Pitching above bottom line

Chris Nicoll has a reputation he doesn’t want.

Nicoll, who starred for three years at UC Irvine, is one of the top pitchers in nearly every statistical category for the Single-A Burlington (Iowa) Bees, a Kansas City Royals affiliate. There is, however, one area in which he is dead last: winning percentage.

With a 4-9 record, Nicoll is known as the unlucky pitcher among his teammates.

“It’s a little embarrassing,” said Nicoll who considers himself very competitive. “They joke around about me being the bad-luck guy. I’m just the tough-luck pitcher. There’s one pitcher on every staff who just can’t catch a break.”

The breaks Nicoll needs could be provided by his own hitters. Pitchers with worse stats across the board have far better records than Nicoll and it is a result of run support or lack thereof. Nicoll’s latest start, Thursday, is a prime example.

The 6-foot-1 right-hander threw five shutout innings, allowing only one hit. He left the game leading, 1-0, and, sure enough, the save was blown in the ninth and Nicoll was denied his first win since July 10.

“They know the team has a good chance to win when I’m on the mound,” Nicoll said. “I had a really good first half. It’s hard to maintain it physically and I’m stumbling a bit of late.”

But all of Nicoll’s other statistics show continued success. Through Thursday, Nicoll was third among Burlington pitchers, who have appeared in 10 or more Midwest League games, with a 2.82 ERA.

He was second in innings pitched with 134 and his walks and hits per-inning is a minuscule 1.08, which ranks second on the team.

Nicoll, however, understands that at this level, the focus is not as much on wins and losses.

“Of course I want to perform better but the big picture is about player development,” said Nicoll, who after his junior year with the Anteaters in 2005, was the second pick in the third round (82nd overall).

He was 6-4 with a 2.50 in 17 starts as a junior, when he earned second-team All-Big West Conference recognition. He finished 14-11 with a 3.10 ERA with 222 strikeouts in 229 2/3 innings for his UCI career.

Burlington pitching coach Steve Luebber, who had a five-year major league career and has coached for the past 22 years, sees past Nicoll’s record.

“He has pitched well, but he hasn’t been as fortunate as far as his record,” said Luebber, in his first season with Burlington. “He competes in the game well. A lot of games you can write down what his stats will be beforehand — six-plus innings pitched, four hits, one walk, six to seven strikeouts and one to two runs. Sometimes he gets it done one way, sometimes he gets it done another.”

Nicoll’s versatility lies in having four pitches to rely on. He throws a fastball, curveball, slider and a changeup. Nicoll said his out pitch varies from month to month.

“You’ll find times when one breaking ball is better than the other,” said Nicoll, who is the team leader with 140 strikeouts.

“Right now, my slider is working. Now my curveball is not my out pitch, it’s my get-ahead pitch. I feel I need four pitches to be more effective. I had some pretty big strikeout totals, but a strikeout pitcher is not something I necessarily see myself being.”

Nicoll’s time in Burlington, has helped him improve. With the seams on the baseball slightly different than in college, Nicoll had trouble throwing his slider in the beginning. But Luebber fixed his grip and has changed his position on the pitching rubber so he is not throwing across his body as much.

“He just needs to pitch down a little better,” Luebber said. “Just get comfortable recognizing what a major league strike is. It’s a good low strike. Not a huge difference on the tape measure, but it is in the result.”

Luebber said the real test for Nicoll will come when he makes the jump to Double A.

“My experience with a lot of guys like Chris, Double A is going to separate them,” Luebber said. “Holding runners and reading hitters is critical in Double A. You have to look at a batter’s stance and see what he wants to do. You have to learn the hard way sometimes. You have to learn the weakness in the hitter. The cat-and-mouse game really starts there. He’s probably going to be pretty good at that.”

Nicoll, who pitched 27 innings last season in the Pioneer League with the Idaho Falls Chukars rookie team, had a 3.62 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings after finishing up at UCI. True to his reputation, he was 0-3 in his first professional stop.

So, despite having fanned 174 in 161 1/3 pro innings, an admirable ratio, he has won just four of 16 decisions.

He downplayed any perceived advantage over hitters who were adjusting from aluminum bats to wood.

“These players they can swing anything,” Nicoll said. “You put a long object in front of them and they can swing it.”

And even though his strikeout- to-walk ratio is tops on the team, Nicoll wants to improve on his command.

“It’s making me throw too many pitches,” he said. “Overall, the ratio is fine. It’s not a problem for anyone else.”

Nicoll said that while the life of a minor league baseball player is an adjustment, it is something he enjoys.

“I’m sure you’ve heard all of the horror stories, long bus trips, trashy hotels,” he said. “But for me, it really hasn’t been like that. Of course I want to be up [in the major leagues] but it’s not like I’m not having fun here. It’s easy for me to stay motivated because of what I’m playing for.”