[ BASEBALL ]
STAR-BULLETIN / 2000
Former St. Louis School pitcher Brandon League, who pitched against Kamehameha on March 21, 2000, is getting good experience at Single-A Auburn (N.Y.).
Auburn bills itself as the best little town in Cayuga County located in the Finger Lakes Region of rural western New York state. That is about as different as one can get from Honolulu, but it was the perfect setting for Brandon League to prosper in his first full season of professional baseball. League making
‘good strides’
By Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com"It's really a small town. That's about all I can say," said League, a St. Louis graduate. "It was cool, maybe in the 70s most of the time I was there. That's good and bad. As the velocity (on pitches) goes up, the balls fly out like nothing at times."
League posted a 7-2 record with a 3.15 ERA as a member of the starting rotation for the Auburn Doubledays, winners of the Short-Season Class-A New York-Penn League's Pickney Division.
"Brandon was quite solid and made some real good strides from last year," said Dane Johnson, Auburn's pitching coach. "He has an exceptional amount of talent. The organization is very high on him. He is still a kid, only 19, but he matured on the mound quite a bit this year. There is a lot to learn in pro ball about handling yourself on and off the field.
"On the mound he located his pitches down in the zone better. We said, 'Let's get the ball over the plate and throw as few pitches as possible. Let's make people put the ball in play.' Brandon did that very well as the year progressed. He has a super changeup that was quite a nightmare for the hitter."
As League improved his economy of pitches thrown, he went from being a five-inning pitcher at the start the season to staying on the mound for six and seven innings before reaching his pitch-count limit.
The six months League was on the mainland for spring training, extended spring training and league play, Johnson was his pitching coach and he worked with the same catchers, John Schneider and Paul Richmond, both drafted out of college.
"The level of play was high and I thought I learned a lot compared to last year," League said. "I improved the command of my pitches and learned how to read batters, to pick up on what they are doing so I could work better with my catchers.
"That helped us be on the same wavelength. They were awesome. I didn't have to worry about runners stealing because they averaged throwing out two a game."
League appreciated the fact that Johnson didn't make any big changes, but would suggest a little adjustment from time to time.
"That way I could get used to the adjustment and get better at it," League said.
The 59th overall pick in 2001 by the Toronto Blue Jays, League will go to an instructional league, where the main focus will be working on his slider. It's a pitch that was not effective for him this year. He has a good fastball and realizes the importance of the changeup, but needs a third pitch to keep advancing his career.
