Belfast native Guthrie excelling in minors

With apologies to Saturday Night Live’s “Chico Escuela,” beisbol has also been very, very good to Sazi Guthrie.

Judging by the statistics from his first professional baseball season, baseball continues to be very, very good to the Belfast native.

Despite playing for a team with a less-than-respectable 12-23 record, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound righthanded pitcher is enjoying a successful minor league baseball debut.

“It’s great. I come from D3 [NCAA Division III] and I’m used to playing in front of 50 people,” Guthrie said. “Now I’m playing before crowds of 7,000. Travel is rough … We left last night at midnight and got in at 8 a.m. on a bus. But being able to play ball like I am and getting paid for it, that makes it all well worth it.”

Since the Gary (Ind.) SouthShore RailCats made him a first-round selection in the Northern League’s free agent tryout draft last March, Guthrie has been refining and improving his skills while elevating his stock.

Guthrie has gone from long reliever to spot starter to full-time starting pitcher in six weeks. Although he prefers relieving, he’s coming to enjoy his new role. It’s a role he appears to be adapting well to after five starts.

“I don’t have a preference, really,” he said. “I kind of like coming out of the bullpen and getting regular work and being able to come out and let it all hang out, but being asked to start is a compliment for me. [Manager Garry Templeton] felt like I had the makeup and stuff to do it.”

“Starting can be a difficult thing because you’re expected to go at least 4-5 innings,” Guthrie added. “So you have to be more thoughtful and save some of your pitches for the long haul. You still have to go for it occasionally and that’s what I’m learning.”

Guthrie says he could have pitched better, but his stats are solid. He has a 2-2 record, a 4.34 ERA, 18 strikeouts, and 14 walks through 37 1/3 innings. Opponents are batting .253 against him.

In the world of minor league ball – especially independent league ball – stats and production are even more important since the degree of competition is that much higher.

“I try to be at my best not only with my team, but I try to better my standing with other teams as well, just in case,” he explained. “It’s real competitive. Teams can cut you just like that.”

That’s not something Guthrie should have to worry about right now.

“My coaches seem pretty optimistic about my upside. They were surprised I hadn’t played affiliated ball before,” he said.

Guthrie’s game has undergone refinement since joining the pros, but most of that has come with his mental toughness, approach, and execution.

“My fastball’s still 80 to 90, but you can’t get away with as much. In college, if I made a mistake, I could still get guys out most of the time,” he said. “But at this level, you can’t get away with those, especially against the veteran hitters. They’re not just sitting on the fastball all the time.”

Going from Belfast to Ithaca College in New York to San Diego to Gary has brought some major scene shifts.

“Gary’s a whole new experience. It’s a completely run-down area that’s pretty much a ghost town,” Guthrie said. “It’s like an old mill town that’s kind of passed its time. It’s not really a good place to be after dark, actually, but it’s starting to come back, I guess. This team is part of an effort to kind of revitalize the area.”

Lumberjacks swing the axe

With the end of the Northeast League season’s first half less than two weeks away, the Bangor Lumberjacks continue to pare and revamp their roster.

Bangor released infielder Aaron Davidson and placed first baseman Jude Voltz on the inactive list Monday before signing catcher Luis Melendez and outfielder Barry Paulk.

Melendez has played for the Waterbury Spirit, Schaumburg Flyers, and Quebec Capitales the last four years. He hit .199 with eight RBIs, but had a .988 fielding percentage for Schaumburg last year and began this season with Quebec and was released June 12.

The New York Mets signed Paulk as a free agent two years ago and played A ball for the Kingsport (Tenn.) Mets and Capital City (S.C.) Bombers. Paulk is a speedster who wqas caught stealing twice in 13 attempts in 2001.

Bangor placed Voltz, who has traveled home to Metairie, La., with an undisclosed illness, to on the inactive list to retain his rights. Davidson was let go after hitting .192 in eight games.

Collar on the ValleyCats

Former UMaine starting pitcher Mike Collar is adjusting to life in the minors. The 21-year-old Scarborough native has appeared in just one game so far this season for the 5-7 Tri-City ValleyCats of Troy, N.Y.

Three weeks after the junior signed with the Houston Astros and being assigned to the short-season Class A New York-Penn League team, Collar has made one start. The 6-3, 210-pound righthander took a loss after going three innings and allowing two hits, one unearned run, and one earned run (on a home run). Collar had three strikeouts and no walks in his debut.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or at aneff@bangordailynews.net