Keep ‘Em Honest
Journeyman Jason Tyner may not make an appearance at a home run derby, but he will try to make every appearance at the plate a pitcher’s worst nightmare.

 
Al Doyle
Minor League News
mlnsportszone.com
 
08.03.04 - 2,632 was a magic number for Jason Tyner, whose career moved past youthful exuberance without a home run. Not in high school. Not at Texas A&M. Not with the Mets. Not with the Devil Rays. Not during 2,631 at-bats in both major and minor league professional baseball. Not one.

The Lone Dinger

Then came the day the streak ended, with the AAA Richmond Braves of the International League.

On May 6th, in his 2632nd at-bat, Tyner blasted one over the fence against Columbus pitcher Jim Mann at the R-Braves home field.
 
"I knew I hit it well," Tyner said, relishing the memory of his bomb.  "It went out even though Richmond is one of the bigger ballparks."
 
The good news quickly spread through the baseball grapevine.
 
"After the game, I had to call all of my old buddies from AA and AAA," Tyner said.  "Some of them were almost more excited than I was."

Finding a Home.
 
Tyner has been around the block a few times.  Now with the Bisons, this is his fourth pro ballclub, one of two this year, raising the oft-unpleasant branding of "journeyman" given to the talented who cannot find a place to come to rest. 

Of course, if you listened to the hype in 1998, Jason was "Flush" with success, a first round pick by the Mets in the 1998 amateur draft.
 
"I wasn't expecting to go that high," Tyner admits.  "None of the publications had me going in the first round.  The Mets really wanted a leadoff-type hitter."
 
Tyner showed genuine promise doing just that, hitting .313 with 49 stolen bases in his pro assignment at Class AA Binghamton of the Eastern League in 1999.  He had just 46 strikeouts in 518 at-bats.

Promoted to Norfolk of the Class AAA International League in 2000, Tyner's 105 hits in 327 ABs (.321) included just seven extra-base knocks - five doubles and a pair of triples.  The left-handed hitter also had 33 steals.
 
Jason made his debut with the major league Mets that season.  He had just 41 at-bats in the National League before fate and a World Series run found him packing his bags for Tampa.
 
"They traded two guys who weren't ready: Me and Paul Wilson, for two more experienced guys in Bubba Trammell and Rick White."
 
Tyner racked up 37 games in a Rays uniform that season.  He spent most of 2001 with Tampa Bay, hitting .280 in a career-high 105 big league games.  His 31 stolen bases put him in eighth place in the American League.
 
Then came the great career slide of 2002: Tyner’s average slumped to a dim .214 in 168 at-bats in 2002 for the Devil Rays. Tampa sent him down for 88 games at Durham.  

His slap-hitting, bunting and base-stealing was right up scrappy skipper Bill Evers alley. Tyner's time at Durham in 2003 put him back on track: He hit .324 in 275 at-bats.  He was called back up for 89 more appearances with the Rays.  He came through with a .281 average in the majors for the season.

Not bad for some clubs, but it wasn’t enough to hold a job with the highly touted Rocco Baldelli right behind him. Tyner was deemed expendable.

Yet Tyner’s 47 big league steals in 57 attempts, and an .825 success ratio is well above average, even if he wasn't lighting up cigars with twenty dollar bills in the GM's office.

Jason has since been wandering, in search of the right fit, the right home.

Not Home on the Range

Tyner signed with the Texas Rangers for 2004 in the off-season.  Assigned to the Oklahoma Redhawks of the Pacific Coast League in late March, he never played for the team.  He was released at the last minute when Gary Matthews Jr. was signed.

"That was more of a financial situation," Jason remarked.   "The Rangers told me they liked me, and they had offered me a pretty good contract."

Home of the Braves?

He regrouped, and waited through a painful chunk of this season.Then the call from Atlanta came.  They signed Tyner April 28 and placed him on AAA Richmond's active roster May 2nd.  

He struggled through a .230 to .240 batting average over his first 110 at-bats, then found his stroke in the middle of June.

Tyner rewarded them with a 13 for 22 week with five stolen bases, enough to earn the International League (IL) Batter of the Week honors for June 21-27.  Two doubles and a triple went for extra bases. 

Tyner points to his growing numbers of gappers as a sign of progress.

"I've started turning on balls a little more in the last year or two," he said.  

Jason may be turning a corner as well: With a .285 average, he has just 14 strikeouts in 179 at-bats.  

Despite a late start, Tyner's 13 stolen bases puts him among the IL leaders.

Yet signing with Atlanta, which has six-time Gold Glover Andruw Jones in the lineup didn't bode well for the speedy center fielder.

Be Careful of What You Wish For

"I want to be on a team that's competing at the end of the season," Tyner said.  "I want to be with a team that's winning and not one that's developing.  At worst, I could pinch run, steal bases and play defense in the late innings."

Braves director of player personnel Dayton Moore thinks that Tyner could return to the majors.

"We signed Jason because we value him as a speed player," Moore said.  "He has experience at the major league level.  It's a long season, and Jason provides outfield depth."

Not enough to keep him, it would seem. Tyner was caught up in a numbers game at Richmond and was cut loose.

He wasn't jobless for long, though. The Indians' AAA Buffalo Bisons lost the No. 13 MLN FAB50™ pick Grady Sizemore to the shores of Cleveland. Russell Branyan was traded. Tyner offered them the speed and game that could keep them in contention with arch rival Durham.

He was an instant hit, too, going 9-for-17 in his first four games with a .529-average for the Herd.

"It's been great," Tyner said. "I"ve been really happy with everything that's gone on here."

Tyner's game of slap and run is radically different from Branyan's. The Bison's skipper, Marty Brown, had little trouble warming to the idea of having both Phillips and Tyner running loose at the top of his batting order.

"It's going to be a little different team than what we've had," Brown said. "We're going to do some things and run. Maybe manufacture some runs. We've got some guys who can do some things on the bases."

Entering the dog days of August, Tyner may get his wish: The Bisons are giving the Durham Bulls a run for their money, tying for first in the division in the first week of August. He may yet be a contender.

Old School (and Proud of It)

Tyner believes that it doesn't take a lineup full of iron-pumping sluggers to win pennants. 

He looks to an older school of thought, stretching back before the coming of the Babe, when players like Cobb played the day-to-day, hard hit-and-run, contact form of the game.  While TV loves the long-ball, the day-in, day-out contact ball wins games over a long season.

The Angels and the Marlins proved contact play can win you a World Series too, even in the face of the guys with arms like tree trunks and salaries with enough zeros to make your head swim.

"Everyone has fallen in love with the home run, but look at what Juan Pierre has added to the Marlins," he said.  "World Series teams still end up winning with pitching and defense.  That's when small ball really comes through.  The threat of stealing bases will get better pitches for the guys behind you."  

His first taste of going yard hasn't changed Tyner's approach at the plate.

"You're not going to watch my batting practice and be impressed," he admits.

He still goes into each game analyzing the situation, looking for the opportunity to connect, to steal, to keep the pitchers off balance. 

"I try to play smart, get in scoring position and keep the other team honest.  I've never played any other way."  

The longer that he goes without a clear shot at a patch of deep green in a major league ballpark, the more remote that dream becomes. Still, no matter whether it's before 6,000 or 60,000 you can count on Tyner to serve up situations and deliver big game, even when he doesn't happen to be big league.

-Brian Ross and Dan Hickling contributed to this article.

 

 

 

 

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