Home > Furman Bisher > Archives > 2008 > July > 01 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USBraves have bargain of the year in Campillo
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You can put away the speed gun. Forget all the fireball jargon. Just hand him the ball and tell him to pitch. Now you’re talking. He’ll take care of the rest. He has been doing it for years, eight seasons in a row in Mexico City. That’s Triple-A by USA standards, but the road trips aren’t for tourists. Bus rides over crooked mountain roads and through the gulches and along the rivers, and games in ball parks with lights so dim you could hardly read the signs on the fences. And you’re Mexican and they’re Mexican, so there’s no language barrier.
First thing you want to know, reading the “career highlights” of Jorge Campillo is this: Why, when the Braves signed him in 1996, did they “loan” him to the Mexico City Tigres? That’s what it says in the Braves press guide. It was more a sentence than a loan. Jorge was stuck there for eight seasons. Eight, as in the figure 8. That’s high altitude, thin air, and curve balls don’t break much in Mexico City.
He started, worked out of the bullpen. Anything, just call Jorge. Then in the off-season he pitched in the Winter League. One year he won 10 games for Culiacan. That’s when the Mariners bought him, and when his arm caved in. After elbow surgery, he had the lowest earned-run average in the Pacific Coast League, and to show their appreciation, the Mariners gave him his outright release. Ah, enter stage right, John Coppolella. A Notre Dame grad, former employee of the Yankees, now on Frank Wren’s staff with the Braves.
Coppolella had seen Campillo pitch against the Yankees, and it was he (Coppolella), Wren said, who put all the numbers together and recommended that the Braves sign him. Campillo had an agent, a fellow named Jaime Torres, who had a stable of Latin-American clients.
“We got together with Jaime Torres at the winter meetings in Nashville,” Coppolella said, “and we signed him. It wasn’t just me. Matt Price and Ronnie Richardson were a part of it. Frankly, I had no clue. I thought that he would help us at Richmond. We were in a bad way in Triple-A. I had no idea it would turn out like this. I’d tried to get Brian Cashman interested in him when I was with the Yankees, but nobody was listening.”
Campillo doesn’t throw hard, usually in the low 80s on the speed gun. He wastes little time around the mound. Has an uncomplicated delivery. Gets the ball, gets the sign, throws the ball. For $410,000, the Braves are getting the bargain of the year, while two multi-millionaire pitchers ride out the season, and another bides his time on the injury list. Oh, I should point out that Campillo knows how to use a bat. He has driven in two runs with his three base hits.
He, Jair Jurrjens and Jo-Jo Reyes have been carrying the pitching load, an amazing turn of events with all the wealth otherwise wasted on a sickly pitching staff. And after all the crooks and turns in his career, Campillo won’t be 29 until August. It leaves you to wonder just what might have happened if the Braves hadn’t been so generous and lent him to Mexico City when he was just a kid.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves/MLB
Comments
By bruce
July 1, 2008 8:39 PM | Link to this
great story… Jorge is awesome
By Matt the Brave
July 1, 2008 11:11 PM | Link to this
A classic Bisher article. Things are going to get better for the Braves this season, and it’s going to be on the arms of Jurrjens, Reyes, Capillo, and Morton. Even when Glav comes back, we’d be smart to keep one of these guys going in the minors…never know when you’re going to need them!
By ITS-OVER
July 2, 2008 6:42 AM | Link to this
Put the pitchers on the mound all you want, until the braves put some money in position players who can be consistant theres no winning. We really got robbed on the Tex trade and Frenchy is anothe Andruw. I wonder if we will wait 12 years for him to hit his prime.
I for one am fed up with this non hitting team. Im ashamed to be a braves fan. Oh wait, I am watching more Cubs games now. Maybe I have turned the corner.
Oh yea, Chipper is a accident waiting to happen. He stinks 400 or not. Hes never in the games when it counts the most. Wonder why that is?
By ITS-OVER
July 2, 2008 6:49 AM | Link to this
Matt, having Glavine back in the rotation will hurt the braves. Hes not a help anymore. Hes not a 200 inning pitcher anymore. We need our starters to go deep and keep the runs at a minimum. Our lineup stinks and there is no hitting. They all stink this year. Like I said, the Tex trade reeks. Hes a waist of space if you ask me.
By ITS-not-OVER
July 2, 2008 8:16 AM | Link to this
Glad to see some people are still optimistic with all the young talent we have coming in.
By Waycross
July 2, 2008 12:30 PM | Link to this
Maybe those high-priced “stars” should give some of their $ to the Campillo Fund being that he is one of the “Starters” carrying their loads for them. Divert some of that excess money his way as a sign of appreciation. I really like Glavine, but I think it is time for him to get a “Dinner-bucket” and get a regular job in a different profession. I just cannot understand why they resign a player like that, he has run the course, bolted for the “money” and comes back to the Braves with thoughts of getting back to the pitcher he used to be, “it ain’t going to happen!”
By Greg
July 2, 2008 6:00 PM | Link to this
Yes, Campillo is phenomenal. He’s the deal of the decade, not just the year. If they can somehow control the tendency he has to blister on his finger tips (which is by no means an easy or a sure thing to do), he’s going to have a great second half.
By Folkston
July 3, 2008 11:12 AM | Link to this
Howdy swamp neighbor. I agree on paying Campillo a bonus for the good work. However, I hope Glavine can come back and have a good second half. Go Gators!
By Friend of Japanese
July 3, 2008 7:49 PM | Link to this
Still hating on those Japanese, Bisher? We’ll remember your total lack of apology for the March article well after you die and make sure your legacy is stuck to it —as well as the AJC.
By doningeorgia
July 4, 2008 9:01 AM | Link to this
Furman Bisher always has quality comments. I would like to hear what he thinks will help the Braves get back on track. Especially Jeff!
By John
July 4, 2008 7:42 PM | Link to this
Let the youngsters pitch and forget about Hampton, Glavin et al. If the decision to do this had been made last winter we would not be in such a mess. Trade Tim Hudson too for someone who does not routinely give up four run innings.
By BravesFan79
July 4, 2008 8:45 PM | Link to this
Japan? im sure Bisher has nothing against the japs my friend.
Theres only one thing all races in america can agree on…and thats that Black males are lagging behind in this country. They leave 70% of their women single with kids, and are 11 TIMES more likely to have AIDS than white/asian males!
Yet everywhere we turn theres advertisments on tv and online with black males and white females on them….makes me sick….there trying to make it socially acceptable just like they tried making being gay acceptable for so long!
Spread the truth to your kids, dont let them get fooled into this trap by the media!!