FORMER BLUE JAYS PROSPECT AIMS FOR RETURN TO THE MAJORS

Brent Abernathy has taken the most scenic route to Canada out of all the new members of the Ottawa Lynx.

"I'm trying to make sure I visit every one of the IL North Division teams," the second baseman joked during Media Day yesterday at Lynx Stadium. "I only have Scranton and Pawtucket left to go."

That's not especially unique in Triple-A ball, but Abernathy is not a cup-of-coffee guy. Not so long ago, if you asked people if Abernathy, 29, would be playing for a Canadian-based team in 2007, they would have said, "Blue Jays, right?"

"I had everything in front of me -- I had the world at my fingertips," is how Abernathy describes where his stock was at the start of this decade. In July 2000 after the Atlanta-born Abernathy had been an all-star in each of his first three minor-league seasons in the Toronto farm system, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were convinced enough to trade two veteran major-league pitchers to get him.

That fall, Abernathy helped Team USA win the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics -- "my best experience in baseball." When the Rays called him up to The Show in June '01, he homered in his first game.

There was no injury, no personal crisis. It's just that in 2002, his first full season in the majors, Abernathy struggled and finished with a .242 average, which has been "hanging over my head" ever since. He went from being a poster child for a Rays youth movement in 2002 to being cut in '03, and has changed teams and organizations every year since.

Here's the funny part: Abernathy has never stopped hitting, .301 lifetime, and has usually been among his teams' leaders in runs scored. He's hit a glass ceiling (grass ceiling?) as a ballplayer, but winning ballclubs follow him around. Along with his Olympic gold medal, he was part of an International League title run in Buffalo in 2004 (that was in between stints in Omaha and Rochester) and he helped Nashville reach the 2006 Pacific Coast League playoffs.

He's hit .300 and been a winner at a high level, just not the high level.

"BETTER PERSON AND A BETTER PLAYER"

Abernathy, whose last major-league stint consisted of 67 at-bats with the 2005 Twins, says he's not bitter about the Rays changing course so quickly a few years ago. "They gave me an opportunity to play in the big leagues and to play every day. You know, I can do nothing but thank them for that.

"But, I wish I would have gotten longer to prove myself. I know I can help a club at the big-league level. I went through a rough time, I had a rough year in 2002, but you know, out of 11 seasons, it's the only bad year I've had. You just hope eventually, someone will look to the track record of somebody and know it was kind of an aberration.

"But you know what? I've become a better person and a better player because of some of the things that have happened to me. I play seven positions now. I'm not just strictly a second baseman. I know I'm a better hitter now. You have to look on the positive side of things.

Abernathy's career arc ties in with an irresistible Lynx storyline. The team's future in Ottawa is muddy, to put it mildly. In light of that, wouldn't it be something if a team largely made up of Triple-A veterans -- the outfielders have an average age of 32 -- just went all-out for a run at the IL title?

"You look around, we have a lot of guys who have played major-league baseball and Triple-A baseball for some years," said manager John Russell, who guided Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to the IL North title last season. "More than that, they're good people, with good makeup. That enhances what we had last year in Scranton."

Abernathy, meantime, is glad to have signed with a National League-affiliated club. The absence of the DH and late-game double switches put a premium the defensive versatility he's worked to developed after coming up strictly as a second baseman. "They came calling this winter and it was a no-brainer." That said, the move to Ottawa does mean more time away from his wife Allison and their 18-month-old daughter Emily.

"It's going to be a tough year as far as families go, for everybody," said Abernathy, who lives in the Panhandle town of Fort Walton Beach, Fla. "You have a lot more to deal with as far as crossing the border. A lot of guys don't want to expose their young kids to the cold early in the year. It's going to be different in that respect."

Ultimately, there's ballgames to win, and Abernathy believes the Lynx can reach a state where, "Positive energy is going to feed down the line from person to person and make everyone play better individually." He's won at this level, so he knows of what he speaks.

By the same token, he knows why he's ultimately in Ottawa -- to win a major-league job again, while the window is still open.

"You keep hitting .300 long enough, and at some point in time, somebody's going notice," he said.

Media Day highlights:

• There seems to be some quiet confidence around the Lynx, as you would expect with so many minor-league vets around and a team coming off a division title. Abernathy noted, there's "a sense of calmness with guys right now. Most of the time, everyone's real excited, a little nervous." Russell: "I'm never a predictor, but I'm confident we'll have a competitive team, day in and day out."
• It was a kick to see fellow bloggers Erin Nicks of The Universal Cynic, Carl Kiiffner of Ottawa Lynx Blog and Pete Toms of A Baseball Geek circulating through the clubhouse.
• Carl caught up with backup catcher Dusty Wathan. Small world: Wathan's wife is from Port Dover, Ont. -- right in the Simcoe Reformer's coverage area.
• Had to laugh when Lynx pitcher John Ennis took the nametag down from over his locker and taped it to his shirt before sitting for a game of cards. It's not every day you see someone wear an 8-by-11 nametag.

Related:
Brent Abernathy's stats (thebaseballcube)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.