TheChestbump.com

Since the news times only leaves their articles up for a certain period of time before they get archived I copied the article here for your extended reading pleasure.  The original article is over at the danbury news times website.

Tarsi adjusts on the mound
Former Danbury High ace chases big league dream
By John Saward
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Article Last Updated: 08/22/2008 02:28:45 AM EDT

As Michael Tarsi’s first full minor league season nears an end in desolate Beloit, Wisconsin, the former Danbury High ace finds himself humbled by inconsistencies which have been mostly foreign to him until now.

Pitching for the Beloit Snappers, a Minnesota Twins affiliate, Tarsi’s ERA is 5.31, he’s learning to throw a changeup while fighting the notion that he’s simply a two-pitch pitcher, he’s been moved to the bullpen temporarily, and he just turned 22 years-old on Aug. 11.

Almost halfway across the country, Tarsi is a long way from the land where he once led his high school team to a state championship.

But he remains philosophical and motivated, if frustrated and a little impatient.There’s something to be learned, and a better player to hopefully become because of it.

As a player in the Fall Instructional League last year, Tarsi was instructed to throw a complete nine innings without using his slider at all. Without the slider — as much his trademark as his lanky 6-11 frame — Tarsi struggled.

“I’m thinking ‘Wow, my arm is killing me, I can’t throw a fastball by anyone,’” said Tarsi. “And it killed me because I couldn’t throw a fastball faster than 86, 87. And I couldn’t throw the changeup for strikes. I didn’t have an out pitch, I was just hoping they’d miss my changeup or hit the fastball in play and get an out.”

Tarsi points to a game against the Clinton LumberKings on July 3 as a microcosm of this season’s struggles. Tarsi
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pitched superbly despite the no-decision, striking out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run on eight hits and a walk. But Tarsi was overly reliant on his slider, pitching for immediate results rather than honing his changeup.

“I ended up striking out 11 guys, but I threw 45 percent of my pitches for sliders,” he said. “I wasn’t able to move my arm for three days after that. I realized the importance of learning a third pitch, keeping hitters off balance. I’m not going to be a strikeout pitcher in the long run.”

“What’s frustrating to me is, my slider is my out pitch, I’ll be up there on the mound, I have this guy 1-1. I could throw a slider — I could throw a slider at any count and get results, get an out or get him to swing and miss. But you’re on the mound and if the catcher puts down the changeup, I’ve got to get to the point where I can throw it with conviction. But I can’t do that yet because it’s a new pitch. It’s frustrating because I know that I could get the outs with the slider. In the minors it’s not so much result oriented, but it’s kind of a buzz kill, trying to compete and trying to get better in the long run.”

Tarsi, who said he put on about 30 pounds in the offseason as a result of an improved diet, has thrown 125 innings this year for Beloit, the second most on the team. He was primarily a starter, but has been pitching out of the bullpen since late July.

“Last year in rookie ball, they really kept you to a pitch count, didn’t let you go past the sixth inning,” Tarsi said. “I’m really trying to get used to everything, pitching every fifth day. It’s not like in college; you don’t have seven days in between.”

So far, Tarsi has found a mentor in pitching coach Gary Lucas, and at times finds refuge in a tight group of friends and fellow pitchers on the team. Lucas finished his career with an ERA of 3.01 and a 1.26 WHIP, pitching for the Padres, Expos, and Angels over eight seasons.

“He’s really understanding,” Tarsi said of Lucas. “He was the same style pitcher I hope to be — a fastball changeup guy — and he taught me a lot. When to throw (the changeup), where to throw it. I’ve been up and down with it this year, but I’m hoping it gets better.”

Since moving to the bullpen, Tarsi has a 2.51 ERA over 14? 1/3 innings, striking out 10 and walking four. Still young and still a prospect, he sees the benefit to all of this.

“It has been a huge learning experience,” he said. “I’ve learned more about baseball this season than I have in my entire career. What I really want to do is go out and shut guys down for the rest of the season, get my confidence back up. Especially with my change up. That’s what I really want to do going into the off-season.”

Mike tossed 7 innings on the 3rd but had to settle for another no decision…  Tarsi gave up 8 hits in those 7 innings only allowing 2 earned runs and striking out a season high 11.  Tarsi also walked 1 making his total for the season 83 strikeouts to only 23 walks.

The snappers ended up losing the game to Clinton by the score of 7-2.  The Snappers have begun playing much better ball than the beginning of the season.  They were as far back as 11 from Clinton and have moved to within 1.5 games of first place.

The New Haven Register wrote a very nice article on Mike on the 6th.  You can see the full article on the New Haven Register’s website here, or you can just read below.  Courtesey of the New Haven Register and Chip Malafronte.

Tarsi gets major boost

By Chip Malafronte, Register Staff

07/06/2008

Mike Tarsi may not be willing to concede that one out changed his whole season. But he knows it certainly went a long way toward his turnaround.
Tarsi, a Danbury resident and former standout left-handed pitcher at UConn, began his first full season in the minor leagues in April with three consecutive dreadful starts for the Minnesota Twins Class A affiliate in Beloit (Wis.).

