Aloha Spirit Infuses Rookie With the Mets
Aloha Spirit Infuses Rookie With the Mets
By LEE JENKINS
Published: March 2, 2004
ORT ST. LUCIE, Fla., March 1 — At the Poipu Beach Broiler, on the south side of Kauai, Hawaii, the customers ask about Tyler Yates and remember the hurricane.
Every day at spring training, Yates demonstrates why he is the most intriguing candidate to become the Mets' fifth starter, and he shows that his surgically repaired right arm is back to full strength.
Kauai, the island he calls home, has also undergone reconstruction.
The Poipu Beach Broiler, owned by Yates's father, is bustling with locals who are now converted Mets fans. But not so long ago, every restaurant on the island was empty.
In September 1992, Yates was entering Kauai High School, less concerned with the velocity on his fastball than with the roof over his head. When Hurricane Iniki hit the island of 55,000 residents with 150-mile-an-hour winds on Sept. 11, it took with it the roof over Yates's house and many of the family's belongings. It left the 15-year-old Yates without a permanent home.
"Our house was completely trashed," Yates said. "We had to keep moving and keep switching neighborhoods. Every time we got a new house, it seemed like there were leaks or there had to be maintenance. It took 10 years for Kauai to come back."
Yates, 26, recalls in vivid detail the day of the hurricane, how he stood in the kitchen after the roof was ripped off, and how he gazed into a sky that was filled with his neighbors' possessions. At one point, someone else's roof flew into Yates's house, all but destroying his parents' bedroom.
When he thought the worst had passed, he went outside to check on friends, but he was clocked by another gust that threw him into a nearby bush.
He hustled back inside and spent the rest of the night in the living room, which was still covered by a piece of roof, but had been swarmed by mosquitoes.
For the next week, Yates and his family had no running water or electricity. Then, slowly, they started piecing their lives back together. As Yates talks about the rebuilding years, he invariably refers to what he and fellow Hawaiians call the Aloha spirit.
"That means everybody pulls together and helps one another," he said. "In tough situations, you have to be there for others and you have to rebound."
He found his refuge on the field. Every fall, Yates muscled aside opponents on the offensive and defensive lines for the Kauai High football team. In the spring, he blew away batters and became the island's baseball player of the year in his senior season.
At 6 feet 4 inches and 220 pounds, Yates still looks more like a lineman than a pitcher. Through the minor leagues, he stomped around the mound after a bad pitch and unleashed his fury with every fastball.
"He's a big guy with big stature," said the Mets' pitching coach, Rick Peterson, who was with the Oakland A's when they shipped Yates to New York in the David Justice trade. "He's got great mound presence."
Yates was among the Mets' top pitching prospects in 2001, with an earned run average of 1.32 at Class AAA Norfolk. During a home game against Rochester, Yates worked himself into such a frenzy that he reached 100 m.p.h. on the radar gun.
Immediately after releasing the pitch, he felt a burning in his right arm and dropped to one knee.
Yates said he knew that he had torn ligaments. He had Tommy John elbow surgery, and almost two years later, he has learned he can't test his limits on every pitch.
"There are times he cares a little too much," Mets catcher Vance Wilson said. "He wears his emotions on his sleeve, and if he misses, he looks disgusted with himself. He's really worked on that."
Of the six pitchers auditioning for the fifth spot, Yates may have the lowest profile, but he has the most velocity, the highest intimidation factor and perhaps the greatest potential.
Last season, Yates struck out almost a batter an inning in the minors, using a curveball and a changeup for the first time.
During the Mets' first intrasquad game Monday — the first time Manager Art Howe saw Yates pitch to batters — Yates went one inning, inducing a pop-up from Mike Piazza and giving up a softly hit single. The only pitcher to produce more buzz was Scott Kazmir, considered the organization's best prospect, who was equally impressive.
Although Yates is aiming for the majors and New York, he sometimes misses the laid-back lifestyle of Kauai, where he returns every winter. When he's not at his father's restaurant, talking baseball with the locals, he is at his favorite surfing spot, called Shipwrecks, about three miles from his mother's house in Koloa.
Yates says his pitching arm has been strengthened by his countless surf sessions. Paddling through the Pacific Ocean, he can work out his elbow, and riding back to shore, he can enjoy an unobstructed view of an island paradise that has managed its own inspiring comeback.
INSIDE PITCH
DAVID WRIGHT, a minor league third baseman who is the Mets' top position prospect, was 3 for 3 in the intrasquad game with a two-run home run. JOSÉ REYES, the starting second baseman, also hit a two-run homer. KAZUO MATSUI said much of the pain in his lacerated right middle finger had subsided.
