Thursday, July 2, 1998

He is recognized
as one of the three greatest
college players by
Collegiate Basebal

By Dave Reardon
Special to the Star-Bulletin

Former University of Hawaii pitching great Derek Tatsuno says it's nice to be recognized as one of three NCAA Division I Players of the Century. But it's not something that makes him wonder why he never made it to the major leagues.

Tatsuno, who set numerous college records in a three-year Rainbow career (1977-79), was recently honored by Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Wichita State's Phil Stephenson and Oklahoma State's Pete Incaviglia were also named Players of the Century.

"It's true I didn't go to the full extent of pro ball that I would have liked, but you have to believe in what you did and you have to look ahead," says Tatsuno, 40.

Today, Tatsuno doesn't dwell on what might have been. He looks ahead to September, when he and his wife Wendy are expecting their first child, a daughter.

He says it will start a new chapter in his life, one that won't necessarily include baseball at all.

But the preceding ones are worth recounting.

"For one thing, he had charisma that very few people have," says Les Murakami, his coach at Hawaii, when asked what made Tatsuno a great pitcher. "And he had supreme confidence that he was going to win. He was one of those kids that when he wasn't pitching he just fooled around, kind of a jokester. But when he was pitching he was all business. I've never seen anyone focus like him. Tremendous poise, great control and a great breaking pitch."

The left-hander also had a fastball in the high 80s that broke sharply in against right-handed batters. After dominating with the fastball and curve at Aiea High, he developed an effective change-up early on at UH.

With command of three pitches, Tatsuno blew away college competition. He had an overall mark of 40-6 with a 2.04 career ERA, and became the first college pitcher to win 20 games in a season in 1979. His 234 strikeouts in the same season remains a national record.

Tatsuno was a major force in Rainbow baseball's growing success on the field and at the turnstile in the late '70s. Record crowds attended when he pitched.

He left school after his junior season (ironically, in what would have been his senior season, Hawaii made its only appearance in the College World Series), signing a large contract to play semi-pro baseball in Japan as an employee of the Prince Hotel. Although drafted several times by Major League teams, the money was better in Japan.

What some considered Tatsuno's greatest asset as a pitcher, the moving fastball, caused him problems in Japan.

"I'd say overwork contributed, but the primary cause was altering my delivery," Tatsuno says. "In Japan, they don't believe fastballs should move. Breaking pitches should break, not fastballs."

To straighten out his fastball, coaches changed his delivery to over-the-top from the three-quarter motion he'd previously used, Tatsuno says.

"The catchers had problems catching my fastball because it was breaking," Tatsuno says. "My question was, 'If the catcher has a problem, won't the hitter?' "

After 21/2 years in Japan, Tatsuno signed with the Milwaukee Brewers in January, 1982. But he had difficulty regaining the mechanics that made him successful in college. After mixed results for four seasons in the minors, he completed his pro career in 1987 with the Hawaii Islanders.

There is also some contention that Tatsuno, who pitched 402.1 innings in his UH career, may have overworked his arm in 1978 and was never the same after.

"I think what hurt him was between his sophomore and junior year," Murakami says. "He went to Kansas for summer ball. I didn't want him to go, I thought he'd thrown enough innings, but he was determined to go. When he came back his junior year, I don't think he was the same pitcher. But we had a better team, and I think we bailed him out a lot of times. But he was still good."

Good enough to win 20 games.

"Yes, to an extent, I threw a lot that year. But I don't think it was the innings pitched. It was a long year," Tatsuno says. "There was an all-star series against Japan, and then to Kansas. When I came back for fall classes and fall league, I was somewhat exhausted mentally on baseball, but not my arm. I rested a lot during fall league, and I was refreshed and ready for the regular season."

After his competitive playing career ended, Tatsuno got his degree at UH and coached several seasons as an assistant at Aiea and Kamehameha. Now he concentrates on his job at UH, "creating revenue for the University" in the auxiliary enterprises department. It includes selling Rainbow logo merchandise and acting as a liaison with alumni groups.

"I don't play at all anymore," he says. "Coaching again? Maybe in the future."

"He was something special," Murakami says. "I don't know if I'll ever have someone like that again. Someone like that comes around once in a long, long time."