When he took the mound on April 21, he was 0-3 with a whopping 16.68 ERA, which included allowing a total of 17 earned runs in a mere six innings of his previous two starts.

Adding to an already difficult plate was the fact that West Michigan’s leadoff batter that night happened to be Curtis Granderson, the Detroit Tigers star center fielder in the minors on injury rehab assignment.

A mistake to Granderson could set the tone for another miserable day. But Tarsi, towering at 6-8, known to be especially tough on lefties, struck him out looking in the first inning. He later whiffed Granderson again to kick-start one of the better three-game stretches by a pitcher in the minors this season.

He tossed a complete game against West Michigan, and followed it up with two more complete games to become the first pitcher in the minors this season with three straight.

“It was pretty cool to face a successful major-leaguer like Granderson,” Tarsi said earlier this week from Beloit. “It was also a big boost for me. In that one game, I was able to come back and feel confident about myself again. I had three quality starts in a row, and it started with that strikeout.”

Beginning with the West Michigan game and covering his next two starts, Tarsi posted a 1.20 ERA over 30 innings pitched. About the only thing missing was a victory. Beloit’s lack of run support caused Tarsi to lose all three, running his season mark to 0-6.

“It was about as frustrating as it can get,” Tarsi said. “Especially considering our team wasn’t doing too well, that was a big part of it. The first three games was just me not pitching well. The next three was some of the best baseball I’ve ever pitched over a three-game stretch. It was rough, but that’s baseball.”

Tarsi has since won five of his last eight decisions, lowering his ERA to 5.48 in the process. On Thursday, he set a career high with 11 strikeouts in seven innings. But the tough luck continued. Even though he only allowed two earned runs and walked one, he came away with a no-decision.

Tarsi, the Register’s All-State MVP as a senior, led Danbury High to the 2004 Class LL state championship, outdueling NFA’s Andrew Carignan (now a top closer prospect playing Double-A in Oakland’s organization) 2-1 in the final.

Minnesota drafted Tarsi in the 12th round after his junior season at UConn, and the club has high hopes for the lanky lefty. While not overpowering - his fastball rarely hits 90 miles per hour — Tarsi’s height and the sinking, downward plane of his pitches make him an ideal ground ball pitcher.

Oddly enough, Tarsi isn’t the tallest pitcher on Beloit’s staff. Teammate Loek Van Mil, at 7-1, is the tallest pitcher in professional baseball. The Snappers’ pitching staff also has 6-foot-7 Henry Reyes, and the pitching coach is 6-foot-7 ex-major-leaguer Gary Lucas.

But if you think Beloit might have a pretty good pickup basketball team, think again.

“Loek tried to dunk once, and he got rejected by the rim,” Tarsi said.

TRIPLE-A STARS

Trumbull’s Jamie D’Antona, second in all of Triple-A with a .383 average, was selected to the Pacific Coast League All-Star team. D’Antona plays third base for Tucson in the Diamondbacks organization.

On Friday, D’Antona blasted three home runs, all against Salt Lake starter Dustin Moseley, with five RBIs to give him 13 homers and 54 RBIs so far.

It was his first multi-homer game in his six seasons as a professional, and his first three-homer game since he was at Wake Forest.

Also on the PCL All-Star team is ex-New Haven Ravens first baseman John Gall, now an outfielder with Albuquerque in the Marlins system. Another ex-Raven, pitcher Jeremy Cummings, will pitch for the International League stars. Cummings plays for the Rays top minor league team in Durham.

EXTRA BASES

Killingworth’s Cory Riordan, a sixth-round pick of the Rockies in 2007 out of Fordham, is third in the Class A South Atlantic League with 94 strikeouts and second with 101§ innings pitched. … Clinton’s Bryan Rembisz, signed out of the independent leagues by the Los Angeles Angels, made his affiliated debut last week. In two appearances for Rancho Cucamonga of the upper Class A California League, Rembisz has yet to allow a hit in three innings, striking out four. Rembisz played at the Morgan School and later the University of Vermont.

Chip Malafronte can be reached at cmalafronte@nhregister.com.

©New Haven Register 2008

Mike Tarsi has been lights out in back to back starts now.  Taking on first place Clinton, Tarsi threw 6 innings giving up only one earned run and 6 hits while striking out 7 and walking only 1.  This ends the snappers three game skid including a loss in the first game of the double header.  Tarsi’s E.R.A is all the way down to 5.6 now, which is very impressive.  Over the past two games Tarsi has thrown 12 innings and given up 1 run, 8 hits, 12 strikeouts and 1 walk.  Very impressive streak.  Way to shove Tars!

