Baseball Recruit

[Captain Kangaroo]

PG West: CV's 'late bloomer' no shrinking violet

Friday, April 08, 2005

By Rick Shrum, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Two years ago, Mike Gielarowski was weary of baseball. So he took a mulligan.

He didn't go out for the Chartiers Valley varsity, focusing instead on his other athletic specialty -- golf.

"I was burned out on baseball," Gielarowski said. "I had played it for a whole year straight."

At about the midpoint of the Colts' 2003 season, though, Gielarowski "realized that I missed baseball. I wanted to come back."

It's been quite a comeback.

Gielarowski, a right-handed pitcher, returned to the diamond last year and sparkled. He had a 4-3 record, a 1.26 ERA, and 61 strikeouts for a 7-12 team.

Oh, and he also had the admiration of college recruiters, who were enamored of his junior achievements and started courting him.

The Colts have shown a lot of kick this spring, with a 3-0 record through Tuesday, all outside Section 3-AAA. Their opener last Wednesday was a masterpiece by their 6-foot-2, 175-pound ace. Gielarowski (pronounced "gill-a-rowski") fired a three-hitter, striking out 11, in a 2-0 non-section victory at Upper St. Clair.

Frank Brown wasn't surprised. He is the Chartiers Valley coach, the man Gielarowski approached and asked to return. The man who started working diligently with this budding prospect in the fall of 2003. The man who helped transform him from an unknown into a first-team All-Section 7-AAA performer a year ago.

"I think he's a late bloomer," Brown said. "Mike has gotten a whole lot better in the past year and a half. He's developed physically and as a player."

Coach and right-hander generally agree on things . . . except on style.

"Mike is absolutely a power pitcher," Brown said.

"I think I'm a finesse pitcher," said Gielarowski, of Scott.

He certainly has a quality fastball, according to Brown. "He's in the high 80s now."

That's not the extent of his repertoire, however. Gielarowski said he also has an efficient curveball and split-finger fastball.

Fortitude and ingenuity also have placed him high on a hill.

"He is the kind of guy who, when he gets in trouble, is at his best," Brown said. "Maybe we make an error, or he gives up a hit or two. He finds a way to get out of trouble."

That was evident a week ago, when Gielarowski barely outpitched Upper St. Clair's Pat Slowey, who struck out 12 in six innings.

The Panthers put two runners on with one out in the seventh, and final, inning. Gielarowski then quelled the budding rally.

"He got two big outs," Brown said.

That clutch pitching impressed Panthers coach Jerry Malarkey, who hadn't seen Gielarowski before.

"We had a couple of situations where we had guys on base, and he knuckled down and got out of the inning," Malarkey said. "I thought he had poise, and he threw strikes. He was able to locate his fastball and curve pretty well."

That poise undoubtedly was acquired from the person who has had a major influence on his life. His mother, Diane, is a single mom with four children: Mike and his three younger siblings, two boys and a girl.

Apparently, and amazingly, Gielarowski is more demanding of himself than he is on opposing batters. He was perturbed that he walked three against Upper St. Clair. "Normally, I'm a good control pitcher," he said.

And he disputed talk about being pressure-resistant. "I have to be tougher out there mentally."

Baseball is now his priority. Gielarowski, who shoots in the high 70s to low 80s, did not play for the Chartiers Valley golf team last fall. He's a full-time pitcher, an occasional second baseman and a contact hitter.

The scholastic season is in its infancy, but college baseball is a long-range probability -- perhaps at the major-college level. "He's been getting a whole lot of interest, especially lately," Brown said.

Gielarowski, who has a grade point average above 3.0, favors Akron at the moment. But Duquesne, West Virginia, Marshall and Can't State are among the other programs that have inquired about him.

"He's a very good kid with an excellent work ethic," Brown said.

"If he gets better, I don't know if there's a ceiling for him.

"Some college will be getting a gem."