June 15, 2005

A 'Nuke' move for Orioles' Fiorentino

By Corey Masisak
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

It's not often a minor league baseball player gets his call to the big leagues while sitting in a Myrtle Beach, S.C., hotel. Few make the jump from the Carolina League to the majors, Ebby Calvin "Nuke" Laloosh not withstanding.

But when the Baltimore Orioles needed an outfielder last month, they called up Jeff Fiorentino from Class A Frederick. Fiorentino, a 2004 third-round pick from Florida Atlantic, became the third player from last year's draft to reach the majors and the first hitter after relief pitchers Houston Street of Oakland and Cla Meredith of Boston.

"It was unbelievable just being in that locker room," Fiorentino said. "Half of the team is All-Stars. The amount of talent they have is unbelievable, and the fact that I was there trying to do the same thing they were was awesome."

Fiorentino might have been an emergency fill-in when he debuted May 12, but he hit well enough to stick around for a few weeks. He singled in his first four major-league at-bats before cooling off, finishing with 11 hits in 44 at-bats before returning to Frederick.

His first home run came May 20 off Philadelphia's Randy Wolf. Even Fiorentino admits his future is not in the middle of the order, but he has hit 18 home runs in 365 minor league at-bats.

"I had a little success while I was there, and I've got a couple of things I need to fine-tune now that I'm back here," Fiorentino said. "I just need to tune everything up a bit depending on the type of hitter I'm going to be. I'm not going to be a No. 3 or 4 hitter. I'm probably going to be a No. 2 hitter or a No. 8 or 9 hitter, so I've got to work on my hit-and-runs, making contact, my bunt, my steals. I need to improve everything a little bit, but I'm young and there's time."

Fiorentino said the biggest adjustments were not on the field. One such change was wearing suits on the plane during road trips.

"[Miguel] Tejada went out and bought me some suits, "Fiorentino said. "I went out and got myself a sports coat for the first flight, and after that Tejada was like, 'Fiorentino, we're going shopping.' Then he took me shopping."