By LEE JENKINS
Published: March 2, 2004
ORT ST. LUCIE, Fla., March 1 — At the Poipu Beach Broiler, on the south side of Kauai, Hawaii, the customers ask about Tyler Yates and remember the hurricane.
Every day at spring training, Yates demonstrates why he is the most intriguing candidate to become the Mets' fifth starter, and he shows that his surgically repaired right arm is back to full strength.
Kauai, the island he calls home, has also undergone reconstruction.
The Poipu Beach Broiler, owned by Yates's father, is bustling with locals who are now converted Mets fans. But not so long ago, every restaurant on the island was empty.
In September 1992, Yates was entering Kauai High School, less concerned with the velocity on his fastball than with the roof over his head. When Hurricane Iniki hit the island of 55,000 residents with 150-mile-an-hour winds on Sept. 11, it took with it the roof over Yates's house and many of the family's belongings. It left the 15-year-old Yates without a permanent home.
"Our house was completely trashed," Yates said. "We had to keep moving and keep switching neighborhoods. Every time we got a new house, it seemed like there were leaks or there had to be maintenance. It took 10 years for Kauai to come back."
Yates, 26, recalls in vivid detail the day of the hurricane, how he stood in the kitchen after the roof was ripped off, and how he gazed into a sky that was filled with his neighbors' possessions. At one point, someone else's roof flew into Yates's house, all but destroying his parents' bedroom.
When he thought the worst had passed, he went outside to check on friends, but he was clocked by another gust that threw him into a nearby bush.
He hustled back inside and spent the rest of the night in the living room, which was still covered by a piece of roof, but had been swarmed by mosquitoes.
For the next week, Yates and his family had no running water or electricity. Then, slowly, they started piecing their lives back together. As Yates talks about the rebuilding years, he invariably refers to what he and fellow Hawaiians call the Aloha spirit.
"That means everybody pulls together and helps one another," he said. "In tough situations, you have to be there for others and you have to rebound."
He found his refuge on the field. Every fall, Yates muscled aside opponents on the offensive and defensive lines for the Kauai High football team. In the spring, he blew away batters and became the island's baseball player of the year in his senior season.
At 6 feet 4 inches and 220 pounds, Yates still looks more like a lineman than a pitcher. Through the minor leagues, he stomped around the mound after a bad pitch and unleashed his fury with every fastball.
"He's a big guy with big stature," said the Mets' pitching coach, Rick Peterson, who was with the Oakland A's when they shipped Yates to New York in the David Justice trade. "He's got great mound presence."
Yates was among the Mets' top pitching prospects in 2001, with an earned run average of 1.32 at Class AAA Norfolk. During a home game against Rochester, Yates worked himself into such a frenzy that he reached 100 m.p.h. on the radar gun.
Immediately after releasing the pitch, he felt a burning in his right arm and dropped to one knee.
Yates said he knew that he had torn ligaments. He had Tommy John elbow surgery, and almost two years later, he has learned he can't test his limits on every pitch.
"There are times he cares a little too much," Mets catcher Vance Wilson said. "He wears his emotions on his sleeve, and if he misses, he looks disgusted with himself. He's really worked on that."
Of the six pitchers auditioning for the fifth spot, Yates may have the lowest profile, but he has the most velocity, the highest intimidation factor and perhaps the greatest potential.
Last season, Yates struck out almost a batter an inning in the minors, using a curveball and a changeup for the first time.
During the Mets' first intrasquad game Monday — the first time Manager Art Howe saw Yates pitch to batters — Yates went one inning, inducing a pop-up from Mike Piazza and giving up a softly hit single. The only pitcher to produce more buzz was Scott Kazmir, considered the organization's best prospect, who was equally impressive.
Although Yates is aiming for the majors and New York, he sometimes misses the laid-back lifestyle of Kauai, where he returns every winter. When he's not at his father's restaurant, talking baseball with the locals, he is at his favorite surfing spot, called Shipwrecks, about three miles from his mother's house in Koloa.
Yates says his pitching arm has been strengthened by his countless surf sessions. Paddling through the Pacific Ocean, he can work out his elbow, and riding back to shore, he can enjoy an unobstructed view of an island paradise that has managed its own inspiring comeback.
INSIDE PITCH
DAVID WRIGHT, a minor league third baseman who is the Mets' top position prospect, was 3 for 3 in the intrasquad game with a two-run home run. JOSÉ REYES, the starting second baseman, also hit a two-run homer. KAZUO MATSUI said much of the pain in his lacerated right middle finger had subsided.
posted by DP at 2:38 PM
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