And he wasn't born in a place that boasts a wealth of baseball tradition, either. Warner grew up in an exurb of a resort town aptly named Surfer's Paradise due to its lush beaches and crashing waves. And Surfer's Paradise is in a country better known for its scrums and wickets than for its five-man rotations - Australia.

Perhaps for the best.

In Australia, Joshua Warner isn't a guy who doesn't throw hard enough. He's a guy who loves the game of baseball - and works very, very hard at it.

Crediting his older brother Nathan, who played outfield for Division Two Quincy University in Illinois, Joshua says his brother's example showed him the way to professional baseball. "Seeing him go running in the mornings, doing the sprint work, throwing long toss. The work ethic he had definitely transpired to me."

But Nathan never got the chance that Joshua did. "He was a really good outfielder, just never got the shot," Warner adds in a noticeable, yet non- colloquial Australian accent.

Joshua Warner did get the shot, and right now, he's dominating. His ERA through five starts is a puny 2.10. He has given up only nine walks in 30 innings. And for a guy who supposedly doesn't have the stuff to strike out a ton of batters, Warner has sent down 27 opposing hitters on strikes.

"He doesn't throw anything overpowering," says Crosscutters pitching coach Aaron Fultz, "but you know what you're going to get. He's going to work both sides of the plate and get a lot of outs."

Warner simply doesn't miss often. Knowing he won't beat anybody with his stuff, he's had to perfect the location of his pitches.

"89 miles per hour doesn't blow anybody away. So it's definitely all about location," he claims.

Adding a plus-curveball certainly doesn't hurt either. "It's a pretty big pitch down in Australia. And when I can get it over for strikes, it builds confidence that if I fall behind a guy, I know I can still get out of it."

Still, Warner has a reputation for being incredibly self-critical. He was visibly upset with himself after a "tough" outing in Auburn, NY earlier this season.

"I pitched really bad," Warner thinks, "I wasn't hitting my spots. I was elevating my fastball, couldn't get the off-speed stuff over for strikes. It wasn't a good outing." Warner only allowed one run in that game. By just about everybody else's standards, that's not too shabby. But for a guy who marvels at the perfectionism of Philadelphia Phillies' ace Roy Halladay, it's not good enough.

"(Halladay) just sits at 90, 91 miles per hour, hits his spots and gets ground balls." Warner gleams, "That's where it's at."

They say hard work comes easy when you're doing what you love. And despite being from Australia, he knew early on that America's past-time was his passion.

"My dad's from New York, my brother played all his life. There was a time where I wanted to play Rugby League in seventh grade, just because my mum wouldn't let me," Warner jokes, "but really it was always baseball for me." But imagine having to drive two hours just to play youth baseball games. Or hopping on five-and-a-half hour transcontinental plane flights to play in a league where the average player makes just over $800 dollars per month. Or flying halfway around the globe to be one of over a hundred young arms in the Phillies' minor league system. Such is the length to which Warner has had to go to pursue the dream.

"My mum always wished she had gotten me into cricket," he laughs, "because then I wouldn't be all the way in America right now."

But there are advantages to his background. For starters, Australia is in the southern hemisphere, so he's able to play professional baseball during the winter months.

Also, teenagers in Australia don't grow up playing multiple sports. High School athletics don't exist, so you specialize in one specific sport for a club team outside of school.

Warner specialized in baseball. And perfection is the ultimate goal. He's come almost 10,000 miles already, so why stop now?