Dave Stewart Plans to Get His Baseball Career Back on Track

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. —  Dave Stewart sits at a picnic table under the cleansing Florida sun. He’s not too far from the spot where he stood one year ago and predicted that he would win “20 to 30” games in his first full season with the Rangers.

Now he’s telling how those dreams came flying apart and how he plans to get his career back on solid ground.

It is convincing talk.

“It’s always tough to suffer bad things. Anything that’s not what you expect it to be is tough to swallow,” Stewart says. “But I’ve got a good relationship with God, to be honest. I know if I keep smiling there will be better days.

“If you keep going, things will work out; maybe not when you want them to, but they will work out. So you swallow the bad times and that makes the good times that much sweeter.”

Stewart came to the Rangers from the Dodgers in a 1983 trade for left-hander Rick Honeycutt, the American League ERA champion that year. When Honeycutt got off to a hot start in L.A. last spring and Stewart struggled in Texas, the Rangers were criticized by many observers for making the trade. But as disappointing as Stewart’s pitching has been, his persistence and direct personality have been pleasing.

Stewart, 28, gave the Rangers instant gratification with his 95 mph fastball, winning five of seven decisions in the last two months of 1983. Although he had started only 15 games in three seasons with the Dodgers, that late-season success triggered an expectation that he would become a headliner.

“I assumed too much,” Dick Such, the Rangers’ pitching coach, said. “I assumed he would pick up where he left off and take off. It was my mistake. Through my inexperience, I assumed it and it didn’t happen.”

Stewart lost his first six decisions in 1984. His curveballs seldom went over the plate and his fastballs often went over the fence.

“It took me too long to settle into the person I know I am, as far as pitching is concerned,” Stewart said. “I tried to do more than I am capable of doing. I tried to throw too hard. Instead of 94 and 95, I tried to throw 100. That caused problems. You change things and you mess with your control, you can’t get the ball in the strike zone. Everything is nowhere.

“Sometimes you’re going bad and you think you’re the reason the whole team isn’t playing well,” Stewart said. “Then you try to do more than you’re capable of and get deeper into a hole. I found myself doing that.”

Rader gave Stewart 19 starts to work his problems out. But finally, after Stewart didn’t last through the fifth inning in four of five outings, Rader jerked him from the rotation.

The sudden jolt of reality proved the catalyst Stewart needed to perhaps turn the corner as a pitcher.

It was a difficult admission, but he realized he couldn’t rely on a fastball--no matter how fast--to succeed in the big leagues.

Such worked with him daily as he began to learn how to throw a forkball and dropped to three-quarters motion on his curveball. There was a whole new world of pitching out there that Stewart had always resisted.

“I’ve been macho, thinking that fastball, curveball were all you needed instead of learning to pitch, trying to help myself be a better pitcher,” Stewart said. “I was just trying to be macho.”

Such’s seminars began in late July and were yielding positive results by the middle of August. Stewart was able to throw all three pitches for strikes with some consistency.

Stewart was 3-1 with a 1.86 ERA as a starter in September, finishing the year with consecutive complete games.

Stewart has accepted the challenge of becoming the stopper Texas has lacked since Jim Kern’s 29-save season in 1979. But underneath that acceptance there is a part of him that would like to be given a fresh start in the starting rotation.

“I thought I’d be a good starter coming into the season,” Stewart said. “I was confident of being a good starter coming into the season. But I guess after all the acquisitions during the winter, they decided they wanted me as a short man. I feel I can do the job.

“I’ve got no problems. I’m enthusiastic about doing it. My only problem with doing it is that (Dave) Schmidt did a better-than-adequate job last year. I thought he’d get a real good shot at being the short man. But my job isn’t to make decisions. It’s just my job to obey decisions.

“I did think I could be a good starter, but I think I could be an even better short reliever.”

Such continues to keep a sharp eye on Stewart, determined to help him develop a flatter curveball and a forkball. As a reliever, though, Stewart probably will need only his fastball and one of the two breaking pitches (most likely the forkball).

“His breaking ball is still in the developmental stages, but he is confident with his forkball,” Such said. “He is as confident with that as his fastball. It is a plus pitch, an out pitch. He can get people out with it.”

Rader does not want to burden Stewart with predictions. But it is plain that he would not have entrusted him with such a critical job if he did not expect a turnabout from last year’s form.

“I expect him to throw the ball over the plate,” Rader said. “If he throws the ball over the plate, he will do a good job for us.”

There is a precedent should Rader ever have to defend the move. Stewart, after all, had good years in the bullpen with the Dodgers.

He began his rookie season in 1981 with a 4-1 record, three saves and a 1.00 ERA in his first 17 appearances. He believes he should have made the National League All-Star team in ’83 (5-2, eight saves and 2.96 ERA before he was traded).

Stewart was always in the shadow of lefthander Steve Howe then. Now he has only to escape the long shadow of the past year.

“I think I can do the job,” Stewart said. “There’s no question about that in my mind. It’s just a matter of getting the ball and go out and doing it.”

It is matter of facing up to the situation. Stewart’s track record is solid enough in that category.