Published: June 17, 2008 12:00 am      

Former O-Tiger steps up

COOPERSTOWN _ There was no place for Luke Carlin to go but up.

Really.

"I was hoping I'd get to the big leagues some day," said former Oneonta Tigers catcher Carlin, 27, who was slated to start behind the plate Monday for the San Diego Padres in the 62nd annual Hall of Fame Game at Doubleday Field. Rain canceled the last Fame Game that will involve Major League Baseball teams.

"It was a long road," Carlin continued, "but there was a light at the end of the tunnel."

That light was sort of like Las Vegas on the sun.

In his major league debut May 10 of this year, Carlin caught Greg Maddux and Trevor Hoffman in the same game, a 3-2 Padres' victory over the visiting Colorado Rockies. The game marked the 350th career win for 23-year veteran starter Maddux and the sixth of Hoffman's 15 saves this season. Hoffman, by the way, has the most career saves in the history of MLB, with 539.

"It's interesting to see now that I'm here why they are who they are, why they're so good," Carlin said of major league pitchers in general. "Given they have a lot of talent, but they do things that normal players don't do. They really excel in their preparation and dedication, so it's easy to see why they're as good as they are."

That, Carlin said, is the biggest difference between pitchers in the majors and minors.

"It's been so easy for me to catch guys here just because our pitchers are so well prepared," he said. "At the minor league level, most of your preparation comes from the coaching staff and your catcher. The pitcher just kind of has an idea and they're trying to learn how to pitch.

"At this level, these guys already know what they're going to do. There's not a starter on our staff who doesn't know what pitch they're going to throw before they throw it. It's a matter of me and them being on the same page seeing if we're going to see the same things."

Maddux said Monday that Carlin is doing just fine since his promotion from Triple-A Portland, where he batted .387 in the first 11 games of this season.

"He can catch and throw man, he can catch and throw," said Maddux, who has had Carlin as his batterymate four times this season. Carlin caught four consecutive Maddux starts _ from May 10-25 _ and helped the future Hall of Fame pitcher to a 1-1 record with two no-decisions. Maddux allowed a combined seven earned runs on 25 hits during that span, with eight strikeouts and four walks in 20 2/3 innings.

"He swings it all right and he gives a good target," continued Maddux, who then joked, "I don't trust him enough yet to let him call pitches."

The Padres probably wouldn't have minded Carlin calling the shots Monday, though, as minor-leaguer Aaron Breit of the Single-A Fort Wayne Wizards was set to start on the mound. That's especially true since Carlin had more experience playing at Doubleday Field than anyone else scheduled to play Monday.

"I caught all nine innings and we almost threw a no-hitter," Carlin said before recalling the details of the Oneonta Tigers' 7-2 New York-Penn League victory over the Auburn Doubledays on July 27, 2002 with startling accuracy.

"We had a no-hitter going into the ninth inning," continued Carlin, Detroit's 10th-round draft selection (290th overall) in 2002 who was born in Silver Springs, Md. "Matt Pender threw and Jesse Carlson came in, then Ryan Koenig. Then (Juan) Figueroa came in and threw the ninth and gave up a hit."

Pender went 2 1/3 innings, followed by three from Koenig, 2 2/3 from Carlson and one from Figueroa, who yielded two hits and two earned runs in the ninth.

"I've come close (to a no-hitter) a couple of times in professional baseball _ there were a bunch of one-hitters _ and every time you get to that point in the game in the ninth inning and it's a no-hitter, it's special," Carlin said. "I remember playing here in 2002. I was like, this is pretty cool. Being from the northeast, I had been to Cooperstown before, so I thought it was pretty special to play here then."

Playing anywhere these days seems just as special for Carlin, who was released from the Detroit organization following his first professional season.

"It wasn't baseball-related," said Carlin, who declined to explain why the Tigers released him after batting .227 in 45 games for Oneonta. "It was other stuff _ not alcohol or drugs."

The website www.havenews.com reported in April 2003 that Detroit released Carlin, Carlson and former O-Tigers pitcher Everett Hancock after an off-field incident during spring training of 2003. Hancock was quoted in the article as saying that he and Carlson _ now a reliever for the Toronto Blue Jays _ were "pretty much guilty by association" for contributing to a rap song during a "Skit Night" performance in the presence of other spring-training players and coaches. Those in attendance included Randy Ready, who was about to embark on his second season as the O-Tigers' manager.

Hancock was also quoted as saying that Carlin "said something about sleeping with (Ready's) wife last year at Oneonta during the nightlife," but that he witnessed Ready laughing after Carlin delivered the line. Hancock said the Tigers released all three players two days later for sexual harassment.

"I knew I had to keep on playing," said Carlin, who is married and has a 2-year-old daughter. "I had just come out of the draft, so I knew there were other teams interested in me as well. So it was just a matter of finding the right team. The Padres offered me the best fit."

After Ready led the O-Tigers to their second straight Stedler Division title in 2003, he left Detroit's organization because of a monetary dispute and joined the Padres.

Ready is in his first year as San Diego's Triple-A manager at Portland, where Carlin made all but two of his 75 minor-league appearances in 2006 _ batting .261 that season for the Beavers _ and hit .220 in 98 games last season.

Batting seems to be the weak spot in the career of the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Carlin, who is hitting .164 (9-for-55) in 17 games with the Padres.

"I need to work on some things hitting-wise, so (the Fame Game) will give me a chance to get a few more at-bats," said Carlin, who drove in the first two runs of his major league career Thursday in a 9-0 home win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. "I think the main thing for all of us is just to have fun. We're definitely here for the fans."

That's a little different than the last time Carlin stepped foot onto Doubleday Field.

"I remember thinking the field was really small," he said. "I was just trying to take it all in. There were a lot of fans and I was just so new to professional baseball. You don't really have any thoughts. You're just trying to press the record button in your head and take it all in. It was definitely a great experience. I'm glad to be back."

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Dean Russin can be reached at drussin@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 215.