Marlins Top Pick Getting on Schedule

From Miami Herald...

Getting on schedule

Taylor Tankersley, Florida's top pick last June, is still acclimating to the increased number of games in professional baseball, but despite that, the left-hander is still impressing.

BY KEVIN BAXTER

kbaxter@herald.com

JUPITER - At this time last year, Taylor Tankersley's biggest worry was midterm exams. But if his academic load at the University of Alabama was supposed to prepare him for the working world, he found out during the summer he was taking the wrong classes.

''It was different,'' Tankersley said of his first season of professional baseball. ``You have to play every day, you have to be much more even-keeled. There are no ups and downs. It's lower-scoring games, better defense.

``It's just a different game.''

Yet the left-handed Tankersley succeeded.

Despite the sharp learning curve and a contract squabble that kept him sidelined an extra month, the Marlins' top pick in June's amateur draft made the most of his first season as a pro, posting a 3.38 ERA in six starts at short-season Jamestown, N.Y., and striking out 32 batters in 26 2/3 innings.

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But the number that really stood out for Tankersley was six. That's the number of games Jamestown averaged per week last summer, and it's what Tankersley will be playing this season at either Greensboro, N.C., or Jupiter, the Marlins' two Single A teams.

''Playing every day was definitely a lot tougher than a college season,'' said Tankersley, who played 54 games in 4 ? months during his final year at Alabama but will play 140 in five months this year.

``As far as short season goes, the caliber of play wasn't that much better than the SEC. But the atmosphere was different. And playing every day was definitely a lot tougher than a college season.''

With that in mind, Tankersley, who turned 22 on Monday, dropped some weight during the winter and showed up nearly two weeks ahead of many of the Marlins' other minor-leaguers, who weren't officially due in training camp until today.

That impressed Jim Fleming, the Marlins' assistant general manager for player development and scouting.

''He's in great shape,'' Fleming said. ``Exactly what you would like to see guys do their first camp: come in and try to impress.''

IN CONTROL

How fast Tankersley moves through the Marlins' minor-league system depends on a number of factors, Fleming said, but all of them will be controlled by the pitcher, not the front office.

''They dictate it on how they play [and] whether they're ready for the next level mentally,'' he said. ``So we're looking for a combination of performance and maturity in order to move up.''

Tankersley would appear to have the maturity. The son of a nuclear physicist and the grandson of a former minor-league pitcher, Tankersley is a smart pitcher who doesn't get rattled easily. He can start or relieve -- as he did in his last season at Alabama, when he went 2-5 with a 2.00 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 67 2/3 innings -- and he can throw his 93 mph fastball and a devastating slider from a number of arm angles.

Team him with second-round pick Jason Vargas, another college left-hander who went 3-1 with a 1.96 ERA in 41 1/3 innings at Jamestown, and the Marlins appear well on their way to rebuilding a minor-league system depleted by trades the past two summers.

''[They're] very aggressive, they're very motivated. They're focused,'' Fleming said of the two pitchers. ``They want to be baseball players. They're committed. That's real important.''

In fact, Tankersley clarifies, they are baseball players. And that's not just important, it's nearly unfathomable.

''This is the best thing in the world to be doing,'' Tankersley said. ``It's a dream come true.

``You imagine playing for a living your whole life and now all of sudden, it's here. It's awesome. I'm lucky enough to be doing what I love, and I've had some success at it. Not very many people get that chance.''