Backlund May Pitch for Pirates
March, 1992, Daily News-Miner

Staff and wire reports

Brett Backlund, a former Alaska Goldpanner trying to make the Pittsburgh Pirates roster, could be this year's Tim Wakefield.

He's known only by those fans who monitor the Pirates' farm teams, yet Backlund could be playing a critical role - and could find himself in the rotation - by early in the season.

"All I wanted to do last year in my first year was establish myself and show the Pirates that I could pitch," Backlund said of his first pro season.

Backlund, 23, was 11-1 with a 2.07 ERA for the University of Iowa and was the Big Ten player of the year last spring. After he was drafted on the seventh round by Pittsburgh, he zipped through the Pirates' farm system, going 7-1 with a 1.43 ERA for three teams.

He played full-time for the Alaska Goldpanners in 1991 and sporadically last summer while holding out for a contract with the Pirates.

The only pitcher in the Pirates' system with more success was Wakefield, the knuckleballer who was a combined 20-4 at Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
Backlund started the summer at Class A Augusta and was quickly promoted to Class AA Carolina, and later, the Class AAA Buffalo, where he was 3-0.

"He always threw all of his pitches for strikes, even in high school," said Pirates rookie left-hander Steve Cooke, who pitched against Backlund in high school in Oregon. "He spots the ball well. Anybody who's going to do that is going to get up the ladder real quick."

Backlund lasted until the seventh round last June because he's a finesse pitcher, not a power pitcher with a fastball in the mid-90s.

"He reminds me of Mike Boddicker, who I had for two years in Triple-A," Buffalo manager Doc Edwards said. "He knows how to pitch."

Edwards, who was Buffalo's hitting coach last year, said Backlund always in cognizant of what pitches work best in certain situations.

March, 1992, Daily News-Miner