Haeger working with Hough

[SSH2005]

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Words of wisdom:  Charles Haeger received some expert advice on the knuckle ball Monday, as Charlie Hough began a three-day work session with the Minor Leaguer. The two had previously talked on the phone this spring, but the White Sox set up a visit for the 25-year veteran of the dancing pitch, truly thrilling Haeger.

 

"To use a cliché, it's like a dream come true," said Haeger of the session with Hough, the first pitcher he has worked with directly who actually threw the knuckler. "It was amazing, really cool.

 

"I'm going to be a sponge and soak up everything he says," Haeger added with a smile.

 

Haeger said the two worked on the mental approach and preparation behind throwing a knuckle ball on Monday. Haeger was excited to hear that he has been working on the right stuff in regard to the pitch, despite his most expert previous guidance coming from watching tapes of Tim Wakefield.

[Hatchetman]

i'm very surprised ol' chuck never even spoke with a real live knuckleballer before.

 

i'd be in favor of trying to develop like 10 knuckleballers and have a part time coach just for them.

[SSH2005]

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Hurlers excited to be back in the fold

After taking time away from game, passion returned

 

By Scott Merkin / MLB.com

 

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Just call Brian West the human equivalent of a good luck charm in the world of sports.

 

Better yet, West simply has been the right man at the right place at the right time.

 

West was a relatively fast-rising, right-handed pitcher in the White Sox organization during the 2002 season when his Double-A Birmingham squad won the Southern League title. He finished 9-11 with a 4.34 ERA over 26 starts in that particular campaign.

 

One year later, pushed by an elbow problem eventually requiring Tommy John Surgery and a desire to return to the gridiron, West played at the college level for Nick Saban and his hometown LSU squad. He picked up 11 tackles and two sacks as a third defensive end, as the Tigers won the BCS title and split the National Championship with USC.

 

There was one more year of football for West before he left with Saban, who took the head coaching job for the Dolphins West returned to the White Sox organization for the 2005 campaign and sat out the year following elbow surgery, but is it just a mere coincidence that the South Siders won their first World Series title since 1917 upon West's return?

 

"I didn't have any part of last year's title, but I like to think I have a little bit of good karma," said the affable West, before a recent Minor League conditioning session during Spring Training in Tucson.

 

"If anything, maybe the White Sox will keep me around for good luck," added West with a laugh.

 

West is one of two Minor League hurlers who retired very early on in their respective White Sox careers, only to return and slowly but surely work their way back into prominence within the organization. The second pitcher is Charles Haeger, who has gained some fame and what he hopes to be future fortune by developing himself into a knuckleball pitcher.

 

Haeger, 22, finished 14-5 during the 2005 campaign through stops with Birmingham and Class A Winston-Salem. He is enjoying his first year on the 40-man roster and his first invite to Major League Spring Training. The White Sox even have Charlie Hough, a former member of their pitching staff who spent 25 years in the Majors throwing the knuckler, currently in camp to work with Haeger.

 

But it was as recently as 2003 that Haeger was completely disenchanted with baseball. He was a combined 1-7 over his first two years in rookie ball with Phoenix after the White Sox selected him in the 25th round of the 2001 First-Year Player Draft.

 

So, Haeger exited baseball and went back to school at Madonna University in his hometown of Livonia, Mich. Getting an education was not the only reason for Haeger's selection, as he had decided to pursue a professional career in golf.

 

"At that point in my life, baseball-wise, I was losing interest," Haeger explained. "I was so used to having success in high school and I wasn't having it professionally. I was getting frustrated and ready to try something else."

 

Both Haeger and West spoke with their individual pitching coaches and managers before leaving and also talked to Brian Porter, the assistant director of player development. An attempt was made to talk them into staying, but Haeger and West said it was handled with professionalism and class.

 

When they both decided to return to baseball, the organization welcomed them back without an issue.

 

"It speaks very highly of the organization they run, to let guys like myself or Charlie go figure out what you want to do with your life when you are that young," West said. "Then, they let us come back."

 

"I like them both as people," added White Sox Minor League pitching coordinator Kirk Champion. "Brian had a situation where football was sort of hanging over his head. I pulled for Brian West. I wanted him to play and do well at LSU."

 

Champion mentioned that West has made marked improvement since instructional league in October and still has a solid chance to become a Major League reliever. Once possessing one of the best fastballs in the country as a high school senior in West Monroe, La., in 1999, West now is more of a "sinker, slider guy."

 

West made the choice of baseball over football even after playing 15 to 25 snaps per game during his second year at LSU. He got married and decided baseball was a better way to support his family.

 

"Physically, it took me 20 minutes to get out of bed after that eighth or ninth week of the football season," said West with a laugh, also mentioning that he had to drop his weight from 270 pounds as a football player back to the 240 pounds he carried upon leaving baseball.

 

"I was not ready to hang it up just yet," West added. "I got to wear the Purple and Gold, which doesn't sound like a real manly color, but in Louisiana, people bleed that way down there. Now, the White Sox have given me another chance, and I have to fight my way out of this corner, too."

 

Haeger followed the counsel of his brother, Greg, who once played in the Tigers' system and serves as Madonna's baseball coach, and came back with a full embrace for his new pitch. The results have been nothing short of tremendous, with the potential for Haeger to join the White Sox rotation down the road two or three years.

 

These two young hurlers think about where they might be within the system currently if they had never given up the sport. But they both experienced another part of life, away from the game, and were lucky enough to have the chance to return to their passion.

 

"With another season of throwing the knuckler under my belt, who knows where I would be?" Haeger said. "I do think back and ask why I just didn't stick it out, but I feel good and being on the 40-man is a great honor."

 

"There was never any animosity for me leaving for two years after climbing the ladder," West added. "It's been an incredible ride to be able to do both."