Nats, Detwiler Seek a Prompt Delivery

Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman -- drafted and called up in 2005 -- pointed out how he had been in Detwiler's shoes before. "Jim [Bowden] is not making anything up," Zimmerman said. "If you work hard and do what you need to do to get here, he's not afraid to call you up and let you do it here."

Since then, Detwiler has strived to meet the expectations placed on his shoulders. He spent the rest of July in Viera, Fla., where he got his arm back into shape after not pitching since May 23. In four starts for the GCL Nationals, Detwiler threw 12 innings, compiling a 2.25 ERA with 15 strikeouts and three walks.

He did not allow a run in three of his four outings for the rookie league team and made an impression on those who monitored his progress first-hand. "He is a professional pitcher on the mound," said Franklin Bravo, the pitching coach for the GCL Nationals. "He knows how to locate his pitches. When he wants to throw his curveball for a strike, he throws it for a strike. When he wants to throw it down in the dirt, he throws it down in the dirt."

But Bravo said he also noticed Detwiler occasionally would drop his arm angle when throwing his change-up and breaking ball, something the lefty soon will need to address. Detwiler concurred, stating that sometimes he tries to get too much out of the two pitches instead of just letting them work. The result is a flat curveball and an ineffective change-up.

"Sometimes, he changes his arm angle to throw those pitches and gets underneath it," Bravo said. "Sometimes, he tries to make those pitches perfect pitches."

That observation points more to Detwiler's mind-set than it does to a flaw in his pitching motion. Told the Nationals would like to see him on the mound in a major league ballpark before the season ends, Detwiler sometimes departs from his normally fluid delivery and resorts to grinding.

The youngest of three Detwiler boys, Ross grew used to keeping up with older, more experienced players when he was a 5-year-old bat boy for big brother Wes's American Legion team in Wentzville, Mo. Ross would go into the outfield with Wes and the other players before games and try to catch the balls the older kids were tossing into the air. "I think I caught most of them," Ross said.

Soon, though, Ross was the one doing the throwing. He was a good pitcher in Little League, even better in high school but did not hit radar screens of scouts around the country until his sophomore year at Missouri State. That year Detwiler went 7-4 with a 2.81 ERA and tossed a one-hitter against Creighton in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. The following summer, he was invited to pitch in the Cape Cod League and was selected for Team USA.

Detwiler said he remembers his first collegiate outing, pitching in relief against then-No. 3 Rice in 2005. "I did decent; kind of like last night," he said, referring to his Class A debut Friday against the Winston-Salem Warthogs. Detwiler lasted 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits with two strikeouts, no walks and a hit batsman.

After the game, Detwiler chastised himself for leaving the ball up in the strike zone. The following morning, he got a call from his father, Rick, emphasizing the same thing. Rick had listened to the game from Wentzville over the radio, and while he admittedly has no claim to expertise when it comes to pitching, he has seen his youngest son throw enough to know what is going on based on a description. When the announcer kept reporting fly balls to all parts of the outfield, Rick knew Ross was throwing the ball high. "He usually gets strikeouts or groundouts," Rick said.

That's the thing about the Detwiler family, Ross said -- everything revolves around baseball, from sitting in front of the TV as a kid watching St. Louis Cardinals games late into the night to playing Little League on teams his dad coached. When he says this, the innocence of the adolescent fan inside him reveals itself through the cheek-bunching grin on his face.

Detwiler is such a Cardinals fan, he claims he can name every member of any St. Louis starting lineup in recent memory. When put to the test and asked to name the lineup for the 1998 squad, Detwiler begins ticking off the names: "Behind the plate was Tom Pagnozzi. Ray Lankford, Ron Gant and Brian Jordan were in the outfield. Royce Clayton was at short. Gary Gaetti was at third. [Mark] McGwire was at first."

And then he stopped, the puzzle still one piece from completion. "Who was at second base?" Detwiler pondered. "I know it was after Rex Hudler. I can't think of it."

So what if the young lefty did not know Delino DeShields started at second base for the Cardinals in '98. For a few brief seconds, the kid was caught up in the game, toiling for the meaningless random facts that all sports fanatics memorize at a young age and then gradually lose sight of as the pressing responsibilities of adulthood mount.

The Nationals maintain they will not rush Detwiler to the big leagues before he is ready, but the message remains that expectations are high for the team's most recent first-round draft pick.

Right now, the organization just wants to start the experience process. "We don't know how far advanced he is, and we won't know until he competes in the month of August," said Spin Williams, the Nationals minor league pitching coordinator. "The bottom line is to get his feet wet and see where he is from our standpoint and his standpoint."

Though Detwiler is well aware of all the hype that surrounds him, he does his best to focus solely on his pitching. "I try not to read too much into it," he said. "You can get into trouble if you get caught up in it. If you look too far ahead, you get too caught up and lose focus on what needs to happen."

What will happen next is another start for Class A Potomac tomorrow. Rest assured, Rick Detwiler will be listening from afar via radio broadcast, sifting through the announcer's descriptions for clues as to how his son is performing.

"I certainly don't want to see him put in a situation where he's in over his head and his confidence is destroyed," Rick said. "But I want him to be happy, and I want him to succeed. It's a fine line."