Michael O'Leary/For The Olympian
Matt Thornton, the Seattle Mariners' first-round draft pick in 1998, has never pitched above the Class A level. But the 6-foot-6 left-hander hasn't allowed a run in five innings at spring training and could wind up in the major leagues this season.

Former 1st-round draft pick finally finding success

KIRBY ARNOLD, FOR THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Wednesday, March 13, 2002

PEORIA, Ariz. -- The small-town kid walked into his first pro baseball clubhouse with a world of talent and no idea how to play the game.

Four years later, he not only has figured it out, he just might have learned enough to get a major league job this summer.

Meet Matt Thornton, 25-year-old left-handed pitcher and one of the success stories of spring training for the Seattle Mariners.

"I'm in awe here every now and then," said Thornton, who grew up in a town of about 2,000 and graduated in a high school class of 60 in Centreville, Mich.

"On our baseball field in high school, if you hit a home run to left or left-center, it's into the county jail's garden. They weren't big-time criminals, but they'd be yelling at you from the jail cells."

Compared with that, maybe Peoria isn't so intimidating.

At least Thornton, who has never pitched above the Class A level, hasn't pitched that way this month. After giving up one hit in one inning Monday against the White Sox, he hasn't allowed a run in the five innings this month.

Oh what a difference it has been since the day Thornton signed in 1998 after the Mariners made him their first-round draft pick and sent him to the Everett AquaSox.

"I had played all my life, since I was 7 years old, but I didn't really know that much about baseball when I signed," he said.

Part of Thornton's early naiveté can be attributed to his small-town upbringing.

He was a basketball-baseball star at Centreville High School and played both sports at Grand Valley State in Allendale, Mich. At neither place did Thornton get the pitching instruction he needed.

"I had no clue," Thornton said. "My high school coach and college coaches didn't know a lot about pitching, really.

"My first couple of years, if I'd throw a pitch that went to the backstop, I didn't know what I did wrong. It took some people to help hone my skills and give me the kind of instruction I'd never had before."

Thornton's first professional summer, 1998 in Everett, was a disaster. He hurt his elbow early and spent the rest of the season sitting and watching. He also was learning.

"Being in a professional atmosphere helped a lot," he said.

He pitched 25 games at Class A Appleton, Wis., in 1999 with a 4.91 earned-run average and went 6-9, 4.01 in 17 starts the next season at Appleton.

Then everything -- especially his mental feel for the game -- clicked.

At San Bernardino last year, he befuddled hitters with a slider, changeup and 93 mph fastball, went 14-7 with a 2.52 ERA, struck out 192 in 157 innings and was named the California League Pitcher of the Year.

"It's because of all the work I did with my coaches over the years," Thornton said, reciting a list of Mariners personnel who are heroes to him, including M's pitching coach Bryan Price and San Bernardino pitching coach Rafael Chavez.

"I finally quit worrying about mechanical stuff and I was able to focus on pitching and the hitter, worrying about counts and making the right pitches," Thornton said.

Another element of Thornton's makeup, his easy-going personality off the field and his heart-of-fire approach on it, also played a big part in his success.

"I'm very laid back, very relaxed," he said. "But when I'm on the mound, the other side comes out in me. I'm very focused and intense. I like having that edge, and if I didn't have it I'd be worried."

What seems to worry Thornton least is where he'll be pitching this year.

Having never pitched above A-ball, he seems a likely candidate for Double-A.

"I just want to throw and it doesn't matter what level," he said.

There's an opening in Seattle, and Thornton may be forcing his foot in that door. The Mariners need a second left-hander in the bullpen and Thornton, with his darting fastball and solid slider, has forced a lot of people to look his way.

"If he keeps throwing like this," Price said, "he's going to progress upward and he'll be pitching in Seattle before long."

Manager Lou Piniella believes Thornton would be better served going to the minor leagues as a starter. But ...

"The way he's throwing the ball, if there's an injury in our rotation, he could get right into this mix real quick," Piniella said.

If that happens, it would be the ultimate small-town-boy-makes-good story.

"I think I'm lucky getting out of a small town like that," Thornton said. "A lot of guys were good athletes in my high school and nobody knew anything about their athletic ability.

"I think I did some right things at the right time and took care of myself and worked hard."

Thornton could earn spot on M's

Mariners glance

- Tuesday: Arizona 6, Seattle 1.

- Today: Seattle vs. Chicago White Sox, noon (1240-AM, 770-AM).

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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