Saturday the Beloit Snappers swept a double header against the Burlington Bees. Mike got the the start in the first game and has continued to throw well. He threw 6 innings out of a 7 inning game facing only 1 batter over the minimum. Tarsi’s change up was the best it’s been all season and his 8 strikeouts are the most so far this year. He only gave up 2 hits, picked one of those guys off and issued no walks. He lowered his E.R.A to 6.09 which is a very deceiving mark for this lefty.

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Mike Tarsi threw another complete game gem on Friday suffering another tough loss. The game was won in the bottom of the 8th inning when the loons scored 2 runs. The snappers have had a tough time scoring runs while the spaniard is on the mound. Mike’s last three starts have resulted in 3 complete game losses. Tarsi gave up a total of 4 earned runs in 22 innings, lowering his era from his first 3 starts(16.78) all the way down to 6.75, striking out 12, walking only 4 and allowing a total of 16 hits. Clearly he has returned to form.

As a side note, in my drunkenness last night, I have given mike a new nickname based on his “el gato” cat like reflexes, which stems from his stellar play on the bunt pop up in the 8th inning where he pounced off the mound and made a slick diving catch.

As a second side note: The snappers website is terrible at getting updated after games. Someone needs to get on that.

Mike Tarsi seemed to be back on top of his game tonight as he pitched 8 innings against the whitecaps allowing only 2 unearned runs. Tarsi had been in a funk his first couple starts and with this game should drop his astronomical 16 era down to around 8. Great job tars.

Tonight happened to be a rehab game for Detroit Tigers star center fielder Curtis Granderson. Granderson led off the bottom of the first with a strikeout. I can’t tell you how proud that makes me as an older brother to see my little brother strike out an accomplished major league player still in his prime twice. The only runs of the game came in the 3rd inning on a strange set of plays. There was a single and an error at second when the runner slid into the shortstop causing him to drop the ball. Granderson who wouldn’t have gotten to bat with a runner in scoring position hit a triple past the first basemen. The next batter hit a sac fly to center to score granderson to make it a 2-0 game.

Granderson wound up 1 for 4 with a triple and 2 strike outs.

Mike Tarsi finished up the game from that point on retiring 17 out of the next 19 batters. Tarsi’s velocity was on point tonight. While his fastball topped out around 90, he was spot on with his offspeed stuff. At one point he threw a 63mph changeup… that is a difference of 27mph! I want to be the first to congratulate him on an excellent pitching effort.

Sometimes even the flight of an angel hits turbulence. ~Astrid Alauda

MJT

So after getting to hang and share a room with my brother again for the first time in 8 years (after moving this fall) he is back playing ball.  Everyone here at home misses you tons Tars, and we would all like to wish you good luck in the upcoming season.

For anyone out there that is looking for updates on Mike’s where abouts and it seems like a great deal of traffic here is googling “mike tarsi”, check back often, I will try and keep you up to date as much as possible.  Looks like it will be Ft. Myers for a few weeks.

Another nice post…

Tarsi is another college draft pick from 2007, joining the Twins organization out of the University of Connecticut. Unlike McCardell, Tarsi started off in Elizabethton immediately; like McCardell, he thrived there. Tarsi posted a 2.22 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 52.2 innings along with a 59-13 K-BB ratio. As with McCardell, there’s a need to consider that Tarsi entered Elizabethton having pitched in major college action, and was therefore relatively advanced. However, his numbers are too good to ignore, and it will be interesting to watch him play with a full season team in 2008.

You can find the whole list at Taylor’s Twins Talk.  Mike was ranked the #20  starting pitcher in the twins organization by Taylor.  Keep in mind that his list he created includes current MLB starting pitchers.  #1 obviously being Francisco Liriano.  I’m not sure who Taylor is, but I like his style.

After putting on a lot of weight this off season and some speed on his fb, i’m anxious to see how well he does with Beloit.

Whether you frequently read here or know me personally, you know that we are following the career of Mike Tarsi very closely.  It’s extremely satisfying for me as his brother and for all of our family and friends to see things like this written about him.  We are all excited to see how far Mike wants to take this.

SLEEPER ALERT. Tarsi was drafted in the 12th round last year, from the University of Connecticut. His pro debut in the Appy League was very successful, and I think he’s a major sleeper. Tarsi’s velocity can be erratic, at times in the lower 90s but more often in the 85-88 range last year. But he sinks the ball and picks up plenty of grounders, and his curveball and changeup are promising. He’s deadly on left-handed hitters, holding them to a .130 mark for Elizabethton. If he keeps that up he’s got LOOGY potential certainly, but if his command is sharp enough he could start at higher levels. We need to see more, but keep an eye out. Grade C but highly intriguing. - John Sickels

This was taken from a message board.  You can find the original text here.

For all of us that know mike tarsi, we know what he can do, but it’s a very rewarding thing when we get to read what other people have to say about him.

Check out this article here from the Over the baggy blog.

You can also see his 2007 stats from the Elizabethton Twins here.

Battleyourtailoff.com has a nice writeup of Mike Tarsi as it summarizes his 2007 season with the E-Town twins and his standings with Baseball America after last season.

And another here.