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Thursday, May 21, 1998

Helling finally realizes expectations

By JOHNNY PAUL / Fort Worth Star-Telegram

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The image remains fresh in the memory of Rangers manager Johnny Oates.

The pitch -- thrown on an overcast afternoon March 22 at Legends Field in Tampa, Fla. -- epitomized the spring for a work in progress the Rangers know as Rick Helling. Yankees third baseman Scott Brosius worked the count full during his third-inning at-bat, and Helling delivered the most impressive argument yet in his bid for a berth in the Rangers' rotation.

Brosius' response resembled Secretariat's gallop down the stretch of the 1973 Belmont Stakes. The disjointed swing finished 31 lengths in front of Helling's 3-2 changeup.

"If you narrow a whole spring down to one pitch, that's the one I'm talking about," Oates said. "You can't base your starting rotation on one pitch in spring training, but that showed me what he's capable of."

Who, though, thought Helling would become baseball's first six-game winner this season? Now 7-1 after Tuesday's victory over Seattle, Helling has shown he can step up this season and be a leader.

"The only thing Rick needed was the opportunity," said Oates, who suggested last season that Helling could emerge as a 15-game winner this season. "Who's to say Rick couldn't have been 6-0 three years ago?"

Opportunity, at least an extended one, did.

Helling never received it -- not during 1994, '95, '96 or '97 -- including a brief stint with the Florida Marlins, until Oates informed the pitcher this spring that he'd made the starting rotation. "He was the sixth guy," Oates said. "He was the challenger in a heavyweight fight. He goes to the bullpen in a draw. He had to knock the champion out. He did that by pitching as well as he did this spring. He knocked the champion flat on his back. The judges didn't have to make a decision."

Helling's wife, Tomasa, remembers the expression she saw in her husband's face when he told her of Oates' decision that afternoon in Port Charlotte, Fla.

"It was almost like he was glowing," she said. "I'd say he's on Cloud Nine right now. He's the happiest I've seen him in a while. He's enjoying this big time."

The wait required patience. Helling, the Rangers' 1993 minor-league player of the year, went to major-league camp as a nonroster player in 1994, but earned a berth in the rotation. It wouldn't last long. The team's first-round selection and seventh overall during the 1992 June amateur free-agent draft went 3-0 with a 3.29 earned-run average during his first six major-league starts. However, three consecutive poor performances meant a one-way ticket to Triple A Oklahoma City the remainder of the season.

"The main problem at that time was he made a lot of mistakes up in the zone, a lot of high fastballs that were hit out of the ballpark," said Kevin Kennedy, who managed the Rangers from 1993-94. "His fastball was good, but it was up and straight at that time. That led to a lot of home runs early in his career."

Helling did not appreciate the way Kennedy sent him down. "The first couple of things I hear from some of my friends here is that he's ripping me in the papers and telling all the press that I was never good enough to be here in the first place," Helling said. "That's not a good thing to hear from your manager. Now, I'm starting to doubt myself and asking, ÔWhy would he say that? I worked hard when I was here and did everything I could.'

"You're not going to pitch great every game, and here's my manager telling me that I -1/8wasn't any good-3/8 basically. I'm serious. It was hard to handle at the time. It took me a long time to get over it. I was only 23 years old at the time, and it took me a good year to get over that -- maybe a year and a half before I started to get my confidence back.

"That was hard. That was the first time I've ever had anybody ever tell me I wasn't any good -- ever. I've always been the best -- always -- at everything I've ever done."

Tomasa witnessed the draining effect.

"He took it hard," she said. "I think it crushed him when he got sent down."

Helling began the 1995 season in the Rangers' rotation before three poor starts (0-2, 6.57 ERA) meant being optioned to Oklahoma City again for the remainder of the season. This time, however, he pitched well enough to emerge as the American Association's pitcher of the year with a 12-4 record. He led the league in ERA (2.96) and strikeouts (157). He also pitched professional baseball's only perfect game that season. He would prove valuable in other ways to the organization by establishing himself again as a top prospect. General manager Doug Melvin strengthened the Rangers' march to their first American League West title in 1996 by acquiring John Burkett from the Marlins. The cost: Helling and minor-league pitcher Ryan Dempster.

"It wasn't a blow to my ego at all," said Helling, who made four September starts for the Marlins. "I was thankful to get a chance somewhere else. I was a little upset that I never got the chance here, but there was nothing I could do about it with the direction the team was taking at the time.

"It wasn't that I wasn't throwing the ball well, but they decided they would go with a veteran team that year. They had five guys up there who were throwing the ball fine, and it was working. They were winning. There was no reason to change. There was no reason to bring me up and put me in the rotation and risk screwing things up. If I don't pitch well, they look stupid. If I pitch well, what's the difference?"

The Marlins found their organization in a similar situation in August a year ago and acquired left-hander Ed Vosberg to strengthen their bullpen. The cost: Helling.

"The trade back was more surprising than anything," said Helling, who went 2-6 with a 4.38 ERA for the Marlins in 31 appearances, which included another trial in the rotation that spanned eight starts. "I wasn't surprised that I got traded, but I was very surprised that it was back here. Once you get traded from a team, I think the obvious feeling is: ÔWell, I don't think they want me here.' I think that's the first thing you think. This is the last place on earth that I thought I'd be playing again."

Thriving might better describe it, and those who know Helling credit that to his ability to pitch down in the strike zone more often. Current Rangers pitching coach Dick Bosman feels the difference between Helling then and now is the pitcher's ability to put into action the things they discuss.

"That's always been kind of the knock on me, but I don't think I ever consciously tried to pitch up there," Helling said. "That's just how I've thrown. It's not that I said: ÔI'm good enough to do this. I'm going to do it.' It was never that.

"I didn't know how to make adjustments to pitch down. It's not that I tried to do it on purpose. I wasn't being stubborn and saying ... I can get the ball by this guy.' I don't think I knew how to make the adjustments to get the ball down at that time."

Those adjustments have helped produce a pitcher 6-1 with a 3.95 ERA and among the league's most difficult to hit.

"I don't know that I would say I'm surprised," Helling said. "I can honestly say I didn't expect it."

Who did?

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Distributed by The Associated Press