Season Has Been A Test

Pitcher Rebounds From Suspension

By TOM PULEO
Hartford Courant

NEW BRITAIN - Anthony Swarzak glowered like a storm cloud when the visiting manager left the dugout to argue a call in the Rock Cats' home opener in April

"You know it hit the bat [handle]," Swarzak hollered at the plate umpire in a brash display for a kid making his first Double A start, but no rookie slip.

Swarzak, 6 feet 3, has always taken as much shelter as joy in the game of baseball. The diamond diverted him from Fort Lauderdale's side streets, distracted him when his father went to prison and guided him around high school's sharp corners.

"Anthony's on a mission," said Gary Lucas, the Rock Cats' pitching coach, who met Swarzak in 2005 in low-Class A Beloit (Wis.). "He's got an inner fire that manifests itself on the day he pitches. It's a personality trait that may have been built in."

The pitcher's mound shifted under Swarzak on April 20 when the Twins suspended him for 50 games for testing positive a second time for marijuana, considered a drug of abuse in the minor leagues.

At age 21, he tumbled overnight from a top prospect into fodder for an ongoing national story, lumped together with steroid-taking pitchers in a FoxSports.com story, "Dirty Dealers."

"I screwed up and I'm dealing with it now every day," Swarzak said recently. "Somebody always has something to say about it. It gets frustrating. But you have to take the punches and show people you still want to be a prospect, that you still have your head screwed on tight."

Swarzak spoke publicly for the first time about his two positive drug tests, which he said occurred in spring training in 2006 and 2007. He said he smoked pot recreationally with friends at offseason winter parties in Florida and didn't consider getting caught.

"I did it just before I came to spring training, a few weeks before," he said. "I think it stayed in my system a little longer than most other people. It wasn't a problem. It wasn't an addiction thing or anything like that. It was just a recreational kind of thing."

Since returning June 27 from Class A Fort Myers, Swarzak has pitched his best ball of the year. He had 11 strikeouts in seven innings in a loss to the Connecticut Defenders July 25 and pitched 8 1/3 shutout innings as New Britain beat the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 2-0 Tuesday. He is 5-4 with a 3.23 ERA.

"I feel like I'm more dedicated," Swarzak said. "It's time to grow up and start making adult decisions and just try to move on."

Swarzak's father, Roy, a home improvement contractor in Fort Lauderdale, said his son's mistakes shrink in proportion to his response.

"It humbled him," Roy Swarzak said. "I think that's a really important quality to have in an age when the money is so huge and life is bigger than you expect."

Growing Up Fast

On media day in April, Swarzak welcomed his role as the Rock Cats' new stopper, a power righthander rated by Baseball America as the Twins' No. 5 prospect. But beneath the surface he was feeling the same insecurity as any other young professional moving up.

"I didn't know if I could compete in Double A," Swarzak recalled. "A lot of it was just confidence."

On April 13 in the home opener, Swarzak struck out the side in the first inning, displaying good command of his 92 mph fastball. In the second he jammed a New Hampshire hitter with a ball that plunked at least the bat handle.

The umpire at first signaled foul ball, then reversed his call to hit batter after Fisher Cats manager Bill Masse came out to argue.

"I heard the ball hit the knob," Swarzak recalled. "Now the manager wants to come out and change his mind and I got a man on first to deal with. ... I was just saying, `Don't let him influence you.'"

The reaction was not out of character for Swarzak. At New Britain Stadium, Swarzak's locker displays no baseball cards, girlfriend pictures or other scrapbook items popular with minor leaguers.

"Anthony loves baseball, but he treats it as a job," Roy Swarzak said. "Anthony is not an angry person. He doesn't walk around getting into confrontations. But a pitcher has to have that edge on the field."

Swarzak was 6 when his parents divorced, 10 when his father went to prison for about two years for a crime that Roy Swarzak called "financially related." Anthony lived with his mother, Leslie, a waitress who raised him and the couple's four daughters.

"I always kept my distance; I was always at the ballpark," Anthony said of his childhood. "We definitely had to grow up a little faster. But I made it through. My sisters made it through. Everyone is fine."

"When my dad came back it was like he never left," he said. "He always stayed in my life. He's a pretty tough guy. He really doesn't take much from anybody and maybe that rubbed off on me. My mom, she's a great woman, always worked hard. I think I get that from her - do whatever it takes to keep my head above water."

Swarzak enrolled briefly at Northeast High in Fort Lauderdale, then transferred to Nova High, a magnet school in Davie, Fla., with a top-50 national baseball program.

"The high school I was supposed to go to was real rough," he said. "I was failing two of my five classes. I probably wouldn't be where I am today if I stayed there."

As a senior, Swarzak led Nova to the first state title by a Broward County public high school in 57 years. The Twins selected him in the second round (61st overall) in the 2004 draft. He turned down a scholarship to LSU to sign for $575,000.

Time Of Reflection

Swarzak lasted only three innings in the Rock Cats' home opener. He started the season 0-2 with an 11.12 ERA in 5 2/3 innings. A week later he was done, suspended for 50 games, standing at his locker apologizing to his family, teammates, coaches and the Twins.

A few days later, Lucas took his suspended pitcher to lunch and tried to explain the stakes.

"Anthony maybe had to discover that the window is very, very small," Lucas said. "It's tough enough to get through when you're on track. You can't get through with a monkey on your back. I tried to get him to take a look at his character and stop and think. The jobs are precious. You only get so many opportunities."

During his suspension, Swarzak returned to the Twins' extended spring training facility in Fort Myers, Fla., to run miles under the hot sun and rethink his commitment to baseball.

"I didn't really focus on pitching at first," he said. "I wanted to get in the best shape I could possibly be in. I was just focusing on becoming a professional player, about every aspect."

Swarzak returned with the Fort Myers Miracle on June 13 and made three starts, with a 2.30 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings. That won him a promotion to New Britain, which was no guarantee.

Swarzak said he has changed.

"I know I can't do it," he said of smoking marijuana. "I have the opportunity to be a role model to a bunch of little kids across the county and be a professional athlete, and I need to act like it."