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By PAUL SOKOLOSKI; Times Leader Sports Writer
Sunday, April 24, 1994 Page: 10C QUICK WORDS: MLICKI IS RECOVERING
NICELY
MOOSIC — After missing most of last season because of injury, Dave Mlicki
was just grateful to be on the mound as long as he was Friday.
Even if he did present a scare by leaving the game just as the bottom of
the seventh inning was about to begin.
“I’m still getting back in the swing of things,” said Mlicki, the promising
Charlotte right-hander who missed most of last season because of a shoulder
operation. “I missed a full year, almost.”
That’s why it was no big deal to the 25-year-old Ohio resident to miss the
last three innings of Friday’s 3-1 loss to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red
Barons.
For those who weren’t in the know, however, Mlicki appeared to reinjure the
shoulder he first hurt late in 1992. After throwing six innings of shutout
ball at the Red Barons, Mlicki began warming up for the seventh when he was
removed from the game.
As it turned out, the Knights didn’t want to risk reinjury to Mlicki’s
shoulder in the 42-degree weather at Lackawanna County Stadium, hence his
being lifted despite the shutout. And, according to Charlotte, the only reason
Mlicki was allowed to warm up for the seventh was to give reliever Brian
Barnes a little extra time to get loose.
“I don’t mind coming out of a game like that and giving it over to the
bullpen,” Mlicki said. “On a cold night like that, the only thing that can
happen is you can get hurt.”
Mlicki knows pain.
A 17th-round draft choice of the Indians in 1990, he made an amazing surge
through the Cleveland organization to make the major leagues in just his third
professional season in 1992, bypassing Class AAA along the way. Mlicki was
13-10 in two seasons with Class AA Canton-Akron, where he racked up 167
strikeouts in 195 innings along the way.
He was 0-2 with a 3.56 ERA in seven games, all starts, with the parent
Indians during the past two seasons.
But in his final start of the 1992 season, Mlicki developed shoulder
trouble, which led to his starting and spending most of last year on the DL.
Doctors found an injury to his labrum — a part of the shoulder that acts
as a shock-absorber.
“It had nothing to do with the rotator cuff,” Mlicki said. “They went in
and scoped it. Anytime you go in, it’s serious, but this was less serious than
it could have been.”
It appears he’s recovering nicely.
Through his six innings of work Friday, Mlicki scattered just four hits and
departed the game with a 1-0 lead.
What’s more, he struck out an amazing 10 hitters. In fact, Mlicki was well
on his way toward breaking the all-time stadium record of 12 strikeouts in a
game, held by four different players, had he not left early.
“But you don’t want to keep track of what you do,” Mlicki said. “I got key
pitches when I needed them. I got ahead of some hitters, and they helped me a
little bit. It was a cold night, and I think everybody was swinging. And I got
my breaking pitches over.”
“Not bad for a Triple-A rookie,” Charlotte pitching coach Dyar Miller said
with a smile.
And if he can show he’s fully healthy again, Mlicki may not be a Triple-A
rookie for long.
“Triple-A is great,” Mlicki said. “It’s a challenge, it’s fun. Obviously, I
want to be in the big leagues. But I’ve got to put my time in here.
“There’s nothing I can do except keep pitching and show everybody I’m
healthy.”