Bisenius back in the picture 

By Tony Zonca

If the Philadelphia organization had lined up its top prospects in early spring training 2007 for a group photo, that would be right-hander Joe Bisenius sitting front and center wearing the huge grin and the can’t-miss inscription.

A year later, though, Bisenius would be missing from the photo-op. You could say he was out of focus, so to speak.

Now, to continue a theme, he might be inching back into the picture.

After two scoreless innings in still another of a growing collection of frustrating losses Thursday, the 25-year-old Bisenius is 0-1 in 15 games with the Phillies, with an improving 2.25 ERA and a .179 opponents’ batting average.

In 2006 the former 12th-round pick came out of the crowd in his second full year as a professional when he went 8-3 with a 2.25 ERA. In 84 innings between Clearwater and Reading he allowed just 62 hits while striking out an eye-popping 95 batters and walking just 30.

With his shaved head, steel-blue eyes and glittering numbers, the good-looking Iowan – he brings to mind a young Daddy Warbucks from Little Orphan Annie fame -- was on his way to cover-boy status.

He finished up the year with stints in the Arizona Fall League and the Venezuela Winter League. His scrapbook was growing, but the hefty workload likely led to his undoing.

“I felt good in spring training last year and still continued pitching, but by April and May I kind of hit the wall,” Bisenius said. “I was pitching non-stop for about a year-and-a-half straight. I never really recovered from it (the pitching load), so this offseason I got time to completely stop throwing and just work out.”

Bisenius, who had made the big club out of spring training in 2007, tried pitching with a strained rotator cuff and elbow tendinitis, and the results were hardly glossy. He had pitched two scoreless innings for the big league club – while Freddy Garcia and Jon Lieber were on the DL – before being sent down to Triple-A Ottawa.

That was where he finally hit that proverbial wall. At the end of the year he was not handing out 5-by-7 copies of his pitching stats: 3-4, 5.48 ERA, 31 walks in 46 innings.

Joe Bisenius, a mid-round draft pick, was dismissed by some as just another one-season wonder who had lost his mojo. They threw him into the roster-filler heap. With the rest of the discards.

“Trying to pitch through all that in 2007 and not being 100 percent kind of took a toll on me,” he admitted. “I lost a little confidence getting sent down in spring training early this year. Coming here (after three outings in Triple-A) has really helped me out. I’m getting my confidence back, and right now I feel pretty much the way I did two years ago. I feel completely confident again, and I’m trusting my abilities. And that’s a big thing in pitching.”

Pitching coach Tom Filer sees much of the old Joe in Bisenius this season.

“As far as getting back to where he was, he’s pretty darn close,” Filer said. “I think once his curveball comes around and he’s able to consistently throw that for strikes he’ll be right there.”

Bisenius throws a hard curveball that has slider velocity at 82-83 mph. When he’s on, the pitch has great depth to it.

“I call it The Eliminator,” Filer said. “When he starts throwing it for strikes nobody can hit it.”

Add a 90-94 mph fastball and renewed confidence and focus and you can see why Bisenius is banking on making it back to the big leagues this year.

What a difference a year makes, not to mention good health. Bisenius was keenly aware some had written him off following last season.

“It comes with the territory of being a 12th-round pick,” he said. “If I was a first- or second-rounder it probably never would have happened. Being a 12th-round pick you kind of get overlooked a lot. You’ve got to deal with it. Personally I think the draft’s a little overrated. After the first or second round it’s kind of a crapshoot. It seems if you get picked late in the draft you have to pay for it the rest of your professional career. I’m used to it.”

To make it in this game, especially as a pitcher from an NAIA school such as Bisenius was, you almost have to adopt the attitude of a runway model.

“I’ve always had pretty good stuff,” said Bisenius, who never doubted his abilities from the start. “I have decent velocity and I always had a real good curveball. When I got drafted, coming in I expected to see all these guys picked ahead of me with better stuff, throwing harder, with better breaking stuff. When I got there I realized I was as good if not better than a lot of those guys.

“I knew it was just a matter of time before I opened some eyes and eventually got a shot at the big leagues, and I did.”

Fastball command has been a priority the last couple of seasons. This year, for example, Bisenius has issued 10 walks in 20 innings while striking out 13. Following a slight adjustment by Filer, however, Bisenius has been able to throw more downhill lately and his location has improved in recent outings.

“I’m throwing every day with no pain,” Bisenius said. “My arm feels great compared to last year when I had a lot of shoulder issues and with my arm. This year I feel 100 percent.”

This year he is clearly back in focus and ready to grab a spot back in that big-league picture. Can you dig it-al?

This story was posted on June 6, 2008