Breaking pitch - pitcher Ben McDonald

Everyone has potential, but every now and then it is the other way around. is the case with Ben McDonald. Potential has him the way he used to stronghold those gators back in the bayou. He will report to Arizona this month with the Brewers' pitchers and catchers, bringing more major league innings pitched and victories than their other starters combined, and people still will wonder what happened.

It is a loose end that might one day go away, but for now it curiously dangles like the trademark untied string on the side of McDonald's mitt. After all, no one expected him to be the next Jim Slaton. They expected him to be the next Jim Palmer.

For all the fanciful changes in the majors this offseason -- the A's becoming the Cardinals; the Marlins passing the Rockies; the Yankees dismantling a contender; and the Mets hurrying their wild-card schedule nothing has been so interesting as the Orioles giving up on McDonald and him giving up on them. His free-agent signing with Milwaukee was not just another numbing transaction; this is a player who shaped a market ushering in an era of big-bonus, hardball-negotiating draft prizes.

Had the 28-year-old righthander agreed to his old club's offer of $2.8 million for this season, it would have meant a $1.7-million cut from his 1995 arbitration award -- but his best chance yet to become a premier pitcher. McDonald would have had the best middle infield behind him in Cal Ripken and Roberto Alomar. He would have had Randy Myers as his closer. He would have had Davey Johnson as a manager. He could have had his first postseason experience. He could have proved to the Orioles his shoulder is sound after a 3-6, injury-plagued 1995 season.

With the Brewers, McDonald instead has an incentive-laden contract that will pay at least $5.75 million over two years and could max out at $13.3 million over three years. He also will have a middle infield of Jose Valentin and Fernando Vina. McDonald never has been a cold-weather pitcher and has joined a marginal team that doesn't figure to carry him if he struggles. None of the Brewers regular starters finished the 1995 season with a .500 record, although Sid Roberson did have a 6-4 mark sputting time between the bullpen and rotation On the plus side, McDonald, a notorious gopher-ball pitcher, will be in a big park.

It is all worthwhile from McDonald's perspective. Go ahead and project him as the Brewers' Opening Day starter, a 20-game winner, a centerpiece for the club's proposed 1999 ballpark. Remind him that the last time Milwaukee threw big bucks at a pitcher was the disastrous four-year, $13-million contract for free agent Teddy Higuera after the 1990 season. Surely he can hack this. "I went through that when I came to Baltimore and made it to the major leagues at 21 years old," McDonald says. "There were enormous expectations and pressure. It was like the first year I had to win 20 ballgames in order for the Orioles to do anything. That bothered me a lot when I was young, but I learned over the years how to deal with that."

It always goes back to 1989. McDonald grew up in Denham Springs, La., 12 miles from Louisiana State. He enrolled there on a basketball scholarship, and not until his junior year did the 6-foot-7 McDonald finally convince Tigers basketball Coach Dale Brown he was a pitcher instead of a center. McDonald already had led the 1988 U.S. Olympic baseball team to the gold medal in Seoul, and that junior year he threw 44 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings and led LSU to the College World Series. No pitcher had been rated higher by the Major League Scouting Bureau.

Baltimore had the first overall draft pick because it had lost 107 games in 1988, but now it held the distinction of being the first team to draft No. 1 while leading a division. As anticipated, the Orioles picked McDonald, who was expected to be part of the pennant race and make an immediate impact It was a Ben-addiction. The public salivated over his mid-90s heat. One columnist called him "young Walter Seaver Koufax." All be needed to do was sign the contract.

What no one seemed to count on was a bitter, two-month negotiation. McDonald was represented by agent Scott Boras, who angered secretive Orioles officials with his brash, high-profile approach to the negotiations. Boras was seeking $1 million, and the club offered $700,000. Some saw it as a squabble; the Orioles didn't want to upset owners by making a rookie a millionaire, and they didn't want to disrupt their clubhouse. During the ordeal, the McDonald camp said it had a $2-million guaranteed offer from a proposed rival league backed by Donald Trump. (Warning to reader: Agent Dick Moss was organizer of that phantom league, as well as the phantom United League that was announced during the last work stoppage. The next time you read about a Dick Moss upstart league, think "union bargaining tool" and turn the page.) The Orioles gave up at that point, but under mounting public pressure they agreed to a compromise that guaranteed a whopping $925,000 plus incentives.

