1983 Draft Spotlight: Roger Clemens

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Roger Clemens had a distinguished college career at Texas and a brief, highly successful stint in the minors. His 24-year career in the majors, which included 354 wins and 4,672 strikeouts, may have been the best of any pitcher in baseball’s draft era.

So how did 10 nondescript pitchers go before Clemens in the 1983 draft, in one of the weakest first rounds on record?
Part of it stemmed from the impression that he was the third-best pitcher on a talented Longhorns pitching staff; part of it was a result of a midseason lapse when he lost his rhythm and mechanics, and his confidence in the process, in an attempt to light up the radar guns for scouts.

The only scout who wasn’t put off Clemens was Boston’s Danny Doyle. “There was no doubt who the best pitcher on the Texas staff was in my mind,” he said. “Roger had the best arm and the best makeup. It was a rare kind of makeup and intensity.”

Clemens went 13-5, 3.04 as a junior for Texas in 1983, and struck out 151 while walking 22 in 166 innings. He won the championship game of the College World Series, a 4-3 Texas victory over Alabama. Over his two-year career at Texas, he went 25-7.

Still, Texas coach Cliff Gustafson continued to refer to and utilize Clemens as the No. 3 pitcher on his staff, behind fellow junior righthanders Calvin Schiraldi and Mike Capel.

“I think they used to say that because they already had their pitching staff set when I came from a junior college (San Jacinto),” Clemens said. “I’d pitch the nine-inning games and come in to relieve once in a while.”

While it may have fooled a lot of scouts, it also stimulated Clemens’ competitive nature.

Doyle got an insight into that after a game against college power Arizona State, a 3-2 loss in which the pitches were called from the Texas dugout.

“I saw Roger after that game,” Doyle recalled. “He was hot because Arizona State beat him on three hits. They got them on changeups, and Roger knew that if he had thrown fastballs in those situations, they never would have gotten around on him.”

Clemens was always supremely confident in his ability, especially when it came to throwing his fastball, but calling for changeups was a storied Texas way of teaching Clemens to use something other than the fastball to get hitters out in crucial situations.

Gustafson knew how and when to push Clemens buttons. He later acknowledged that making Clemens his No. 3 pitcher was a ploy to drive him. “They knew what to do to get the most out of me,” Clemens said. “Gus didn’t have to say a whole lot, but when he said something he meant business.”

Gustafson also set Clemens straight after his only real on-field lapse as a Longhorn, when he stumbled over a three-start stretch midway through his junior year. It led to a rare loss of confidence, with Clemens fighting himself in the process. Scouts saw it, too, in his performance—and in his body language. With Gustafson’s help, Clemens soon accepted his struggles as a challenge, responded with tenacity and quickly rediscovered his form down the stretch.

“All the talk out of Texas was about Calvin Schiraldi, and probably rightfully so,” said Red Sox scouting director Eddie Kasko. “He had a good arm, good pitcher’s body and was easy to project as a big leaguer. Well, when Danny Doyle’s draft list came into the office, he had Clemens rated over Schiraldi.

“I called Danny and asked why, and he said, in his Oklahoma accent, ‘Eddie, I like what that Clemens boy has behind his belt buckle.’ ”

Boston took Clemens with the 19th pick and never had reason to look back as he made a startling and immediate impact. He began his career at Class A Winter Haven, where he turned heads by working 29 innings and striking out 36, while not walking a single batter.

Promoted to Double-A New Britain after four starts, Clemens went 4-1, 1.38, striking out 59 while walking 12 in 52 innings in the regular season. He later tossed a three-hit shutout in the Eastern League championship game.

Clemens arrived in Boston in 1984 amid fanfare seldom reserved for a rookie. Two years later, he pitched one of the greatest games in major league history, a 20-strikeout, no-walk masterpiece against Seattle on April 29, 1986. Two Cy Young Awards followed in short order.

As he continued to etch his name into big league history, everyone was only left to wonder how he could possibly have been an afterthought in the 1983 draft.