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By PAUL SOKOLOSKI; Times Leader Sports Writer
Sunday, June 19, 1994     Page: 11C QUICK WORDS: EX-BARON ASHBY FINDS
HAPPINESS WITH PADRES

SAN DIEGO — As a young pitcher growing up in the Philadelphia Phillies
farm system, Andy Ashby reached the Major Leagues on promise.
   
Two organizations and a ton of confidence later, the Pittston resident is
winning with consistency.
    “The biggest thing is, I’ve learned to pitch and use all my pitches,” said
Ashby, looking relaxed in his newest, and perhaps truest, home — the
clubhouse of San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium. “Everyone always said, `He’s got
the stuff.’ You can only live on that for so long.”
   
Not with the Phillies.
   
After a tantalizing minor league career that included some of the all-time
best franchise numbers with the Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons,
Philadelphia apparently lost patience with Ashby and left him unprotected in
the 1992 Baseball Expansion Draft.
   
Colorado selected him in the first round and gave him the ball to begin
1993. Ashby dropped it. After going through an 0-3 start with a 6.14 ERA for
the expansion Rockies, Ashby was demoted to Class AAA with disgust by Rockies
Manager Don Baylor last year.
   
“Guys would kill for an arm like his, and he can’t win with it,” Baylor
said at the time.
   
Soon afterward, on July 27, 1993, Ashby found his target.
   
He was traded to the San Diego Padres, who immediately put him in their
rotation and presented him with a town and climate so beautiful, he couldn’t
help but loosen up.
   
“Everything just seemed that it came into place here, from the guys I play
with to the beautiful weather,” said Ashby, who will turn 27 on July 11. “It’s
a beautiful area to live in and a beautiful place to play.
   
“I don’t hold any bad thoughts toward Colorado,” Ashby said. “Don Baylor
did what he had to do. I didn’t throw the ball good there. It was just hard
for me to get started.
   
“I didn’t do what I needed to stay in the big leagues.”
   
He’s knocking out himself, and everyone else, this time.
   
Ashby’s 2.67 ERA was fifth among National League pitchers entering Friday,
as were his 97 strikeouts. His three complete games were third in the league,
and he leads all Padres pitchers by holding opponents to a meager .225 batting
average — seventh in the league.
   
His record is just 3-5 in 14 starts, but his performances have been
dynamite for a Padres team that is last in the NL West, at 25-41 heading into
Saturday.
   
“I think it’s just getting confidence out of the shoot and feeling
confidence when I’m out there,” Ashby said. “Last year I was wild. The big
thing is I’m just mixing in my changeup and being more consistent with my
pitches overall.
   
“I love it here, and it’s a comfortable place to play.”
   
He’s grown so fond of the situation, Ashby and his wife Tracy (formerly
Tigue, who was born in the Scranton area) plan to make a permanent move to San
Diego soon.
   
“Tracy, she loves it, she’s met a lot of friends here,” Ashby said. “I
think we’re just going to stay out here in San Diego if everything works out.
It was just kind of hard for me and for her to move out of there (Pittston) in
the winter.”
   
At long last, it seems, Ashby has found success.
   
Not that it was ever hard to predict for him.
   
The hard-throwing right-hander led the Eastern League with 10 victories, 94
strikeouts and four complete games in 1990 for Class AA Reading as he won the
Paul Owens Award as the Phillies’ minor league pitcher of the year.
   
He went 11-11 for the Red Barons the following season. He also became the
11th Major League pitcher and first Phillie to strike out the side on nine
pitches when Philadelphia promoted him in 1991.
   
Ashby is still among Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s top 10 in career strikeouts
(131), starts (33), victories (11) and ERA (3.38). He pitched seven complete
games for the Red Barons to tie Brad Brink for the all-time lead in
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s six-year history. His total of three shutouts is
second only to Brink’s four.
   
But after recovering from earlier demotions, a couple of uniform changes
and two separate breaks in his pitching hand, it looks like Ashby is about
ready to fulfill all that potential.
   
“I’ve become a pitcher rather than just a thrower,” Ashby said. “I’ve had
injuries, been sent down, traded. I’ve just tried to stay on an even keel.”
   
And at a level where deep down, just about everyone always thought he’d be.
   
Andy Ashby
   
Padre pitcher