THE top pitching prospect in the Mets organization would just like to know something, anything.
”They tell me nothing,” Octavio Dotel said of GM Steve Phillips and the Mets’ plethora of assistant general managers. ”They don’t say nothing. Sometimes I want those guys to say something to me.
”Nothing. Nothing. [Something like,] ‘You’re going to be here [in the majors.] Take it easy.’ I would love to hear something like that.”
Jim Duquette, the Mets’ assistant GM, found Dotel’s comments interesting. ”I’m surprised he would say that through a reporter and not come directly to us,” Duquette said.
Dotel, a 23-year-old right-hander, is not a complainer. During an interview last week, the Dominican native went out of his way not to come across that way, and did.
So when might Dotel be up?
”There is no timetable,” said Duquette, who added that he is always open to answering questions from a prospect or his agent. ”If there is an injury tomorrow, I could see him coming up. That is how much we think of him.”
You know Dotel thinks he is ready. You know seeing his buddies – the Marlins’ Jesus Sanchez and the Brewers’ Rafael Roque – in the majors makes him think he should be here.
”His mindset is ‘I’m better than those guys, why the [heck] am I not in the majors?”’ Duquette said.
Dotel realizes the Mets have his best interest (and their own) in keeping him down. Duquette communicated this earlier this year.
”[I told him in spring training,] ‘Once you go to the big leagues, we don’t want you coming back,”’ Duquette said.
To his credit though, the 6-foot, 175-pound Dotel is making his case with his arm. At Triple-A Norfolk, he is 5-0 with a 3.40 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 552/3 innings going into his next start tomorrow.
Dotel’s nasty right arm features four pitches. His fastball is his best one and has been clocked at plus-90.
He uses his slider when he is behind in counts. His curve is a strikeout pitch. And he throws a change.
Like most young hurlers, Dotel needs to gain better control of the zone. This adds credence against the ”Why hasn’t he been called up yet?” brigade.
”When he has run into trouble it is when he loses his strike zone,” Dotel’s manager John Gibbons said.
”He has resolved those questions in my mind,” said Duquette, who last spoke with Dotel in mid May.
Dotel, however, made a telling statement about his stuff. It gives an indication that he is not yet fully confident in his bender.
”If the game is very close, I might come with my slider instead of my curveball,” Dotel said.
Perhaps this is why – barring injury among current Met pitchers – it could be a while before Dotel is in the majors.
Although, as the Mets’ pitching struggles, some will be short-sighted, forgetting that this guy at worst is scheduled to be a top-3 rotation guy and, at best, is another Pedro Martinez. So, aren’t the Mets right, don’t you want to be fully confident when you call this guy up?
”No question, if he struggles and the manager loses faith in him, he is going to go down with his tail between his legs,” Duquette said.
Dotel is not crazy about the bullpen. Would he want to be in that role?
‘No, man,” Dotel said. ”I tried in spring training. No.”
Dotel’s feeling is he has always been a starting pitcher and that is what he wants to be. However, after being pressed, he relented a bit.
‘If they use me as a reliever, I take it, but I love to be starting pitcher,” said Dotel, who signed as an undrafted free agent in 1993.
On the mound at times, Dotel is as animated as Wil E. Coyote.
”He’ll hot dog it a little bit,” Gibbons said.
The comparison to Martinez is pretty inevitable because Dotel is small, but throws hard. On top of this, both are from Santo Domingo.
”I hate to curse a guy,” Gibbons said when the similarities are brought up.
Dotel knows Martinez ”a little bit,” but he doesn’t believe he matches up yet.
”I’ve got to see first,” Dotel said. ”I do here in Triple-A, what he does in the majors.”