Columbia's Permison Back on Track in Vancouver

Drew Permison was a late-round pick last year by the Toronto Blue Jays.

But he had some early success as a minor league pitcher, and now the Oakland Mills High graduate is trying to rebound from a rough start to the current season.

As a pitcher at Towson University, Permison was taken in the 42nd round in 2010 by Toronto. In his first minor league season he posted an impressive ERA of 2.31 and had seven saves with 59 strikeouts in just 39 innings (one strikeout per inning is a good ratio) for Auburn (NY) in the short-season New York-Penn League last summer.

Baseball America, the industry leader in minor league coverage, proclaimed that Permison had the best pro debut of any Toronto player drafted in 2010—an impressive claim for a 42nd-round selection.

But his promotion this spring to Lansing (MI) in the low Class A full-season Midwest League did not go well.

In three games the Columbia resident had a whopping ERA of 12.00 and allowed 10 hits and eight earned runs in just six innings. "My fastball was not at the velocity it was last year," Permison said. "I was not getting the outs I needed to get."

The Blue Jays decided after that to send Permison to extended spring training in Florida to work out some kinks. The organization also decided to change the arm angle from which Permison releases the ball.

"I am throwing three-quarters or almost sidearm," Permison said before a game June 28 in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he is playing for the Canadians in the short-season Northwest League.

"I had never done that. I thought it would be hard to do" to change his arm angle, added Permison, hours before he secured his fifth save in five chances for Vancouver.

Permison pitched to other minor league players in Florida this spring before the Vancouver season began June 17.

The change seems to be working. Now playing for Vancouver, Permison has not allowed a run in his first seven games, and as of June 30 he'd posted six saves while giving up just three hits.

"My change-up is better. My fastball is way better and the movement is outstanding," said Permison, whose fastball has been clocked on occasion near 95 miles per hour, though he normally throws it around 92.

He is a 5-foot-10 right-hander and on the short side for most closers at the big league level. But Vince Horsman, his pitching coach last year at Auburn and a former batting practice pitcher for the Orioles, said that Permison has "a major league arm."

Permison, it appears, is once again a prospect as a closer in the Blue Jays farm system. And he is making a living in one of the most beautiful cities in North America, as Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics last year and then was the site of the Stanley Cup playoffs last month between the Canucks and Boston Bruins.

The Bruins won deciding Game 7 in Vancouver on June 15 and fans in the losing city rioted following the loss. Permison said he and some teammates watched Game 7  on a big outdoor screen in downtown Vancouver but left before the game was over and before the riots began.

Vancouver was a minor league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles in the 1950s. Among those future Birds who played there was Brooks Robinson, who became a Hall of Fame third baseman with Baltimore.

On June 27, former Toronto and Baltimore second baseman Roberto Alomar was on hand for a clinic at Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver, where Permison plays his home games. Alomar will inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 24 in Cooperstown, NY.

Permison keeps in touch with his mother, Paula, who lives in Columbia, mostly by texting. He does have cell phone service, but Permison said the cost is a little steeper since he is in Canada, so he relies mostly on texts.

"Being here is amazing," he said. "The people here are awesome. We have a great club and organization. We are five minutes from anything you could want."

Andy Dunn, the president of the team, used to work in the front office of the Washington Nationals.

Off the field Permison and his teammates have to endure some of the longest bus trips in minor league baseball. They returned in late June from a trip of about seven hours to Washington and Oregon.

In late August they have a series in Boise, ID, and that trip in the past has taken at least 13 hours for Vancouver, with long waits at the border sometimes due to passport issues. Many minor league teams normally have players from several countries.

Permison was 4-4 with an ERA of 3.35 and three saves for Towson in 2010 and was one of the top pitchers in the Colonial Athletic Association.

A former college teammate, Nick Natoli of Ellicott City, signed a free agent contract with the Boston Red Sox in June and got a hit in his first pro game on June 22 against a farm team of the Orioles in the Gulf Coast League. Natoli, a shortstop at Towson, had one hit in his first seven at bats with the Gulf Coast League Red Sox.

Permison, meanwhile, hopes to get back to Lansing in the Midwest League by the end of this season. After that, the stops up the ladder in the Toronto farm system are Dunedin in the high Class A Florida State League, New Hampshire in the Class AA Eastern League and Class AAA Las Vegas in the Pacific Coast League.

Brett Cecil, a pitcher who played at the University of Maryland, was promoted from Las Vegas to Toronto on June 28. The left-hander from DeMatha Catholic High in Hyattsville pitched in the majors earlier this season for the Blue Jays.

One day Permison hopes to make that jump, perhaps from Las Vegas to Toronto. And if he does he may look back on the 2011 season, when a change in his delivery helped him regain his fastball and become an effective closer a long way from home in British Columbia.