard to win the job and deserves to savor this moment, but the move runs counter to just about everything we were led to believe about the way the Orioles intended to groom their best young players.

The first thing that jumps out at you when you go to the videotape of Orioles first-round draft choice Matt Hobgood is that he bears some resemblance - in size and pitching mechanics - to a highly regarded Orioles pitching prospect of the past. Sidney Ponson. Of course, looks can be deceiving, and everything the club is saying about the high school right-hander from Norco, Calif., makes him sound more like a young Roger Clemens. Here's what we know for sure: Director of amateur scouting Joe Jordan seemed pretty comfortable with this choice, and the Orioles have done a nice job with the last two top picks.