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Monday, August 3, 2009 10:23 PM EDT
POLLOCK: Reading only minor setback for Stavisky
ERIE - Surely this isn’t the way Brian Stavisky envisioned his pro baseball career to unfold. Not, at age 29, waiting out a half-hour weather delay in a 6,500-seat double-A stadium, in Erie, Pa. with all its goofy minor league promotions and modest crowds.
It always seemed the three-sport star from Port Allegany and baseball standout at Notre Dame was above this.
After all, this was the outfielder picked by Oakland in the sixth round of the 2002 draft.
Last winter, after being signed by the world champion Philadelphia Phillies, Stavisky gave his major league dream until age 30.
He knew he was bound for an eight season in baseball’s bushes and was compiling a resume that screamed “career minor leaguer.”
Sure enough, when the Phillies finished spring training, Stavisky was sent, not to triple-A Lehigh Valley, but rather double-A Reading.
BUT A FUNNY thing happened. Rather than cursing his fate, he bought into it.
Stavisky has too much character and optimism to be beaten down by what lesser players would consider a setback.
He’s now a full-time first baseman and, after some early struggles, has become a productive hitter.
These days, he bats clean-up for Reading and after a bizarre 1-for-17 slump has gone 11-for-19 over the past five games with four homers, four doubles, eight RBI and six runs scored.
His batting average is up to .286, after Sunday’s 1-for-3 effort with a walk, to go with 10 homers and 49 RBI.
But most importantly, the 1999 winner of the Bob Davies-Lou Foy Scholar-Athlete Award has his mind right.
“IT’S NICE playing closer to home in front of family and friends where they can come and see me play in Reading and places like that,” Stavisky said of the 12-team Eastern League. Erie, Harrisburg, Altoona, Bowie (Md.) and Akron round out the Phillies’ division with Binghamton not that far away.
“It’s been kind of different, too, playing for a new organization and facing new organizations. It’s new learning on defense, at first base. It’s been a lot of learning but that’s turned out pretty well this year.”
He admitted, “Overall, I wish it was a little better with the power numbers, but I’ve improved a lot and learned a lot and I feel pretty good heading into the stretch run trying to get into the playoffs.”
And as a veteran who has played parts of two seasons at triple-A, Stavisky doesn’t see his current role as a demotion.
“I feel it’s (circumstance) ... the number of guys (the Phillies) brought into spring training,” he said. “Certain guys ended up coming down to triple-A and other guys went down to double-A.
“The way I see it with this organization, it’s a starting point and it’s my job to take advantage of it. If I play like I can and keep improving, that’s the only thing that I can control and that’s the only thing that will get me back to triple-A or to where I want to be (major leagues).
BUT DESPITE the clock running on his career, Stavisky is very much into the role of teammate.
“Hopefully I can play as well as I have in the past and try to further my career and also help some of the younger guys here as we’re trying to get into the playoffs,” he said of Reading, currently in second place in the division seven games behind Akron.
But it’s also a 144-game season of nothing but bus rides, though that doesn’t bother Stavisky in the least.
“It’s part of the deal... even in triple-A they bus pretty much everywhere,” he said. “It’s like that old saying, you might not want to hear it, but it’s true: ‘if you don’t like it, play better.’
“That’s really all you can do and if you keep putting out your best effort every day, eventually you’ll get where you want to be. Hopefully that shows (for me) at the end of this year and we’ll see what happens for next year. I have to find out whether the Phillies will re-sign me or if other teams are interested ... I’ll be a free agent at the end of the year.”
But Stavisky prefers to stay where he is.
“Now I’m sort of getting settled in with this organization ... it’s a great organization,” he said. “We’re having a successful year, I love the guys I play with and there’s a lot of winning going on at the big-league level. It’s an organization you want to play for and want to be a part of.
“This is my first year here so maybe it’s not so much me saying I’m going to decide at age 30, but now that it’s been kind of a fresh start this year, it’s like, let’s see where this takes me.”
AND PART of it is his switch to first base.
“I had played maybe 50 games total over a couple of years, but I never really received a lot of instruction ... it was just kind of during the season I got moved (to first base),” he said. “This season, they had me as an infielder from the get-go and I did all of my work at first base in spring training.
“Now, all of the games I’ve played at first base have paid off ... not only fielding the ball and catching throws, but positioning and cutoffs. Maybe I messed up at first, but I’ve learned from it. And now, after playing nearly 100 games at first, I’m feeling a lot more comfortable and feel I have the little things down rather than just doing the best I could.”
Still, Stavisky, who turned 29 less than a month ago, knows baseball is only temporary.
“I have a business administration degree,” he said. “When I’m done with ball, I want to go into either being with a pro sports team on the business side or go to a college or university and work in the business side of an athletic department ... promotions, marketing or maybe as an (associate) athletic director at Notre Dame or Penn State or Bona.
“But I’m not quite ready to do that yet.”
(Chuck Pollock, the Times Herald sports editor, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
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