Who will be the next Garza or Casilla?

By Dana Oppedisano
Naples Daily News

FORT MYERS — The minor leagues — and the sticky Florida State League is no exception — are all about the future, naturally.

Can you blame Kevin Boles and the rest of his Fort Myers Miracle staff, though, if they’re reaching into the past to start 2007?

After all, what better way to convince players who, in the manager’s words, feel the majors “are so far away,” than to point to guys who were literally filling their uniforms at this time a year ago?

“We’re very proud of those guys, and it’s a perfect example to the guys behind them,” Boles said of righty Matt Garza, who started 5-0 for the Miracle last season on his way to making nine starts for the Twins over the final month, and infielder Alexi Casilla, promoted at the All-Star break and an eventual September call-up to the Metrodome. “It can happen to them, too, and things tend to happen very quickly in this game.”

Rarely, though, do things happen as swiftly as they did for Garza and Casilla.

Garza, 23, who made a strong case to open the season in the Twins rotation before he was sent to Triple-A this spring, had the fourth-quickest ascension in club history, while Casilla was named the organization’s positional Player of the Year.

You just don’t duplicate seasons like that — but if the current Miracle want to go ahead and try ...

“Here you are, you’re a young player in Fort Myers, and you’re looking at a couple guys that went through the system in a heartbeat,” GM Steve Gliner said. “There’s a chance for anybody. Sure, there’s conditions that may have brought that on, but you’ve got to come to the ballpark prepared to play every day. It’s like Bolesy says, if anything, they’re gonna play hard.”

Boles just isn’t sure exactly where, yet.

It’s clear to the second-year manager that versatility is one of his club’s strengths, but if guys are learning multiple positions, he anticipates it could take a few weeks to find out who fits where. The defense could suffer slightly for that at first, but this won’t exactly be a team rebuilding chemistry.

Seventeen of the 25 players on the Opening Day roster were teammates at some point last season at low-A Beloit, with three more — highly regarded relievers Kyle Aselton, Angel Garcia and Josh Hill — returning after having spent all of 2006 in Fort Myers.

“A lot of us got drafted together, and we’ve progressed from short season to Beloit to this year, so we already have a lot of chemistry,” said first baseman/outfielder Erik Lis, who led all Twins minor-leaguers with a .326 average and clubbed 16 homers at Beloit.

“There’s no bad vibes, and if you have good chemistry, you’re going to play well together. We all know what can happen if we go out there and play our best.”

As always with the Twins, though, this is a team built on arms, and it looks to once again be among the more promising staffs in Florida.

Kyle Waldrop, who drew the season-opening start at Sarasota on Thursday, was mentioned in the same breath as Francisco Liriano when he was drafted a few years ago, and he remains among the top right-handed prospects. Oswaldo Sosa, who starts tonight’s home opener against the Reds, had a combined 2.60 ERA between Beloit and Fort Myers last season, while Alex Smit, who had 141 strikeouts in 108 innings in Beloit, is among the organization’s highest-regarded lefties.

Jay Rainville, who in 2005 was second in the Twins system in wins before a shoulder injury sidelined him for all of last year, is back after posting a 2.67 ERA in nine starts for the Miracle two years ago, while Ryan Mullins, fourth in the organization in strikeouts last season, won the fifth starter’s spot.

The bullpen appears just as loaded, what with Aselton, Garcia and Hill ahead of Eddie Morlan, a Midwest League All-Star last season as a starter, who could very become this team’s closer. Yohan Pinto should also be in the ninth-inning mix, after having gone 14-2 with three saves and a 1.91 ERA in 42 appearances for Beloit.

Keep an eye on Zach Ward, too, who was acquired in the trade with Cincinnati for Kyle Lohse last summer. He struggled with the change of scenery when he arrived in Beloit, but he held hitters to a .188 average while going 7-0 with a 2.29 ERA for the Reds’ Midwest League affiliate in Dayton.