Nats manager Manny Acta says he will be careful not to put too much burden on his young pitchers like Chico (left). View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Wanted: Young gun (or two)

Nationals spring training report

Date published: 2/21/2007

BY TODD JACOBSON

VIERA, Fla.

And he's not planning on letting it bother him.

Matt Chico, the 23-year-old left-hander acquired from the Diamondbacks last season, understands that of all the candidates to make the Nationals' starting rotation this season--and there at least a dozen, from 36-year-old Chris Michalak to Chico--he might be the most intriguing to the team's decision-makers.

"Basically I am just trying to show them how I am and my presence on the field and how I pitch," said Chico, whose entire spring training experience is a first--he was never invited to big league camp with the Diamondbacks.

The Nationals will surely be watching, and moving cautiously, because rushing young pitchers to the majors can be a dangerous game. Baseball is filled with stories of phenoms who flame out, young pitchers like David Clyde or Todd Van Poppel whose early ticket to the majors lacked staying power.

For every Tom Glavine that rebounded from a disastrous rookie season, there is a sob story, a Zack Greinke or Rick Ankiel whose rise to the majors was almost as quick as their fall.

"Sometimes when a guy gets up there too young and they struggle, they get in a deep hole," said former major league pitcher Jose Rijo, a special assistant to Nationals' general manager Jim Bowden. "They don't think their stuff is good enough and they just lose it mentally."

Chico isn't the only young pitcher the Nationals are considering for the starting rotation. First-year Nationals manager Manny Acta said last week that he'd like to develop at least one young starter in the rotation, and that could be Chico, or right-hander Beltran Perez.

Perez, 25, has pitched just eight games in the majors, and they all came last season when he jumped from Double-A to the big leagues, going 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA. Collin Balester, 20, and Garrett Mock, 23, also could make noise out of the Nationals' minor league accelerated development camp.

In each case, the team officials will carefully weigh their decisions, taking into account a player's maturity as much as his ability to make pitches.

SPRINGTIME IN FLORIDA Free Lance-Star reporter Todd Jacobson and photographer Mike Morones are in Viera, Fla., reporting from Nationals spring training.

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Date published: 2/21/2007