DEFIANCE - Affixed to the outside of the visitor's dugout at Defiance High School is a royal blue plaque with the names of the former Bulldogs to be selected in the Major League Baseball draft.

Directly next to it is another with the members of the "D.H.S. '90' Club" - pitchers who have thrown 90 miles per hour at least twice in the same game.

Not coincidentally, there are several names that are on both signs - a testament to the cornucopia of pitching talent this namesake high school of a small city of 16,000 residents located 55 miles southwest of Toledo has produced in the last decade.

Since 2002, Defiance has had six MLB draft picks, including five hurlers: Luke Hagerty, Chad Billingsley, Jon Niese, Dace Kime, and Tyler Burgoon.

"It's a thrill," said Tom Held, who has been Defiance's baseball coach since 1999.

"It's always great to see your former players go on, whether it's going to college and having a career there and getting drafted after their third year or seeing them start their pro career right out of high school. I couldn't be prouder. It's just a great honor to have been able to coach so many of those guys over the years and be part of their lives."

Kime and Burgoon became the two newest inductees to this impressive group last week.

As a junior last season at the University of Michigan, Burgoon tied a single-season school record with 10 saves, and Wednesday he signed a pro contract with the Seattle Mariners, forgoing his senior season with the Wolverines. He will report to the Everett (Wash.) Aquasox for the season opener of the short-season Class A Northwest League tomorrow.

"Everyone when they touch a ball when they're little dreams of being drafted professionally," said Burgoon, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound right-hander. "It's a realization of a dream, and I was lucky enough to go through great programs to put myself in this position."

Kime has not yet signed after being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates and may still honor his commitment to play for the University of Louisville next season if the two sides can't agree to a deal.

A 6-foot-4, 205-pound right-hander, Kime finished his senior season with a 7-1 record and a 1.31 ERA to go with 108 strikeouts and just 32 walks in 69 2/3 innings.

"As soon as I got picked, it was a complete relief," Kime said. "I felt so much better and could just sit down and relax for the rest of the day."

Among the 750 players on an active roster in Major League Baseball, Billingsley of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Niese of the New York Mets are believed to be the only two pitchers who were high school teammates.

Niese was a sophomore when Billingsley was a senior in 2003, but the tide of great pitchers to play at Defiance started before the well-known pair.

Scott Taylor, a 1985 graduate, became the first player in school history to get drafted when he was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 28th round out of Bowling Green State University in 1988. He eventually made it to the big leagues in 1992 and pitched for parts of two seasons with the Red Sox.

Following Taylor was 6-5 right-hander Andy Smith, who was picked in the 44th round by the New York Yankees in 1997. Then came promising 6-7 lefty Luke Hagerty, who was selected out of Ball State in the first round with the 32nd overall pick of the Chicago Cubs in 2002.

Hagerty was Held's first success story, and they have continued to pile up from there.

"Coach Held does a great job bringing the guys up," said Niese, who has posted a 4-2 record and 3.64 ERA with the Mets this season. "It's a great program there in Defiance. It's fun to watch them how year in and year out he progresses guys and gets guys drafted."

Over the years, Held has developed a pitcher-specific program for elite talents like Niese, Billingsley, Burgoon, and Kime, stressing core strength and arm-building exercises in daily workouts that can sometime stretch over three or four hours.

"After my sophomore season, coach Held came to me and said, 'Do you want to take this to the next level with one-on-one workouts and a throwing program?" Kime recalled. "And I basically said, 'Sure, when can I start?' I was there the next morning doing pushups, sit-ups, jump-roping, working with medicine balls, throwing, everything. For the first four or five days, I could barely walk."

The program ignited a fire in Kime, one that burns to this day.

"Even after the summer workouts were over, I stayed in this mind-set where I kept wanting to get better," he said. "I'd go to my dad's house and beg my family to come workout with me, but a lot of days it'd just be me out there working on stuff."

Kime wasn't the first and won't be the last to go through Held's rigorous program.

"A lot of people when they hear about our workouts and our practice times, they think we're crazy," Kime said. "But it makes you better, and it's fun at the same time so everybody wants to be there. The kids buy into coach Held's program."

Clearly, the results speak for themselves.

"Really, coach Held and the whole Defiance program kind of makes it easy for you to get to that point of getting drafted," Burgoon said. "I'm very grateful to have gotten the chance to play for him."

The sentiment is shared by several of Held's former players and is the primary reason why many of them continue to return to their alma mater every summer for offseason workouts.

It's not an uncommon sight to see an established MLB pitcher like Niese working with the next crop of Bulldog hurlers.

"I wouldn't quite say I get homesick, but I like being home with my family and friends," said Niese, who still resides in Defiance. "That's where I want to be, and that's why I come back here during the offseason."

Being able to pair an established veteran with a talented newcomer has become Held's modus operandi for sustaining the program.

"It's kind of a trickle down effect," said Held said. "We teamed Jon [Niese] up with Chad [Billingsley] in our winter workouts, and Jon saw what Chad did and he believed. Then we had Tyler [Burgoon] work with Jon, because they were two years apart and kind of stayed in contact. Then Dace [Kime] kind of did the same thing with Tyler. He kind of learned from Tyler, and those two have now stayed in contact."

A native of Edon, Ohio, Held is quick to deflect praise for transforming the Defiance program into a major league pitching factory. He instead prefers to view his role as one of carrying on an already strong tradition set in motion well before his arrival.

Legendary Defiance coach Greg Inselmann never had a losing record and won one state and eight Western Buckeye League titles during his tenure from 1981-1998.

So, with all this superior talent coming out of one high school, there has to be something in the water in Defiance, right?

"We get asked that question a lot," Held said with a chuckle. "If there is, I hope they don't change the water."

Contact Zach Silka at:

zsilka@theblade.com

or 419-724-6084.

First Published June 20, 2010, 3:33 p.m.