CarL1 Carolina Mudcats

Willis To Make Major League Debut Tonight

Published on May 9, 2003 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Carolina Mudcats News Release


Zebulon, NC --- Dontrelle Willis is ready for the major leagues. The question could be are the major leagues ready for Dontrelle Willis.

One could describe Willis as affable of effusive. Whatever the adjective of choice to characterize the animated Willis, who smiled broadly on the mound after allowing a pair of solo homers during his last Mudcats start Sunday in Jacksonville, Willis' pitching and statistics were screaming to the Marlins "I'm ready."

The Carolina Mudcats star left-hander, who went 4-0 with a sizzling ERA of 1.49 in six starts, will make his major league debut tonight at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, FL starting for the Florida Marlins against the Colorado Rockies.

A career mark of 27-5 with a 2.31 ERA in a brief 54-game stint in minor leagues hollering by Willis also caught the Marlins' eye.

After a week of rampant rumors, Willis was notified of the decision to call him up before Carolina's first game of their current series with the Orlando Rays.

"I still can't believe that my dream and my passion are coming true. It's an exciting time," Willis said. "This is what you put in all that work in 100-degree weather taking BP for. This is what we ride on those long bus rides for. A lot of people work hard and never get this opportunity."

After Florida's ace A.J. Burnett underwent season-ending ligament replacement surgery last week, the fuel to the Willis speculation grew to five-alarm state.

"I was hoping they'd pick me, but at the same time, you need to be focused on the task at hand, and before they decided on me, I was focused on pitching against the Orlando Rays Thursday," Willis remarked.

It's a lifelong dream for Willis, which has ascended like a jet over the past 12 months. Willis, originally an 8th-rounder by the Chicago Cubs from Encinal High, known as the Jets for its proximity to a naval base in California, had his career fast-tracked following a trade to Florida late in spring training last season.

>From there, Willis went 10-2 with low-A Kane County with a 1.83 ERA in 19 starts before earning a final-month promotion to high-A Jupiter winning two starts with three no-decisions. Willis, who finished with the 3rd-best ERA of all minor league pitchers, notched Marlins Pitcher Of The Year honors.

Now as Dontrelle readies for his first major league pitch, emotions are the one thing he'll be trying to quell.

"It was a whole bunch of emotions all rolled into one. It's something I've played for all of my life and now to actually get the chance is like, 'Oh no, am I ready?' You wonder if you're ready mentally and physically.. You don't want to go up there and not do well," Willis lamented.

"It seems like the people around me are more overwhelmed than I am. They'll make me nervous. I'm usually good until they show up," Willis said. "I'm the mellow one in the family if you can believe that. They're going to try to sit right behind the dugout. I'm just trying to be the mellow guy."

With Mother's Day on Sunday, Willis was able to make hasty arrangements for her and the rest of his family to fly to Pro Player arriving last night.

Advice from his mother will have special significance for Willis.

"My mom told me the other night that a lot of people work hard and deserving and might never get the opportunity you have now," Willis praised. "She was telling me it's a blessing to finally get the opportunity to play against the best in the world. She never played baseball, but she knows a lot about life. To hear a comment like that from her gives me the ease to know that whatever I do on Friday, it'll be all right."

Willis, who always is looser than an overcooked noodle, said preparing for the Rockies was like rapid-cramming for a pop quiz.

"The day they told me I was going up, I watched Baseball Tonight about 10 times in a row just to try to really 'tune in'. I mean, you watch it to watch it, but now that I'm going to be starting against those guys I'm trying to prepare myself best I can."

For Willis, one of the biggest adjustments will be extra sets of eyes at Pro Player.

"Tracy Woodson (Mudcats manager) told me not to change a thing.. I'm going to try to establish throwing strikes down in the zone," Willis said. "It's the same game. But when the lights go on and when you're going from 1,000 fans to 30,000, it's a little hard."

As Willis watched his teammates drop Wednesday night's game to Orlando, Dontrelle remained in full uniform. The #15 he wore will be the same #15 he'll wear tonight in Florida. It was a night filled with high emotion for Willis, who leaves former Cubs teammates Ryan Jorgensen and Jose Cueto, along with his tight-knit group of Marlins mates.

However, the teammate with the most impact on Willis in his brief Double-A career is 33-year-old Billy Hall. Hall, who began playing professional baseball in 1991 when Willis was nine years old in grade school, has been Willis' mentor all season. Willis handed Hall the moniker of "Pops", which will stick with Hall even now that Willis is gone.

"The toughest thing in leaving the Mudcats is leaving this family. 'Pops' is mad because he has to give my Playstation back. 'Pops' is awesome. I don't think I'll be able to look at him when I leave, he means that much to me," Willis said trying to maintain his composure.

When he did, Willis made his final pitch, relayed from his teammates.

"My teammates are great here. They're telling me 'Don't come back. Don't come back.'"

When Dontrelle Willis makes his first pitch for the Marlins tonight, he's confident the only thing that will "come back" will be the baseball from his All-star catcher Pudge Rodriguez.

Story written by Patrick Kinas, Director of Broadcasting, Carolina Mudcats

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