Steve Langone Courtesy Vero Beach Dodgers

A Diamond In The Sands of Vero Beach Pitcher Steve Langone brings a Triple-A mindset to the Single-A Advanced Dodgers Ray Z. Perea 07/30/01 - Vero Beach, FLORIDA - When you step into the box to face Steve Langone, you better be focused, and have the baseball gods on your side. Langone, the “chowd” hailing from Reading, Mass., brings a plethora of pitching knowledge to the hill whenever he toes the rubber.

He dishes up a menu of pitches that sends batters away hungry, their batting averages taking a tuck in the waistband. On game day, the right-hander is locked-and-loaded. It is a foolish batter who counts on any mistakes on his part.

Langone is a pitcher wealthy between the ears. "Steve is very intelligent and has the mentality of a triple-A pitcher if not that of a major-leaguer,” Vero Beach pitching coach Marty Reed tells MLN.

The Dodger right-hander went 86-innings last year in the short-season class-A Northwest League, giving up only five walks. He has not lost any of that control moving up to the Florida State League. “He’s been consistent his whole career”, Reed says. Langone is 7-2 this season with a formidable ERA of 1.99. He is truly a pitcher with awesome ability, who seldom gets out of his rhythm. It's a habit learned since his childhood days.

“My dad has seen almost every one of my games, and I’ve learned from him. I have to be poised and never get rattled,” says Langone, who has been playing America’s pastime since the age of six.

Opponents are swinging a mere .215 against him. In over 67 innings, he’s fanned 62 batters. On the defensive side, there are more compliments for Langone. “He holds runners on, and fields his position very well,” Reed commends.

What has been on Langone's menu this year that has batters on the offensive equivalent of the Slimfast diet? A puzzling mix of the fastball, curveball and changeup.

“He can throw any of his three pitches with confidence to get hitters out,” says Reed.

If you are lucky enough to see an outing by Langone, or unlucky enough to be facing him at the plate, you might catch his new thrill-ride, the “knuckler”, a fourth pitch that for his repertoire that may provide him with enough versatility for that shot at the bigs.

“I don’t like hitters sitting on any of my pitches, so I like to change speeds often, sort of like Pedro does,” Langone says. The six-foot-two-inch righty makes it easy for the whole team, because they know that he has his head on straight, and he works fast. “The guy is pure guts,” Reed says.

The knowledgeable youngster is patient, and understands that his chance at the bigs will come soon enough.

“I let my game do the talking, and want to make it hard for people to ignore me,” Langone says. There isn't a manager or a scout in the Florida State League who would fail to take Langone into the equation.

The Dodgers' farm system, which has generated the hall-of-famers from the likes of Koufax to future-famers like Pedro Martinez, is still a foundary of great hurlers, largely thanks to the great coaching of instructors like Marty Reed. Nine pitchers that have gone through the haul with Reed have been bumped up to double A or higher.

Reed says he is not concerned with that. "I just want my guys to do better, do a good job."

Just like the parent club in L.A., the Dodgers of Vero Beach believe that beating adversity is not getting in the way of winning. It's about getting the job done, about focus, and about taking control of what can be controlled.

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