McDonald was rushed to a quick Class-A stop and then to the majors, where he made six relief outings. Would a faster signing have prevented Baltimore from finishing two games behind Toronto that fall and given McDonald a better chance for development? That is the opinion of Larry Lucchino, the Padres' CEO and the Orioles' former president. Now that Baltimore is under virtually new management Lucchino, who negotiated that deal, probably is the best authority from a club standpoint

"Looking back, I'd say that our expectations were probably too high," Lucchino says. "They were fueled, in part, by the high expectations of his agent, so that's where it started. Then there were the injury problems and maybe he came to the major leagues too soon. But he's still going to be a sensational pitcher. I firmly believe that.

"I think he started out on the wrong foot. He should have signed earlier. He wasted a whole summer during one of the most important phases of his career. It would have been desirable, in retrospect, to have him signed in early June instead of August."

McDonald concedes he wasn't ready then. "I make no bones about it -- when I made the big leagues at 21, I didn't know how to pitch," he says. "I knew I had good stuff and eventually could get guys out, but I was learning what it takes to get big league hittere out on out on a consistent basis. I think I'm just starting to scratch the surface."

During his seven seasons with Baltimore, McDonald won 58 games, lost 53, fought through nagging injuries and generally kept Orioles fans on hold. But at least two positive developments did emerge. One was a refreshing attitude in today's market; McDonald is well-liked by teammates and others around baseball and always seems unaffected, surviving a turbulent run where. others would have wilted. Second, he did show in a stretch from 1992 through '94 what the 1989 fuss was about. He missed only one of 94 turns in the rotation during that span. Then came the screeching halt The strike stalled McDonald on a career-high 14 victories and robbed him of the long-awaited 20-win season.

McDonald says the strike's carryover led to his 1995 collapse, citing the need for more than the two starts he had in spring training. He says it led to the tendinitis that sidelined him. Although Angels team doctor Lewis Yocum assured Milwaukee that McDonald's shoulder will be ready, the Orioles privately had their doubts. Uncertainty over that and his market value forced the club to non-tender him, which triggered the breakup.

Another factor: The emergence of Mike Mussina as the newest Jim Palmer only served to exaggerate the image of McDonald as an underachiever. Mussina had been a top college project but did not come with the advance billing McDonald had received.

"I'm a firm believer that Ben McDonald's best years are ahead of him," says Johnny Oates, who managed McDonald in Baltimore and now manages the Rangers. His club was interested in McDonald until signing righthander Ken Hill as a free agent. "Any time there is that much expectation of you, if s almost impossible to live up to it over a short period of time. He was the highest-rated pitching prospect ever, and then he pitched a four-hitter in his first start. How do you top that?"

Skip Bertman can appreciate the weight of expectation. As coach of the LSU and the 1996 U.S. Olympic baseball teams, Bertman is expected by insiders to win his third NCAA championship and a gold medal. But then Bertman sees McDonald on campus three times a week -- playing 10-minute long-toss with other LSU pro alumni, looking as strong and playful as ever -- and gains perspective.

"If all the stats were put down, and all the time he did pitch for Baltimore, he would come out very well," Bertman says. "Getting into the seventh inning, total starts and so on. He'd fare very well. In an era where many pitchers below .500 are considered among the best catches, here's a guy who really has an opportunity at 28 to still be a superstar. It's just that he's judged so differently."

Bertman wonders why expectations were. so much higher for McDonald than they were for righthanders Darren Dreifort and Paul Wilson. The former was drafted out of Wichita State by the Dodgers with the second-overall pick in 1993 and rushed straight to the parent team before being demoted to Double A and then losing 1995 to reconstructive elbow surgery. The latter was the top overall pick out of Florida State in 1994, has been advanced more gradually and is expected to be in the. Mets' Opening Day rotation.

"For some reason, Ben has been held higher," Bertman says. "But he's handled it, and I know he's excited. I just don't think you should put "20 wins" or other expectations on a guy. The real measurement is over a career."

