May 25, 2005
By DAVE D'ONOFRIO, Monitor staff
Jason Paul reported to the ballpark as usual, scheduled to throw the first five innings of an Atlanta Braves' extended spring training game last week in Orlando, Fla. A reliever for the entirety of a brief pro career, the Henniker native was slated to continue his conversion to a starter, but prior to the outing a coach approached and told Paul he'd pitch an inning and be pulled.
For a prospect at extended spring training - a place where winning doesn't matter much and development is everything - that was wonderful news. Of course Paul wanted to pitch as much as possible, but moves like that aren't usually strategic or any way influenced by the present situation, so when the plan changed he had an inkling he was headed elsewhere. Those suspicions were validated within hours, when a player personnel rep informed him he'd been promoted to Single-A and would be sent to Rome, Ga.
But not until he had some fun first, at the expense of his father.
"I called my dad that night and I told him that I had pitched one inning," Paul said a few days later, "and that I'd been bad."
Paul had actually pitched well, "amped up" by the possibility of progressing to the next level and so he worked a perfect inning. From New Hampshire, however, his father had no idea of that, and asked, "What happened?"
"I don't know. I just didn't have it," the son answered before putting an end to the prank. "But for some reason, they want me to go up to Rome tomorrow."
Just like that, an eventful stay at spring training was over for Paul. The graduate of John Stark, who almost a year ago became the first player ever to be drafted out of Southern New Hampshire University, had hoped all along he'd be going to Rome. After all, that marked the next logical step after pitching 17 games of rookie ball for the Danville Braves, and completing the year with a 2-2 record and 5.65 earned run average.
But Paul was left off Rome's -and all other - rosters when most of the organization broke camp last month, making the Disney Wide World of Sports complex "an interesting place" to work. During the conventional portion of the preseason, Paul prepared with the standard workload of about 10 innings, and expected he'd be going somewhere in the farm system, though he was then told there wasn't room for him on any of the teams.
"I felt as though I was being pushed off to the side," he said.
Rather than being discouraged by his designation, Paul opted instead to stay focused on converting himself back into a starter, which was the role he held in college. Atlanta officials have yet to explain exactly what prompted the move, though at Danville Paul appeared in more games than all but one other pitcher, striking out 26 hitters over his 28? innings, and showed flashes of the stuff he thinks the higher-ups in the organization envisioned working well over longer stretches.
"I was pitching pretty well," he said, "and I think that the reason they turned me into a starter was one of the outings that I had, I pitched three innings and had eight strikeouts. I'm pretty sure that had something to do with it."
At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, Paul has both the build and bag of tricks to become a starter. Consistently in the low 90s with his fastball, his repertoire also consists of a curve, slider and changeup, and such diversity can be key when facing the same batters two or three times through the lineup.
Aside from the fact he can pitch with "a little more gusto" when he gets extra rest, Paul said he doesn't prefer starting to relieving, or vice versa. With Rome he is again in the bullpen, having spun a flawless frame in his only appearance, but he understands his role could change on the whim of the organization's wishes.
And if it does, Paul says he'll be ready - thanks to some advice from a guy who knows a little bit about going from starter to reliever and back to starter. Former Cy Young Award winner John Smoltz spent 35 minutes with the Braves minor league pitchers during a spring session, lending the group a simple, but important, piece of advice.
"The mentally tough guys are the ones that are going to make it,"Paul remembered Smoltz saying. "The more mentally tough you can be, the better you can be."
Paul can speak to that first-hand after enduring an extended spring training, and emerging with his hopes and dreams intact. Shortly after being selected 461st in last June's draft, he said he hoped to be a major leaguer within four years.
That works out to one level per season; so it's so far, so good.
"We're one step closer," Paul said. "I couldn't be happier. Four years would be great, but who knows what's going to happen in those four years.
"I'm going to bust my butt to do everything I can before those four years are up. I'm going to try and make the decision not that tough for them to have me up there."
