It wasn't all that long ago when I wrote an essay about how a 14-year-old female swimmer was tougher than then-Phillies pitcher Gavin Floyd. Actually, the swimmer just wasn't tougher mentally than Floyd, but I had an inkling that if it ever went down, the girl would give him a beating.
The point was that Floyd was soft. I based that assessment from listening to his teammates, coaches and team executives talk about him, as well as from body language. Floyd just didn't seem comfortable in his own skin. He was intimidated by the media, his teammates, himself and worse, the competition.
Floyd had talent to spare and dominated his way through the minors even though he was rather uninspired. He yawned his way through a minor-league no-hitter and pitched, as some experts observed, as if he was bored. But when he got to the Phillies and quickly realized that everyone was talented and that he would have to become fully engaged, well, that's when things got difficult.
"The competition isn't a threat," pitching coach Rich Dubee said in a story dated June 5, 2006. "It should be a challenge. It intimidates him sometimes. Everything's life and death, and it doesn't need to be that way. This needs to be something that he enjoys doing. I'm sure he felt extra heat - a lot of a lot of good players have had to go backward to go forward. Hopefully, he can get straightened out and get back up here."
That was when I wrote about how 14-year-old Amanda Beard, the Olympic champion and a contemporary of Floyd's, could kick his ass.
Nevertheless, after a four-inning stint in Los Angeles on June 1 of 2006 where Floyd gave up seven earned runs on seven hits, three walks and three homers, the fourth overall pick of the 2001 draft never pitched for the Phillies again. Though he was drafted ahead of big-league regulars like Mark Teixeira, Aaron Heilman, Bobby Crosby, Jeremy Bonderman, Noah Lowry, Dan Haren, Scott Hairston, Kevin Youkilis, Dan Uggla, Ryan Howard and David Wright, the Phillies packaged him up as a complimentary piece in the deal to acquire Freddy Garcia from the Chicago White Sox.
Who would have guessed that Garcia got just one more win for the Phillies after the trade than Floyd?
Or who would have guessed that Floyd's nasty sweeping curve would return to form and become one of the best pitches in the American League? Who would have guessed that Floyd would have solidified himself as a main cog in Ozzie Guillen's rotation on the South Side?
Better yet, who would have guessed that Floyd would have carried two no-hitters into the eighth inning - and beyond - during the first month of the season?
Anyone? Pat Gillick? Charlie Manuel? Cole Hamels? Anyone?
As Charlie Manuel told MLB.com in today's edition:
"When I see Gavin pitch like that, it shows he can do it," Manuel said. "He's 3-1. He's been kind of inconsistent in his career, but his stuff, everyone in baseball and everyone in our organization and the White Sox organization sees the same stuff. That's why he was projected as someone who could be a good big league pitcher."
Just somewhere else.
"I think the change of scenery helped him," Manuel said. "I think he was ready for a change of scenery from Philadelphia, and it's been good for him. He's pitching to his potential."
Floyd came five outs away from a no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers on April 12 where he struck out four and gave up just the one hit in a 7-0 win. Earlier this week, Floyd took a no-no into the ninth against the Minnesota Twins before Joe Mauer - the No. 1 pick of the 2001 draft - laced a double to left-center with one out.
All told, Floyd has a 3-1 record with a 2.50 ERA in six starts - all in which he has pitched at least six innings. If there has been one mar on Floyd's slate it is that he ahs just 19 strikeouts to 18 walks this season. However, opponents, obviously, aren't getting too many hits off him. In nearly 40 innings, Floyd has given up just 20 hits to hold the opposition to a .149 batting average.
As fellow first-round draft pick and minor-league teammate Cole Hamels told MLB.com:
"It's great for him," Hamels said. "He's always had the stuff. It's always been a confidence factor. I don't think he ever got comfortable in Philadelphia. He has tremendous stuff, and now he has to go out there and show everybody what he's really all about and the player that a lot of people saw."
His new manager Guillen saw it and was willing to send his close friend Garcia packing in order to get Floyd.
As Guillen told the Chicago Sun Times:
"So far, he makes me sound like a genius," Guillen said. "Everything is mental. If you believe in what you have and that you can do this, it's going to be easier. There's no doubt this guy has great stuff.
"I like his arm, and that's the reason we take the chance. He believes in himself now and has confidence."
Can Floyd keep it up? Only time will tell. But the one thing for sure is that Guillen and the White Sox are going to give him a chance. Confidence and comfortability seem to have given the tall righty the toughness that was missing during his time in Philadelphia. Experience seems to have helped, too. The mark of a good athlete is how he (or she) handles defeats. It's easy to cruise through games with yawns and knockouts, but it's much more difficult to get back up after being knocked down.
The tough ones get back up.
Maybe Floyd is as just as tough as Amanda Beard? The difference now appears to be that one was simply a late bloomer.