Jul 18, 2006
Ned Winner
Sentinel Staff
NASHUA - A month and a half ago, Bryan Duplissie and Elliot Shea were big men on campus. They were wrapping up their stellar baseball careers at Franklin Pierce College with a trip to the NCAA Division II College World Series, performing well on a national stage.
What a difference six weeks makes.
Now with the Nashua Pride of the Canadian-American League, Duplissie, who graduated from Monadnock Regional High, and Shea, a Conant High product, find themselves fighting for their baseball lives on a daily basis.
There's no stardom like there was in Rindge, no coming to the park every day with four guaranteed at-bats - and a good chance at a few hits.
"It's kind of familiar, because we've all been freshmen on a team somewhere," Shea said during batting practice before the Pride's 9-5 win against the Sussex Skyhawks last week at Holman Stadium. "You have to earn your spot. The only difference is you're getting paid for it, so it's more important to play well and play hard because if you let your opportunities go by, you're going to let something good pass you up."
Eighteen games into his pro baseball career, Shea, an outfielder, had nine hits in 45 at-bats, a .200 average. He's scored five runs and driven in four, and has stolen five bases in five attempts.
Duplissie, playing primarily at first base for the Pride, sported a .310 average through 23 games and 58 at-bats, including three doubles and three home runs. He'd also made four pitching appearances, including three starts, recording an 0-2 record and a 7.80 ERA.
The two did combine to help beat the Skyhawks this night, when Duplissie doubled to spark a Pride rally. Shea pinch-ran for his old college buddy and scampered home with what proved to be the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.
"It's tough, definitely," Duplissie said, "but you have to just keep busting your butt with early work and extra BP. You're just trying to get your swing down so when you get your chance, you can give it your best chance."
Despite the early struggles, Chris Hall, Nashua's vice president of baseball operations, said that most recent college graduates suffer though a lengthy adjustment period, and he expects great things down the road from his two rookies.
"You're always looking for young talent coming out of college," Hall said. "Dupe and Shea are obviously two very talented guys, who were close by, that we wanted to give an opportunity to."
In June, Shea was picked up by the Chicago Cubs in the Major League Baseball draft, but essentially failed his physical when team doctors claimed he had limited range of motion in his shoulder.
Shea's personal doctor and Nashua's team trainers both say his shoulder is 100 percent healthy.
"That's water under the bridge," Shea said. "That's over with."
"There's nothing wrong with this kid's arm," Hall said. "Nothing. He's a phenomenal defensive player. He tracks everything down. He has tremendous speed. He's a tremendous prospect.
"He's learning how to hit in professional baseball right now and I think he'll admit he's working on it. It's an adjustment for him. But Elliot Shea is going to be a great one."
Hall said that for Duplissie, the time is approaching when he'll have to choose either pitching or hitting and playing the field.
"Dupe has so much potential as both a hitter and a pitcher, and I think at one point he has to make a decision about which one he wants to do so he can stay focused," Hall said.
Duplissie has gone back and forth between the rotation and first base for the last few weeks, as Manager Butch Hobson, who played eight big league seasons between 1975-82, tries to figure out where he best fits on the team.
Duplissie said that if he had to make the decision today, he'd keep his pine tar rag over a rosin bag.
"I've been here for probably a month and I've already learned so much from Butch about hitting," he said. "It's starting to show up in games now - how hard I'm hitting the ball and how far I'm hitting the ball. It's a big change for me."
As Shea and Duplissie continue to catch up to professional quality pitching, they both said they're having a blast soaking in the minor league atmosphere. They listen to Big League stories from Hobson and Pride players like Dan Reichert, who pitched for the Kansas City Royals from 1999-02 and for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2003.
"You get to play with guys who have been with affiliated teams and they have so many stories," Duplissie said. "Every day you come to the park and learn different things. It's a lot of fun."
Players joked around in the outfield during pregame warm-ups, as the sounds of Guns N' Roses, Johnny Cash and Bon Jovi bounced out of the loudspeaker of Holman Stadium's old brick facades. Players took BP wearing blue, team-issued shorts, some with tins of chewing tobacco tucked into their royal blue socks.
Shea and Duplissie describe bus rides to New Jersey, Quebec or New Haven like they're scenes from Bull Durham - guys playing poker and talking about making "The Show."
"Our bus isn't necessarily the nicest coach bus I've been on with the nicest bathrooms," said Shea, who lives in the Riviera College dorms with a half-dozen teammates. "It's just baseball. It's pretty cool."
Duplissie lives with a host family in Merrimack, spending his off days catching stripers on the seacoast with Jamie Baker, a Pride pitcher who Duplissie played with at Wheaton College before transferring to Franklin Pierce.
"You got to live for today," Duplissie said. "You got to perform when you're in there and just turn some heads."
