Writer’s note: One Sixty-Two is a season-long series of blog posts connecting baseball’s major-league players to life’s universal themes. Just as there are 162 games in a season, so there will be 162 posts in this series. Let’s play some ball.
Day One Hundred Twenty-Nine: Barry Enright, Arizona Diamondbacks
She positions her right hand on the white keys, and slowly but surely she plays a scale. Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do. Later on, after her scales, she practices playing “Happy Birthday.” She plays the song over and over, rushing nothing. After about 45 minutes, she stands up from the piano to take a break. Katie is practicing the basics, and for now that’s plenty.
It was an unexpected gift – an upright piano, given to us by neighbors who are moving tomorrow. As we rolled the black piano down our street, up the driveway and into our basement, my 8-year-old was overjoyed. She has been practicing throughout this past week, and has declared herself ready for lessons. I’ve been impressed with her “first-things-first” approach, as she seems content with mastering the basics before aspiring to tackle Beethoven.
There have been very few symphonies played this year at Chase Field in Phoenix, as the Arizona Diamondbacks fell out of contention months ago. However, one of the benefits to the occasional down season is the opportunity it brings to try out your younger players. As the Diamondbacks give their prospects a look, they’ve been handling the ball to a 24-year-old pitcher every five days, one who has shown a penchant for taking care of the basics. Barry Enright has started 11 games at the big-league level, and so far his starts have been solid if not spectacular: He’s pitched 66 innings, given up just 56 hits, and delivered a 2.44 earned-run average and 5-2 won-loss record. Enright has pitched seven or more innings just twice, and he’s struck out more than five batters just once. But in those 11 starts, Enright has never given up more than three runs. He’s kept his team in the game every time he’s stepped on the mound. That’s a first-things-first approach if I ever heard of one.
Barry Enright seems to be showing the Arizona Diamondbacks that he’d like to be up in the big leagues for good. Enright is doing this by staying within himself, not trying to do too much, and focusing on the things he can control – keeping runners off base, working out of jams, and avoiding high pitch counts.
Whether or not Enright can become the next Greg Maddux someday is beside the point – that’s like saying my daughter will play the piano as well as Alicia Keys when she’s grown. It’s too early in Enright’s career to consider just how good he can be. What is clear right now is that he’s doing a superb job of handling the basics. It’s kind of like hearing a little girl play her scales. And seeing in her eyes a realization that this first step is something for which she should feel nothing but pride.
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