Seccombe: from castoff to All-Star

NEW YORK -- The bitterness that fueled much of David Seccombe's journey to the mound Tuesday night at KeySpan Park has long since dissipated, replaced by an overwhelming sense of satisfaction.

While it would have been easy for Seccombe to hold onto his anger, he channeled that energy into a more productive outlet and as a result, found himself as the surprise starting pitcher in the inaugural New York-Penn League All-Star Game.

The Yankees signed Seccombe, 23, in July, more than a year after he was drafted and signed by Boston out of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. The Red Sox had selected him in the 29th round but quickly terminated the deal after team physicians determined he had a loose elbow joint. Rather than take a chance on a pitcher they believed would someday need Tommy John surgery, the Sox let Seccombe go, and he has been seething ever since.

"Their doctor misdiagnosed me," Seccombe said. "I went to another doctor after that, he said there was nothing wrong with my arm. So last year at this time I was sitting on my couch watching baseball. That's why this all feels like a dream."

There's nothing dreamlike, however, about the way Seccombe has pitched for Staten Island. He's made 14 appearances, including seven starts, and leads the league with eight wins. He has a 2.01 ERA, while the opposition is hitting .170 against him in 58 1/3 innings.

And while Seccombe is ecstatic about the way things have turned out, there's still more than a little tension in his voice when the Red Sox are mentioned.

"During my examination, they said they felt that UNLV was responsible for what they thought was the loose joint," said Seccombe, who was 14-6 in three years with the Runnin' Rebels. "But I told their player development guy that I would be back, that that wouldn't be the end of my career. And a year later, I'm in the All-Star game.

"That's why this feels like a dream. To be in this league and striving for all we're working for, it's actually like living through a dream."

Seccombe spent the entire offseason working out, hoping for a call that never came. So when this season began and he wasn't with an affiliated team, he signed on with the Surprise Fighting Falcons of the independent Golden Baseball League. He went 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA in four starts for the Falcons, and that was enough for the Yanks, who signed Seccombe and assigned him to Staten Island.

"This whole offseason, the thing that drove me was bitterness because I knew my arm was fine," said Seccombe, who explained that he patterns his style after current Yankee Mike Mussina. "I wanted to prove the Red Sox wrong for letting me go and for letting a good thing go. Bitterness and revenge propelled me for most of the offseason. But I have to control that.

"I think what happened was that with that mind-set, my mind took over. I started to say to myself that I can do this, that I've already proven the Red Sox wrong. In a way, I guess I have to thank the Red Sox because all this made me a better player and allowed me to realize just how much I wanted to play. I love the Yankees. They've treated me upper class since day one."

Seccombe, whose best pitch is a knuckle curve, said he didn't want to be in the Golden League, but he does take away some good memories from his short stay there. He faced future Hall-of-Famer Rickey Henderson, striking out the stolen base king on a 3-2 curveball. Henderson also worked out a walk and singled off Seccombe, stealing a base in the process.

In addition to being talented on the mound, Seccombe is also talented with a pencil and paper. He's an artist who has been designing cars since he was 10 years old. He says he has drawn hundreds of concept cars and would seriously consider making a career out of car design when his playing days are over.

"I haven't done it in a while because of baseball, but I could pick up a pen and paper right now and design you something," Seccombe said.

The cars will have to wait, unless Seccombe is going to design one that will drive him to Tampa, Trenton or Columbus, because that's where he appears to be headed. First things first, though, and that's finishing off his magical season in the New York-Penn League, where the first-place Yanks held a 6 1/2-game lead in the McNamara Division heading into the All-Star break.

"Winning this whole thing would be serious icing on the cake," Seccombe said. "To be where I was a year ago to being part of a championship team would the perfect ending to a long year."