Nick Markakis

Phenom Delivers Homegrown Power

Maybe they need only look back a few years to see what the outfielder did in his final game as a college ballplayer to contemplate the type of exciting heights the 22 year old can reach when he sets his mind to it.

Because he grew up in Georgia as a big fan of pitching great Roger Clemens, Markakis wore Clemens’ number—21—on his back when he he played for Young Harris Junior College in 2002 and 2003 (he now also wears No. 21 on his Oriole uniform).

At Young Harris, Markakis was a star pitcher as well as a superb hitter and outfielder. He decided to set a goal for himself in his second and final year at the junior college.

“I told my parents I wanted to hit 21 home runs,” he recalls, to match the number he and his hero shared.

Markakis did have a great final year at Young Harris.

As a pitcher, he went 12-0 with a save and a 1.59 ERA in 15 games, along with 160 strikeouts. And as a hitter he batted .439 with 92 RBIs and 19 steals in 20 attempts. But with a single game left in his college career, Markakis had yet to reach his ultimate goal. He’d hit only 20 home runs. He went homerless in the game going into his final at-bat as a college player. And then, with the dramatic flair of a man destined to reach the major leagues, the left-handed hitting Markakis lofted a home run over the fence in his final at-bat, giving notice that he was a ballplayer to be reckoned with.

Markakis was not slated to be playing in Camden Yards this spring.

But just as he hit that 21st home run at Young Harris three years ago, demonstrating that he could achieve the unlikely, he forced the Orioles into bringing him north from spring camp at Ft. Lauderdale by exceeding expectations. He batted .358 in 67 exhibition game at-bats and impressed the Oriole hierarchy with his precocious patience and discipline as a hitter.

“I have total confidence he is going to hold his own,” manager Sam Perlozzo said of Markakis before the team left Florida and before the manager had decided to include Markakis on his team.

The Orioles made Markakis their No. 1 selection in the amateur player draft of 2003, a year in which he was named the second best junior college prospect (behind only another Oriole signee, Adam Loewen). Despite his extraordinary talents as a pitcher, the Orioles decided to develop Markakis as a hitter and outfielder. The team has had little luck (or acumen) over the past two decades in drafting hitters who’ve been able to contribute at the major league level.

Markakis hit well, though not for exceptional power, in his three minor league seasons. But because he had never reached Triple-A, and had only played as high as Double-A for 34 games at the end of 2005, Markakis was slotted to begin this year at Triple-A Ottawa. But his performance in spring training forced the team to make a difficult decision. Would Markakis and the club be better served if he began the season picking up more experience in Ottawa, or was he good enough that he could be put right into the Oriole lineup and skip Triple-A?

Perlozzo insisted that if Markakis did make the Baltimore club, he would play regularly. The manager would not allow him to languish on the bench when he could be playing regularly in the minor leagues.

Perlozzo held off on his decision until the final minutes of spring training, although it had become apparent that he was captivated by the youngster’s skills.

In fact, Perlozzo said that Markakis was as good a two-strike hitter as any veteran on the Oriole roster, lofty praise for a player not yet three years out of junior college.

But again, he saw Markakis as a special player. So the manager made the tough choice to anoint Markakis as the quickest position player to work himself through the Baltimore system into a regular line-up position since Jeffrey Hammonds in 1993.

Markakis was almost born to be a ballplayer.

His mother, Mary Lou Markakis, says she knew Nick had a special talent for baseball before he was even two. She would bring Nick, then in diapers, out to the yard with his older brother, Dennis, give them a bat, and pitch beach balls to them. “Dennis would swing and miss, and Nick would swing and hit it,” she recalls.

“That was his life,” Nick’s father, Dennis, says of his son and baseball.

Nick would sit transfixed by the television as a boy, watching as much baseball as he could.

The family decided when Nick was a kid to move from New York to Georgia, at least in part so he could play more baseball. “He was limited to how much he could play in New York because of the weather,” his father explains.

In Georgia, a youth league coach tried for months to recruit Nick to play on a traveling team of older players. Finally he and his parents relented and he joined the team.

Markakis’ mother and father, the parents of four boys, were a little apprehensive when Nick began playing high school ball. “We got nervous when Nick made varsity,” his mother explains, “because Dennis was already on the varsity, and we didn’t want him to outshine Dennis.”

Big league scouts started congregating in Woodstock, Georgia, to watch him play there for his high school team when he was just a junior.

The Orioles almost didn’t have the opportunity to sign Markakis. After his senior year in high school and again after his first year at Young Harris, the Cincinnati Reds drafted the hitting and pitching phenom. But he rejected the Reds, choosing to finish his junior college career, giving the Orioles the chance to use their first draft pick in 2003 and gain the right to sign him.

Both in the minors and in his first few weeks with the Orioles, Markakis gives off the appearance of being something of a loner. He is quiet and generally keeps to himself. While other players are joking around in the clubhouse, Markakis can usually be found glued to the clubhouse TV monitors, intently watching tapes of the pitcher the Orioles will be facing later in the day or evening. As a rookie unfamiliar with the league, he says, “I want to look at pitchers and get a feel for how they pitch.”

His parents say he may seem to be a loner, but that’s not the way Markakis really is.

“He’s quiet in the beginning,” says his father, “but as he becomes more comfortable in a situation, he becomes more outgoing.”

“He’s really a people person,” his mother adds.

The Oriole outfielder agrees that it takes him a little while to come out of his shell. “I’ve got to get thefeel for people to see how they work,” he says. “I came here as a rookie, to be quiet. Once you get to know the guys and get a feel for them, I’ll be more outgoing.”

Some of his older teammates appreciate that attitude, which is in stark contrast to many young players who come into a big league environment with a cockiness and swagger that irritates their elders.

Markakis has not lit the world on fire during his first month in the big leagues. At the same time, he hasn’t been overmatched.

His manager, big league scouts, and others marvel at his patience at the plate and his ability to lay off bad pitches.

Perlozzo says Markakis has an exceptional knowledge of the strike zone, especially for a rookie. The manager also likes the way the outfielder can go with a pitch and move the ball around the field with his bat, not always trying to pull pitches.

Markakis says his ability to lay off bad pitches and wait for the one he likes is not something that came to him overnight.

“It’s something you work on,” he says. “It takes time.”

He also thinks patience at the plate can be a virtue which benefits his entire team.

“You’re not going to get a hit every day,” he says. “If you go 0-for-2 or 0-for-3, you can still help your team. Part of being a hitter is not only hitting the ball, but helping your teammates by getting on base.”

Perlozzo says the real test for Markakis will come when pitchers begin facing him a second and third time, after they’ve learned his strengths and weaknesses as a hitter.

Already some teams have begun jamming him with pitches.

But his manager believes Markakis, a natural hitter, is too good and smart to be tinkered with. He is confident Markakis has the skills to make adjustments on his own.

“He has some learning to do,” acknowledges Perlozzo. “We know there’s going to be some ups and downs for him. But I think he’s holding his own. I think he can hang in here.”