The potential for a big career is still there, and the Cactus League will see that potential on display this spring for the first time. "I think all players want to be `the guy'," Brewers General Manager Sal Bando says. "If you are worth your salt in anything, you want to be the guy. You want to go out and play when the game is on the line. I think Ben will be that kind of guy for us." Ben McDonald should have expected that.

RELATED ARTICLE: KENNY ANDERSON

Hornets point guard

Kenny Anderson can finally relax.

Since coming to the Hornets on January 19 from the embattled Nets, he has no longer been expected to carry a franchise. And he says he will be "a different player" because of it.

Anderson was required to score in New Jersey, yet he will be the third option in Charlotte, behind Larry Johnson and Glen Rice. "My role's different," Anderson says. "My job is to set guys up."

And that is exactly what he has been doing. In three games with his new team, he has recorded double figures in assists for a 13.3 average per game.

"We've got a lot of great shooters, and that lets me penetrate," Anderson says. "That allows me to do my thing. It's fun, I get the ball and make the decisions. They expect a lot out of me."

The important thing is that Anderson is having fun again, and that could mean a lot both for him and the Hornets.

"Kenny's got to be happy to play well," says Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins, his college coach. "If he settles down, if he settles in, he's the best ballhandler I've ever seen. . ..If he's happy, you'll see a great Kenny Anderson."

His season with the Nets was anything but happy, and it showed in his play. His shooting hit bottom at 38 percent, and at times it was hard to recognize the player who started in the 1994 All-Star Game.

The Hornets, even with their losing record, looked like his oasis. Rafael Addison, who played with Anderson in New Jersey, says there isn't a better place for Anderson to practice the art of playmaking than Charlotte.

"This is a really natural offense for him to run," Addison says. "This is a perfect fit. With Larry catching the ball in the post and Glen to his left and Dell (Curry) to his right, he should be like Moses parting the sea. I'll be surprised if he doesn't put up some 18-assist games."

The Hornets are 2-1 since Anderson's return, but the next three months will serve as a trial period for both Anderson and the Hornets.

If he likes it, the free-agent-to-be will re-sign next summer. If they like him, they may deliver the $40 million over six years he turned down from the Nets.

But for now, he's just happy to be happy.

RELATED ARTICLE: The chosen ones

Ben McDonald might not have become the premier pitcher everyone expected when the Orioles drafted him first overall in 1989, but he was an infinitely better buy than the Yankees got two years later. Brien Taylor sent draft bonuses through the roof as the top 1991 pick, and it seems unlikely he'll get close to the majors. Here is an update on the heads of each class since McDonald's entry:

1995: Darin Erstad, OF, Angels. School: Nebraska. Signing bonus: $1.575 million. Progress: Invited to major league camp, probably will be a September call-up unless outfield spot opens sooner. Dominated Arizona Fall League pitching.

1994: Paul Wilson, RHP, Mets. School: Florida State. Bonus: $1.55 million. Progress: After finally winning first pro decision, led all farm pitchers in '95 with 194 Ks in 187 2/3 innings. Should be in Mets' Opening Day rotation.

1993: Alex Rodriguez, SS, Mariners. School: Miami Westminster Christian High. Bonus: $1 million. Progress: Rushed badly to parent club and complained after dizzying '95 shuttles between Seattle and Triple A. Opening Day job is his to win.

1992: Phil Nevin, 3B, Astros. School: Cal State Fullerton. Bonus: $700,000. Progress: Great Triple-A player for Houston, but couldn't replace Ken Caminiti. Traded to Tigers and trying to find position, in outfield or behind plate.

1991: Brien Taylor, LHP, Yankees. School: East Carteret High, Beaufort, N.C. Bonus: $1.55 million. Progress: Numbers last year for rookie-league Gulf Coast Yanks: 2-5, 6.08 ERA, 11 starts, 40 IP, 54 walks, 38 Ks. Expect "Seinfeld" barbs.

1990: Chipper Jones, SS, Braves. School: Jacksonville Bolles High. Bonus: $275,000. Progress: After switching to third, helped Braves win it all last fall and was voted TSN Rookie of the Year by peers. MVP is next logical step.

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