ORONO – Mike MacDonald doesn’t have much to be dissatisfied about when it comes to the way he finished his Double-A baseball season.

The Camden native made a big pitch for promotion in his third minor league baseball season, going 13-9 with a 3.94 ERA in 28 starts.

As impressive as those numbers might be, it was the way MacDonald finished his season that really bears notice.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound, right-hander won five of his final six starts for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and pitched at least six full innings in each of them. He pitched 41 2/3 innings during that 28-day span, striking out 25 batters and walking 11 while compiling a 3.24 ERA.

Still, Toronto’s 2004 15th round draft choice had to admit he was a bit disappointed he didn’t get a September callup by the Blue Jays when big league teams are able to expand their rosters.

“Yeah, that would have been nice, but I’m very happy with the year I had,” MacDonald said while warming up for last weekend’s University of Maine alumni game at Mahaney Diamond. “I’m happy with the way things developed for me. I was at a higher level of competition and that forced me to be better, learning how to throw all the pitches no matter what the count was.

“It was just a good overall learning experience for me.”

After going 9-6 with a 4.24 ERA with Single-A Dunedin (Fla.) last year, MacDonald was promoted to the Eastern League and expected to be a mainstay in the Fisher Cats’ rotation. He was that and then some, earning praise from manager Doug Davis and pitching coach Dave LaRoche, both former major leaguers.

“Those guys have been there and know what it takes, so for them to hold me in high regard is nice,” said MacDonald, who was enjoying some down time before starting the offseason workout program prescribed to him by team officials.

“It’s nice to be home and get some relaxation time in,” said MacDonald, who will turn 25 in October. “I’m just taking a break and letting my body recover from a long season.”

MacDonald said he made his greatest strides this season in terms of consistency, location, and his mental approach.

“I think as you go up, the hitters get better and the thing I think I improved in the most was the mental game this season,” he said. “You have to turn the lineup over three times as a starter, so you just have to keep finding ways to get guys out.”

MacDonald’s two main pitches are the sinker and the slider, but he has made an effort to mix in a changeup and curveball more often with greater effectiveness.

“I mix in the curve every once in awhile, but I’m just trying to throw my changeup more consistently,” he explained. “I think it has really improved.”

So too, coincidentally, has MacDonald’s upside and visibility in the Jays’ organization.

MacDonald was an Eastern League All-Star selection and is considered one of Toronto’s top 30 prospects by some minor league evaluation services.

After advancing from short-season rookie ball to Single-A and now Double-A in three seasons, the former UMaine and Camden-Rockport High standout hopes he’ll be in Triple-A and or the majors next season.

“That’s always been the goal, but you can’t really worry about when that happens,” he said. “You just have to keep improving and be as consistent as you can be.”

Collar calls it a career

It’s not easy to give up on a dream, but former University of Maine and Scarborough High School baseball standout Mike Collar has opted to do just that.

“I’m pretty much done, baseball-wise,” said Collar, who came to Orono to play in UMaine’s alumni game last Saturday. “I got to the point where I wanted to know where I was going to be in the next month and it was hard to figure out.”

After being released from the Houston Astros organization in March of 2005 – two years after being drafted in the eighth round – Collar had offers to play for several independent league teams. He opted to play in the Frontier League. This year, he decided it was time to make a tough decision on his future.

“For me, it was a pretty easy decision because I didn’t want to travel on a bus anymore with 30 other guys and not make that much money,” he said. “You want to keep playing, but the road from independent leagues to the Majors is so long and hard.”

Collar now lives in Portland and works as a “pipeliner” for the Exxon-Mobil Portland Pipeline, that runs from Portland Harbor to Montreal.

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