August 29, 2006 - Faces on the Field: Carl Loadenthal - Former non-drafted free agent has shot at batting title - By: Lisa Winston MLB.com
08/29/2006 9:41 AM ET
Carl Loadenthal has actually been dominating Carolina League pitching since he got to Myrtle Beach in early May. It just took a little while before anyone noticed.
Loadenthal, a Philadelphia native who signed with the Atlanta Braves as a non-drafted free agent out of Rider University in 2003, has seemingly come out of nowhere to be where he is now: leading the batting race in the waning days of the Carolina League season.
With a week left in the season. Loadenthal's .320 average led the league by 11 points. If he holds on, he would become only the second Pelicans player to win a batting title, with the first having been current Atlanta Braves second baseman Marcus Giles, who hit .326 in 1999.
Loadenthal started the season with the Braves' Double-A Mississippi club in the Southern League, hitting .167 in 19 games there before being sent to Myrtle Beach at the end of April.
The 24-year-old made his first start for the Pelicans May 3 as the DH, going 2-for-5 and ran off a 10-game hitting streak. Though he did go into something of a spin mid-month, where his average dipped to as low as .211 during a 3-for-23 drought, from then on he was consistent.
He finished out May 9-for-16, and went on to win both June and July Player of the Month honors for the Carolina League. In June, he hit .361 and in July he batted .374 with 17 RBIs.
Not too shabby for a player who sat listening to the Internet broadcast on draft day, hearing the names of other players he'd faced in MAAC competition over the previous few years and wondering just a little bit why his own name wasn't called.
He didn't have much time to wonder. Within a few days, a handful of his senior teammates from Rider convinced him to join them on a road trip to Baltimore for a tryout with the Braves.
"I didn't really want to go at first, since it was only a day or two after the draft, and I wasn't in the right mindset," said Loadenthal, a speedy left-handed hitter who can play all three outfield positions. "But my friends kind of talked me into it, so they drove and we all went to try out and I just happened to do really good."
J.J. Picollo was the Braves' Philly area scout at the time and is the man responsible for bringing Loadenthal into the fold. In the three years since, he moved up the ladder to director of Minor League operations, and a few weeks ago left the Atlanta organization to join his former boss, Dayton Moore, with the Kansas City Royals in a similar role.
Running the camp, he told the players on hand that the Braves would evaluate what their needs were over the next few weeks, once they knew who had signed from the draft. But Loadenthal suspected something was up when he was the only participant asked to lay down a few bunts after he'd taken his allotted swings.
Sure enough, the next morning he woke up to find a message from Picollo on his answering machine.
"It was a lot faster than I had expected," said Loadenthal. "The next day he came to my house with the paperwork, and a couple of days later I was flying to Orlando."
In his first two pro seasons, Loadenthal earned All-Star honors in each of his respective leagues. In 2003, he hit .310 with 24 RBIs and 21 steals to help lead the Gulf Coast League Braves to the league championship.
In 2004, he moved up to Danville of the short-season Appalachian League and batted .305 with five home runs and 32 RBIs, leading the league with 60 runs scored.
He began the 2005 season at low-A Rome, hitting .262 in 63 games before moving up to Myrtle Beach, where he batted .283 in 60 games. He expected to start 2006 back with the Pelicans but instead was assigned to the Braves' Double-A club at Mississippi in the Southern League, something he hadn't been expecting.
"I was expecting to start the year back here (at Myrtle Beach), so I was shocked to start the year at Double-A, but it was still a disappointment because it was the first time I've ever gone a step backwards," Loadenthal said. "But on the drive home J.J. called me and explained the situation, that it really had nothing to do with numbers, but with roster spots they needed, so that put me in a better mindset."
While Rider might not get mentioned among the "big boys" like the Cal State-Fullertons and Miamis, the Lawrenceville, N.J.-based school can boast about three of its alumni doing pretty well for themselves these days.
Two of Loadenthal's teammates there, pitchers Kevin Barry and James Hoey, are currently in the Majors, with Atlanta and Baltimore, respectively. Both made their Major League debuts this summer, Barry in June and Hoey earlier this month.
In fact, Hoey, who missed most of 2004 and 2005 following "Tommy John" surgery, dominated in relief at three levels during his meteoric comeback trail this summer, including a stint at Frederick, where he notched 11 saves with an 0.64 ERA in 14 games between June 21 and July 31. Three of those saves came against the Pelicans, but he didn't face Loadenthal.
"Two games in a row I was the last out in the eighth inning, and he came on in the ninth," said Loadenthal. "I wanted to face him. I'm very familiar with what he throws."
Perhaps the hardest part of this season for him has not been the demotion, but rather the more recent adjustment to concentrating on a batting title now that the Pelicans have fallen out of postseason contention.
The old saying goes that "there's no I in team," so players can be uncomfortable adjusting their sights on the pursuit of an individual accomplishment, even if everyone else is cheering for them to do so. That has been the case for Loadenthal, who is certainly aware of the batting title lurking on the horizon but doesn't seem ready to say "those words."
"The kind of year I'm having, right now it's a rare circumstance of trying to go for ... a personal achievement," he said, hesitating before finding the right words. "Around July people started asking me about it, but at the time we were right around first place and I was just thinking about getting to the playoffs. Now it's hard not to look at it."
Among those cheering is Loadenthal's dad, who has been his stealth scout, carefully combing the Internet before every series to get him the scoop on the upcoming pitchers.
Loadenthal's pursuit of the title took a detour, however, when he injured his right hand while making a diving catch in left-center field during a home game August 20. Though he remained in the game, the hand swelled after a few days and caused enough pain while swinging the bat that he sat out a few games.
Ironically, that was the day that Loadenthal had found out that he finally had enough at-bats to qualify for the season-ending leader board even if he didn't play again for the rest of the season.
He joked to Myrtle Beach Sun beat writer Sean Horgan, "That means I can break my hand tonight and still qualify for it."
As Horgan later wrote, "It didn't seem so funny when he was lying on the outfield grass."
Loadenthal hoped to be back for the final week of the season to finish his pursuit and finish his season on a high note. He's also hoping that his 2006 campaign will help erase whatever stigma, if any, might be left when it comes to his "non-drafted free agent" status.
"I'm hoping that eventually it will come to a point where it's more 'what have you been doing' than 'what have we invested in you,'" he said. "The best thing about this year for me is that I hope it means that next year I'll be in the best position I've been in yet to start a year."
In years past, Loadenthal has always come off the bench to start the season before finally winning an every-day job.
"I hope next year I'll get my chance right from the start and maybe get that 'prospect' tag," he said. "At least I think they'll give me all the opportunities possible to succeed."
Lisa Winston is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.
