Gibson's best coach? His dad

Nationals Report: In the minors

By TODD JACOBSON

Date published: 9/7/2006

By TODD JACOBSON

Glenn Gibson has all his father's baseball cards, and he occasionally ducks into his family's Center Moriches, N.Y., basement to watch videos of his dad pitch.

When Glenn Gibson started pitching, he became a student of Paul Gibson's major league career--the four years his dad played with the Detroit Tigers that began in 1988, the year the left-hander had his own little left-hander, and the stints Gibson had with the New York Mets and New York Yankees.

So Glenn Gibson, the Nationals' fourth-round pick in June, is also keenly aware of how long it took his dad to make it. Paul Gibson was a third-rounder in 1978, and it took 10 years full of injuries and setbacks before he debuted with the Tigers.

"I am a little bit scared because it does happen sometime," Gibson said. "Ever since I started playing baseball, the goal is for me to get to the major leagues, but I know what he went through."

Life as the son of a former major leaguer certainly has its advantages, from perspective to pitching, and Gibson has reaped every benefit. His father was his personal pitching coach, fine-tuning his mechanics while schooling him on the lesser-known aspects of professional baseball.

There's also pressure, but Gibson wouldn't trade it.

"It's more a help than pressure, Gibson said. "He knows the game inside and out. He knows hitters in the minor leagues, what they do and what they don't do. It gave me such an advantage."

He's already putting that advice to work.

Gibson, 18, signed with the Nationals in August, receiving a $350,000 signing bonus to turn down a scholarship at Central Florida, and has pitched well in two appearances with Rookie Level Vermont of the New York-Penn League.

He's a control pitcher, with a curveball, changeup and fastball in the high 80s, and in three innings with Vermont, he's allowed no hits, no runs and no walks, while striking out six. He'll pitch three innings today in his final appearance of the season.

"You can tell that this guy is not just an arm," said Bob Boone, the Nationals' director of player personnel. "With Gibson, what you see in him is, 'Oh, this kid is pretty polished,' and he doesn't have as much to work on."

Rest assured, Gibson will continue to work hard.

"If I keep doing what I'm doing I feel hopefully three years, maybe four years I can be up," Gibson said. "I have a lot of confidence in myself. I believe on any level I can compete."

To reach TODD JACOBSON: 540/374-5440
Email: tjacobson@freelancestar.com

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Date published: 9/7/2006