CLEVELAND - Jake Westbrook has bounced around like a Ping-Pong ball.
He was the Colorado Rockies No. 1 draft pick in 1996, but was dealt to the Montreal Expos the very next season.
Two years later, the Expos shipped Westbrook to the New York Yankees as part of the Hideki Irabu deal.
Westbrook finally reached the majors with the Yankees in 2000, but the Bronx Bombers sent him packing again, dealing him to the Cleveland Indians as part of the David Justice trade.
He missed a good portion of the 2002 season with bone spurs and inflammation in his right elbow, and eventually had surgery.
When healthy the last three seasons, Westbrook shuffled back and forth between the starting rotation and the bullpen while splitting time between Cleveland and Triple-A Buffalo.
The 26-year-old right-hander started this season in the Indians bullpen. But his sinkerball was so effective, he earned a spot in Cleveland s starting rotation late last month.
Westbrook hopes to stay there for a while.
“I have a lot of confidence in myself and I m going out there and trusting my pitches and getting them in the strike zone,” he said. “I m going right after guys. I ve been in a nice groove and I have had great rhythm.
“Hopefully, I ll be able to keep it going.”
Westbrook, who joined the rotation on April 25 and captured his first two starts with dominating performances, carried a major league-leading 1.32 ERA into Saturday s game at Baltimore.
And although he surrendered 10 hits and six runs in 61/3 innings, he still could have been the winning pitcher in his third start had the Tribe s beleaguered bullpen not blown yet another lead in a 10-7 loss to the Orioles.
“He wasn t as sharp as the last couple of starts, but he still threw the ball well,” manager Eric Wedge said. “He has really stepped up for us. It has been a great boost for us, the way he s been pitching.”
It all began for Westbrook on April 19, when he tossed seven innings of perfect relief against Detroit, retiring all 21 batters he faced.
He followed that up with a complete-game, two-hit victory over the same Tigers in his first start six days later. A week ago, Westbrook outdueled Boston s Curt Schilling, pitching six scoreless innings in Cleveland s 2-1 victory over the Red Sox.
Prior to Saturday s start, Westbrook (2-1, 2.67 ERA) had allowed just two runs and eight hits in his last 22 innings.
“When you have someone pitching the way Jake is, you just stay out of his way,” pitching coach Carl Willis said. “Jake has had stretches like this before, and the question becomes, Can he maintain it? But I have to tell you, I ve never seen him more relaxed on the mound.”
Westbrook, earning $925,000 this season, has been compared to Boston s Derek Lowe, the second-winningest pitcher in the majors since the start of the 2002 season.
Lowe, also a right-handed sinkerball pitcher, bounced back and forth between the starting rotation and the bullpen before becoming a 21-game winner in 2002.
“I always thought I could be that caliber of a pitcher,” Westbrook said. “I m definitely pitching with a lot of confidence right now, and that s what a sinkerballer needs. I think Derek and I are very similar in the way we throw, but I would say his sinkerball moves a lot more than mine does.”
Indians outfielder Jody Gerut isn t so sure.
“If Jake would just trust his stuff and let the movement on his pitches do the work, he d be great,” he said. “His stuff is electric. I think he s starting to realize that. I wouldn t want to face him.”
Although Westbrook s career has thrown him several curves, he finally appears to be pitching like a first-round pick.
“At the beginning, when I first got drafted, there was a lot of pressure on me, and I probably put a little more pressure on myself than I should have,” he said. “Then I got traded pretty quickly and I didn t know what to think.
“It s just kind of been one thing after another in my career, but I ve hung in there and I think I m better for all of those experiences now. I can t try to change anything. I ve got to continue to try to get ground balls - that s the way I pitch.”
Westbrook was 8-15 with a 5.57 ERA as a starter in the majors prior to this season, as opposed to 4-4 with a 4.44 ERA working out of the bullpen.
“It s been tough,” he said. “I never really going into a season knowing whether I m going to be a starter all year or a reliever all year. But I m getting kind of used to it.
“Now that I am in the starting rotation, I want to stay there and be there as long as I can. But if something happens and I m not starting and I have to go back to relieving, I can t complain. I m still pitching in the big leagues.”
First Published May 10, 2004, 9:22 a.m.
