| Anaheim relief pitcher Brendan Donnelly felt certain he wouldn’t
pitch in one particular game late last season. Donnelly had
thrown 2 1/3 innings the night before and reasoned that he needed
a night off to be effective again.
Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia thought differently, however,
and brought in the 1992 Mesa State pitcher to get the last
out of the eighth inning and preserve a 5-4 lead. Donnelly
induced Detroit’s Shane Halter to bounce sharply to shortstop,
watched the throw to first base, pumped his right fist and
walked off the field.
The performance helped preserve another victory in the Angels’
drive for the playoffs and typified the way Donnelly, 31,
rewarded the Angels for providing his first chance to pitch
in the major leagues after 10 years in the minors. After being
recalled on July 13, Donnelly dazzled teammates by retiring
20 of the first batters he faced in 22 appearances while holding
opposing hitters to a miniscule .156 batting average.
“I bounced around a lot and had some good seasons, but
it just wasn’t the right fit,” says Donnelly, who
played with six major league organizations and two independent
league teams, and who succeeded with the Angels this year
only after the team optioned him to AAA Salt Lake City three
times.
“The first two times I [was brought up this year I]
didn’t do well,” says the burly 6-foot, three-inch
Donnelly sitting in the Angels dugout before a game. “The
third time I’ve done well with the help of [Angels pitcher]
Troy Percival and [Angels pitching coach] Bud Black.
“Troy saw I had the stuff to pitch but maybe didn’t
know how to pitch,” says Donnelly, wearing a jet-black
flat top above a red Angels T shirt and white uniform pants.
“….He kind of taught me his philosophy and it’s
kind of working out. Buddy got me to tone everything down.
I pitch with a lot of emotion and energy, which hurt me a
little.”
“This spring,” says Black, “I saw a guy who
was a little erratic in his delivery.” Black says he
encouraged Donnelly “to think more about pitch execution,
and not so much about creating velocity or creating stuff….Now
I hear him talking about being more aware of his mechanics
and being more aware of his pitch selection. He’s talking
more like a pitcher [than a thrower.]”
For some reason learning how to pitch took a long time after
Donnelly finished his junior year 7-5 at Mesa State and was
drafted in the 27th round by the Chicago White Sox. During
the following decade, Donnelly played with 14 minor league
teams but says he never seriously considered quitting.
“I was discouraged from time to time,” he says,
“and one night I may have said, ‘That’s it.’
But the next day I’d wake up and say, ‘I’m
a baseball player, and this is what I want to do. I set out
10 years ago and I had a goal, and that was to be a major
league player. I did everything in my power to accomplish
that goal.”
Donnelly achieved his goal a week into the 2002 season when
the Angels recalled him from AAA Salt Lake. Five minutes before
he was due on the field at a Salt Lake game, he was informed
that he wouldn’t pitch that night because he was going
to the Angels for his major league debut.“I called my
wife [Rhonda], probably in the first inning,” he says.
“She was excited for both of us….Without her encouragement
and the jobs she’s held, I might not have been able to
stay [and continue my dream] this long. She carried us through
a lot of off seasons financially.”
Donnelly made his major league debut April 9 in Anaheim,
striking out Seattle’s Jeff Cirillo with two out and
Ichirio Suzuki on second base in the eighth inning.
“It wasn’t that big a deal,” he says, “…due
to the fact that I was with the team all through spring training.
Then I was sent down for only three or four days and I came
back. It seemed like a continuation of spring training, almost….It
would have been more overwhelming at mid season if I hadn’t
been with the team.”
The Angels optioned him to Salt Lake two more times before
recalling him to stay.
“Early in the year,” says Angels’ manager
Mike Scioscia, “he did not show the stuff he had now,
but he definitely used that experience to his benefit, because
since he’s come back, he’s been outstanding….
He’s pitching with tremendous confidence, has an outstanding
arm, and when you see him, you wonder what took him so long
to get here?”
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