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Inside Baseball
The White Sox have turned up an ace in polished young lefthander Mark Buehrle By Stephen Cannella
This kind of performance was hardly expected when the White Sox inserted Buehrle into their rotation at the end of spring training. For one, he lacks a star pedigree. He was cut from the team at Francis Hollow North High in St. Charles, Mo., in his freshman and sophomore years, and his parents had to talk him into going out again as a junior. After a season at Jefferson (Mo.) Junior College he was drafted by the White Sox in the 38th round in 1998. He was impressive enough in the minors to receive a call-up in July 2000 and pitched well enough out of the bullpen (3-1, 3.53 ERA) in the second half of the season to get a shot at starting this spring. With poise, a deceptive three-quarters delivery and impeccable command, Buehrle has handcuffed opponents ever since, despite a less-than-overpowering arsenal. (His fastball occasionally cracks 90 mph.) "He has a feel for pitching," says Manuel. "As the league has figured him out, he's made adjustments." Buehrle added two pitches, a cut fastball and a sinker, to his repertoire after the season started. He also began throwing his changeup, a pitch he used sporadically last year, much more. By spotting all his pitches well and attacking hitters with strikes, he keeps them off balance, getting outs without eye-popping strikeout totals. He had only 114 whiffs in 193 2/3 innings, but he'd given up four hits or fewer in 11 of his 28 starts, including a one-hit shutout against the Devil Rays. He also put together a streak of 24 2/3 scoreless innings in May and June. "His stuff isn't overpowering, but he can be overpowering the way he uses his pitches," says White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko. "He breaks a lot of bats and keeps hitters from getting comfortable." Manuel is so impressed that he has already declared that Buehrle will start on Opening Day 2002. Buehrle, meanwhile, is still trying to get used to seeing his name on the pitching leader boards. "It's been kind of surprising to see BUEHRLE and not MARTINEZ at the top of the ERA list," he says. He may have to get used to it. Issue date: September 17, 2001
For more Inside Baseball see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, September 12. Click here to subscribe to SI.
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