July 26, 2006 - Loadenthal still looking for his shot - By ED KRACZ - Phillyburbs.com
Loadenthal still looking for his shot
By ED KRACZ
phillyBurbs.com
WILMINGTON, Del. — He will never win a Home Run Derby, but here's Carl Loadenthal, sitting with the most home runs he's ever hit.
He may never win a World Series, but here's Carl Loadenthal, talking about doing everything he can to earn a second championship ring in the Atlanta Braves' minor league farm system.
He may never even see his dream of playing major league baseball fulfilled, but here's Carl Loadenthal, the leading hitter in the Carolina League.
Loadenthal was home again, or as close to his Southampton home as it gets in a league with many of its teams based in the south, when he returned with his teammates on the Myrtle Beach Pelicans for a four-game series against the Wilmington Blue Rocks at Frawley Stadium last week.
His family saw him go 5-for-5 with a three-run home run, his sixth homer of the season, in the series opener. They saw him get a hit in his first at-bat in the series' second game, which helped him reach base in seven straight plate appearances. They saw him extend his hitting streak to eight games, before an 0-for-5 in the third game of the series ended it. In four games, they saw him collect nine hits in 17 trips to the plate, score five runs and steal two bases, giving him 17 swipes on the season.
Basically, the Loadenthal family saw Carl do the things that have kept him on track to, possibly someday, play in a major-league outfield.
When Loadenthal, a graduate of William Tennent and Rider University, left town following last Thursday's game, his batting average had climbed to .346 (79-for-228), the best average in the Carolina League by nearly 20 points. Only one player in the eight-year history of the Pelicans has won a batting title, and that was current Braves second baseman Marcus Giles in 1999 when he hit .326. Giles was also named the league's most valuable player that year, too.
“You have to prepare yourself day in and day out so that whenever you do get the call, you're ready to go at whatever level, and right now he's accepted that challenge and look what he's done,” said Myrtle Beach manager Rocket Wheeler.
Loadenthal is diligently doing his homework.
“He's a contact hitter, he knows how to stay behind the ball and he works hard in the (batting) cage,” said Pelicans hitting coach Franklin Stubbs, who had a 10-year major-league career, including six with the Los Angeles Dodgers. “He's really put a good effort into trying to make himself a better hitter and it's paying off.
“He's not a power hitter, but he's got sneaky power. Ifyou throw it in his power zone, he can drive it out of the ballpark. But he's a line drive hitter. Still, he'll hit anywhere from six to 10 homers because he's strong enough to be able to do that.”
Loadenthal's major-league dream is a little further away than it was in April, when he began the season with the Braves' Double-A affiliate in Pearl, Miss., where, in 19 games and 48 at-bats, he managed just eight hits for a .167 batting average. It wasn't all bad, though, as Loadenthal flashed his trademark speed with five steals, and scored seven runs.
Still, it wasn't enough to avoid the dreaded call from the Mississippi manager, Jeff Blauser.
Blauser phoned Loadenthal on an off day during a road trip. Loadenthal was in his hotel room when the call came on May 3.
“He told me, "I got bad news, you're getting sent down,'” Loadenthal recalled.
Loadenthal, who will turn 25 at the end of December, stewed on the drive from Mississippi to the Braves' High-A Myrtle Beach affiliate. Then his cell phone rang again. This time, it was J.J. Picollo, the scout who signed him as a free agent out of tryout camp in Baltimore in 2003 and now the Braves' director of player development.
“He told me it was nothing personal,” Loadenthal said. “I could've been hitting .400, it's just that they needed a roster spot open for this one kid, that certain circumstances happened that they didn't expect and they had to move him to Double-A.
“He wanted to make sure I had the right mind set and not come here disappointed and give up like I wasn't playing for anything. I wasn't very happy driving, but after that call, it made me look at it another way, so that helped. He was being honest and straightforward. He said they changed their mind three times, but there nothing else they could've done about it.”
Loadenthal never pouted or complained upon his arrival at Myrtle Beach. He wasn't completely unfamiliar with his Myrtle Beach surroundings. He was promoted from Low-A Rome (Ga.) last June 29 to Myrtle Beach and ended up batting .283.
“You're always disappointed when you come down, I don't care who you are,” said Wheeler. “When you go down to the next level, you can look in the mirror and say, "Man, I'm only hitting a buck 80, a buck 90, I'm hitting 200, I probably don't belong up here right now. I should be down.'
“But it still hurts. It still hurts. He's come down and worked his butt off. He didn't sulk. He got in that (batting) cage and has done everything Stubby (Franklin Stubbs) has asked of him. Look at him now, he's leading the league in average.”
Loadenthal is doing it from a relatively new spot in the batting order, too.
Wheeler calls Loadenthal the prototypical leadoff hitter, yet he has him batting fifth, something that, from the sound of it, isn't Wheeler's idea, but the organization's.
“The good thing is he doesn't complain,” Wheeler said. “Even last year, when I had him a little bit at Rome, he wasn't a starter and I told him that before the season started because I wanted him to get over the initial shock that, “Hey, I'm not going to be starting every day.'
“There were other priorities at that time and that's what happens when you're an undrafted free agent, there's going to be other priorities over you. Of course he didn't like it, but you're not supposed to like it. He went out and he struggled at first (and) you could tell it was bothering him a lot. He put everything together and raised his average up to about .260.”
Three years ago, Loadenthal helped the Gulf Coast Braves win a championship in the rookie league. Once he arrived at Myrtle Beach this year, the Pelicans began playing better and are leading the Carolina League's Southern Division, with an eye toward winning the second half crown and getting into the postseason.
And wins are what Loadenthal is focusing on most of all, not batting titles or most valuable player awards.
“Right now, I kind of want to keep an eye on standings so we can get into the playoffs,” he said. “There's nothing I'd like more than another ring. I'd love to have another championship ring. This would be a couple levels higher so it's going to be a lot nicer ring. I would be curious to see how nice.
“When mid-August sets in — we still have a lot of games to play — maybe I'll start paying attention to the other stuff. Maybe I'll start noticing what I'm chasing, but, right now, I want to win as many games as we can.”
Ed Kracz can be reached at (215) 345-3069 or ekracz@phillyBurbs.com.
July 26, 2006 8:04 AM
