Apr 05 2007 09:11 AM
Today's opening day starter: 
Tobi Stoner SP S R 6-2 185 12-3-84 Davis & Elkins College
[url]http://www.times-news.com/localsports/local_story_038095547.html?keyword=topstory][/url]
Stoner ready for next step
Former Southern High star eager to get to spring training
Mike Mathews
Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND - Tobi Stoner is living his childhood dream. And he knows it.
From little league through high school, college and summer ball, being a professional baseball player was always on his mind.
And then in a flash last spring he went from Davis & Elkins College in rural West Virginia to New York City, pitching for the Brooklyn Cyclones.
Talk about culture shock.
"It was a good experience, being out there on my own ... surviving,'' Stoner said with a chuckle during a telephone interview. "It's different."
But there was nothing different about Stoner's performance.
Drafted in the 16th round by the New York Mets, Stoner earned a promotion to the Class A Savannah, Ga., Sand Gnats of the South Atlantic League after a productive season with Brooklyn in the New York-Penn League last summer.
At Brooklyn, Stoner, a right-hander and starting pitcher, finished third in the Class A league in innings pitched, was fourth in earned run average and sixth in wins.
He went 6-2 with a 2.15 ERA and worked 83 2/3 innings, allowed only 66 hits, walked just 17 and struck out 62. Opposing hitters managed just a .219 batting average against the 2002 Southern Garrett High School graduate.
Looking back, Stoner admitted he may have had sold himself a little short when he arrived in Brooklyn, which finished 41-33 and four games behind division winner and eventual league champ Staten Island.
"I knew going in it would be competitive, but I kind of thought it would be a little more competitive for me, personally,'' he said. "I'm not putting down the league. Maybe I under-estimated by ability a bit.
"When I started doing my thing and playing my game, it seemed like it was a lot easier for me to do well and be successful than I thought it might be."
The big difference he noticed in the players wasn't talent. It was consistency.
"Everybody could play. Being consistent was the big thing at that level. Some guys would have great games one night, and the next night, terrible. When players become more consistent, that's when there's going to be more competition."
Stoner made his first professional start at Ripken Stadium against the Aberdeen Ironbirds in front of family, friends and former coaches. He got a no-decision that night, one of six on the season. His first win came at home against Hudson Valley. He allowed two runs, struck out five and did not walk a batter in six innings against Hudson Valley.
"I was glad I got my first win in front of the home crowd,'' said Stoner, who estimated the Cyclones averaged 7,000 fans per game.
"I expected it to be fun and exciting, but didn't expect it to be as intense as it was,'' he continued. "I didn't expect the crowds would be so big and as rowdy as they were.
"If you did well,'' he said of the Brooklyn fans, "they were behind you. If you were not doing well, they were rowdy and rough. They let you know about it. They're hard core. I would not like to be a visiting player at Brooklyn."
With a fast ball, curve, slider and change-up, Stoner has an array of of pitches, and good command of all four. John Sickels, who writes "The Baseball Prospect Book," rated Stoner No. 16 on the Mets prospect list, describing him as "a control artist who dominated the New York-Penn League."
Certainly, Stoner isn't the same pitcher he was in high school. He says he's not even the same pitcher he was in college.
"Up to and through college, I was a pretty hard thrower for the league I was in,'' he said. "Now, in this league, all these guys have seen that kind of speed their whole careers. I learned to pitch with more common sense, with my head. Now I pitch with more strategy, and pitch a lot more smarter.
"I want to make my entire all-around game better,'' Stoner said in looking forward to his second professional season. "I want to increase my speed and be more precise with my pitches. I want to be more consistent with my pitches, in how they move and the action they have."
Stoner played for Jim Bosley at Southern, and the Rams went 43-3 in Stoner's two years as a starter. They were 22-2 and region and WMIL champs in his junior year and 21-1 and Area and WMIL champs in his senior season.
Stoner was 4-0 with a 1.40 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 20 innings as a junior, and 5-1 with a 1.89 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 33 1/3 innings as a senior.
A first-team All-Area second baseman, Stoner batted .337 with 8 doubles and 27 RBIs as a senior. He had batted .388 with 6 doubles and 18 RBIs as a junior.
After two successful season at Garrett College under coaches Ed Wildesen and Lee Bradley, Stoner finished his college career at Davis & Elkins.
He batted .465 with 8 homers and 29 RBIs last year, and his .465 mark was ninth best in the nation in NCAA Division II.
Going from an everyday player to a starting pitcher means Stoner does a lot more watching from the bench than he's been used to.
"I feel I'm a pitcher, first. It's different, but you get used to it,'' he said of pitching every fourth or fifth day. "But I enjoy the time off, too, because it gives my arm a rest and I can be at close to 100 percent all the time.
"I really miss hitting, but I'll be hitting again in spring training, and I'll get to hit in Class AA."
Stoner was the quarterback of the Southern football team his senior year. But baseball was always his first love.
"Definitely, my dad was the one who got the ball rolling. We spent hours and hours at the baseball field when I was growing up, working on every aspect of the game,'' he said. "In every aspect of the game, he worked with me and always wanted me to be the best at it."
Stoner, the first Davis & Elkins player drafted since 1983, will report to Port St. Lucie, Fla., for spring training on March 2
