By George King. New York
Post. Wednesday,February 14,2001.
TAMPA - There is a colossal hole in a heart Billy Connors says is as big as
the 90-mile body of water that separates Cuba and America.
Watching Adrian "El Duquecito" Hernandez work in a bullpen at the
Yankees' minor league facility yesterday, the Cuban defector was all business.
Across his 35-pitch workout, Hernandez' face was painted with concentration
reserved for Game 7 of the World Series. As El Duquecito moved through his
immense arsenal of pitches, there was no wasted effort.
It was one day before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, but
to El Duquecito it was August. Dwight Gooden, Craig Dingman, Christian Parker
and Randy Choate worked on mounds next to him and weren't as crisp as El
Duquecito, who earned his name because everything he does on the mound is the
exact same way Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez does it. Right down to the
high leg kick and multiple arm angles, the 5-foot-10 inch Adrian does everything
like the 6-2 Orlando. They aren't related and never pitched together for the
Cuban team Industriales, but El Duquecito makes it clear El Duque is his hero.
When the throwing session was complete, El Duquecito ran wind sprints so
hard you wondered was it possible he ran all the way from Cuba to America.
Yet, when the workout was over El Duquecito's mind wasn't occupied with
sliders, change-ups and fastballs. Now, standing outside the clubhouse, the
smile vanished from his face and the liquid brown eyes went dry.
"I think about my family in Cuba all the time," said the pitcher
the Yankees are going to look at as their No. 5 starter or possibly as Jeff
Nelson's bullpen replacement. "I want them here, that's my plan. We are
working on the papers. I need my wife and baby here. When I am working out, I
forget about whatever problems I have. Outside of [the complex] I think about my
family all the time."
Though he can't put a date on his family's arrival in America, El Duquecito
believes he will be re-united with his wife, Jaqueline and baby girl Geri, who
is three months shy of two. El Duquecito hasn't seen them since leaving Cuba
last spring.
The best he can do is talk to his wife on the phone and look at tapes of his
family sent to him at his Tampa home.
"When I see the pictures and tapes, it makes me feel good," El
Duquecito said.
Since signing a four-year deal worth $4 million last June, El Duquecito has
looked nothing but good for the Yankees. After going 5-1 with a 4.04 ERA in six
games at Norwich (Double-A), El Duquecito was 2-1 with a 4.40 ERA in five games
for Columbus (Triple-A). A right knee injury that didn't require surgery ended
his season early, but there are no lingering problems.
"He is unbelievable when it comes to working," Connors said of El
Duquecito, who the Yankees say is 25. "He has a smart head, a huge heart
and some big [guts]. He takes 200 ground balls on the mound every other day."
So, is he a starter? With a filthy slider, a fastball that reaches the low
90s, a curveball and three different change-ups - and that has screwball action
- El Duquecito has more than enough pitches to stay in the only role he has ever
known. But his slider is death to right-handed hitters the way Nelson's out
pitch was. So could he relieve?
"Whatever the Yankees need," El Duquecito said. "I like to
start but if the Yankees need a reliever, that's what I will do. Against
right-handers, I am the same as El Duque. I throw the slider, the fastball at
the head, the curveball, the knuckleball and I have three changes."
With his blood family in Cuba, El Duquecito has a new family in Tampa, where
he resides all year.
"This is my other house," El Duquecito said, waving a hand around
the Yankees' complex. "The Yankees are my family. Billy Connors, Mark
Newman and everybody here. Whenever I need something, they help."
The Yankees are aiding El Duquecito in getting his family to America. Then,
he said, his life will be complete. | 