For four years, John Pawlowski was Brett Gardner’s head coach at the College of Charleston, seeing him get drafted higher than anyone in university history. The Yankees plucked Gardner in the third round of the 2005 draft, and there’s no doubt what Pawlowski thinks of the former walk-on.
“He comes ready to play. He’s a guy that you want on your side,” Pawlowski told The Post yesterday. “But I think the most important quality he has is that he’s in it for the right reasons. He knows what his goals are, he knows what he wants to do and nothing’s going to stop him.”
Nothing stopped Gardner on Sunday night either. He came to the plate in the 10th inning with Robinson Cano on second, two outs and Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon on the hill.
Gardner promptly delivered a walk-off RBI single.
Gardner is filling in for Johnny Damon right now, replacing him as the Yankees’ left fielder and leadoff man. That’s burdensome, and thus far Gardner hasn’t exactly excelled, going 3-for-21. But as Alex Rodriguez pointed out after Sunday’s 5-4 win over the Red Sox, he’s been impressive in every one of his 25 plate appearances.
How impressive?
“He’s shown in his short time here, he hasn’t had one bad at-bat yet,” Rodriguez said.
Gardner, Rodriguez and Co. need to see if they can keep their good at-bats going tonight, because they start a two-game set with the scorching Rays. Tampa Bay had won seven straight before yesterday’s loss to Kansas City, and the Rays sit in first place in the AL East, owning baseball’s best record and an 81/2-game lead over the third-place Yankees.
“Obviously, these two games are very important,” Joe Girardi said.
Obviously, the Yankees also would rather have Damon playing right now than Gardner. But there certainly aren’t any complaints about the 5-foot-10 speedster, who turns 25 next month.
“We’ve talked about his speed is exciting; he’s going to cover a lot of ground in the outfield, he’s going to battle you, make you throw a lot of pitches,” Girardi said. “Similar to what Johnny Damon does. Obviously Johnny has a lot more experience, but the kid is out of the same mold.”
How good Gardner can be, however, remains debatable. Some Yankee people aren’t sure what they have with Gardner, wondering if they have a Brett Butler-type or a Jason Tyner-esque one. Others outside the organization believe Double-A’s Austin Jackson is a better center-field prospect.
Gardner did head into this season, according to Baseball America, as the Yankee’s fastest minor league runner and the one with the best plate discipline. One scout said, “He could be a Jacoby Ellsbury-type basestealer. However, he waits too [many pitches] to go.” The latter might be something that can’t be improved in the majors.
When asked why Gardner was recruited to Charleston, Pawlowski – who pitched eight games for the White Sox in 1987-88 – replied, “When you recruit players, we always try to recruit athletic kids, especially outfielders. And I thought his athleticism was the biggest key for him. We thought that the skill level, in due time, we were hoping that it would show up. And it certainly did.”
As it has again so far in New York.
-Additional reporting by Jay Greenberg and Mike Puma