What Lowe and Smoltz have in common

Want to know what Derek Lowe has in common with John Smoltz? It might be easier to know what he doesn’t.

Q. What’s your favorite movie?

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Rich Addicks/raddicks@ajc.com

Derek Lowe signed a four-year, $60 million deal in the offseason.

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A. Tin Cup. He pretty much would do what any of us would do. We know we can hit it over the water. Give me another ball.

Q. Have you had anything remotely close to the case of the yips Kevin Costner’s character had?

A. No, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. I quit. One in the water, then I hit two more in the water. That was enough.

Q. What actor would play you in a movie?

A. Owen Wilson.

Q. In high school you played baseball, basketball, soccer and golf. How?

A. Soccer and golf [overlapped]. If there was ever a conflict, I picked golf. … We had a really good soccer team, so they weren’t going to miss me. Not that the golf team would either.

Q. You had to decide baseball vs. basketball, right?

A. I didn’t want to play baseball. I signed to go to Eastern Michigan to play basketball. And I won literally two games my whole high school (baseball) career. I won one my senior year with almost a 7.00 ERA, 80-83 mph. I never got a college offer from the smallest to the biggest schools.

Q. So you were an athlete who played baseball?

A. Yeah. My sophomore year we’re playing the No. 1 team in the state in the playoffs, Taylor Center, and they had three kids that were going to get drafted, so there were a bunch of scouts at the game. To this day, it’s still probably one of my top 10 best-pitched games ever, I have no idea how I did it, and we ended up losing 2-1 or 3-2. It was the hardest I’d ever thrown, the whole nine yards. … [Scouts] started following me, especially a guy from Seattle named Ken Madeja.

Q. How did you feel about baseball after the Mariners drafted you?

A. I wanted to go, but I didn’t because I knew I wasn’t very good. I think rookie ball, out of all levels including the major leagues, you see guys throw the hardest. They don’t know where it’s going but people throw hard. There I am throwing 83 mph, everybody else was throwing 95, 96, talking about how they were All-American, they led in strikeouts. I didn’t really have a lot of stories.

Q. Worked out in the end, though, eh?

A. I figured I’d play three years, probably fail, then go back and play basketball. I went into it with no expectations, and I think that really helps. A lot of kids grow up and say I’m going to be a major league baseball player, then get an opportunity, and they try so hard that they fail. Sure enough I started throwing a little bit harder every year and eventually got up to 90 mph my second year.

Q. You grew up in Detroit, you’re a great golfer, you almost played basketball in college, you played for the Red Sox, you’ve been a closer and starter. You realize you’ve got a lot in common with John Smoltz?

A. Yeah. The only difference is, he’s a Michigan State fan, and I’m a Michigan fan.

Q. So you asked Greg Maddux about signing with Atlanta?

A. He was the first guy I called. He said you’ll love it, and not only will you love playing there, Bobby [Cox] is fantastic. He’s the only guy I really needed to talk to because I knew he knew the organization inside and out, and I knew he’d be honest with me to say ‘You know what, I don’t think that’d be a good fit for you.’ When a guy can literally not say one bad thing about a place, it’s pretty easy to make a decision.

Q. What was your welcome-to-the-big-leagues moment?

A. Flying to Texas my first year in ‘97. I was sitting in the front of the airplane. The front of the airplane lavatories were taken, so I go pee in the back. … The next day, [Mariner] Jay Buhner said ‘Don’t ever do that again. You stand and wait in the front of the airplane until it’s clear. You’re not allowed back here as a rookie.’ I was like what? That’s the era I grew up in. There’s a serious pecking order.

Q. You’re a country music guy, right? Who’s your guy?

A. Toby Keith. He’s a huge Dodger fan. He comes into the clubhouse a lot. In Fort Myers, where I live, he did a show there, we went on his tour bus and sat with him and talked. He’s good. Great show.