Unlike a year ago, Atlanta Braves pitcher Kevin Millwood has great expectations this holiday season.
Not only are Millwood and his wife Rena expecting their second child on Christmas Day, the Bessemer City native could lock up a long-term contract over the next couple of months. “He would love to stay in Atlanta,” says his father Michael Millwood.
Though Kevin won’t be a free agent until after the 2003 season, the Braves may toss big bucks his way in the next couple of months, dwarfing the $7 million he’s made the over last two years. That scenario becomes more likely if the Braves let go of aging aces Greg Maddux or Tom Glavine, or both. They’re free agents who can likely get more money elsewhere, given the Braves’ current salary commitments and budget constraints from team owner, AOL Time Warner. If the duo departs, that would leave the younger Millwood heading the starting rotation.
He is young (26) and coming off a great season. Despite being the losing pitcher when the Braves lost the first-round playoff series to the San Francisco Giants, Millwood wasn’t to blame. Lack of hitting was. Sure, Millwood gave up the winning runs, but the Braves stranded enough players in scoring position to field a “Left on Base Choir.”
Going into the Braves’ final game, Millwood had won 17 of his last 20 appearances. He finished the season with an 18-8 record, 3.24 earned run average and 178 strikeouts. He also had his best year hitting in six seasons in the majors, posting a .200 average, 11 runs batted in and one homer. “Rena and I went and got the homerun ball back,” his dad remembers of a game last May against the Colorado Rockies in Denver. “Rena gave them a signed baseball card in exchange. Kevin lost the game, but after that, he won 22 of 25 starts. He had his confidence back.”
With his 2002 performance and Glavine and/or Maddux on the bubble, Millwood is in a good position to put down roots with the club that drafted him in the 11th round out of Bessemer City High in 1993. At that draft level, the Braves’ offer was no big-dollar deal, but it led him to turn down a baseball scholarship to play at Charlotte. Millwood steadily moved through the Braves’ farm system and pitched eight games with the big club in 1997. Two years later, he was in the headlines. He made the National League All-Star team and posted an 18-7 record with a 2.68 earned-run average (ERA) in 1999.
Yet as recently as before the 2002 season, Millwood’s story had taken a dark turn with the Braves. After two straight poor seasons, the Braves sought to trade him. “They had a deal done with Cincinnati, but Cincinnati backed out because of Kevin’s salary and health,” recalls his father, who seldom misses one of his son’s games.
In the 2001 season, Kevin had missed 10 weeks with an inflamed shoulder and his father believes the injury may have limited him in 2000. After 35 wins over the 1998 and 1999 seasons, Kevin went 10-13 with a 4.66 ERA in 2000. In 2001, things weren’t much better: a 7-7 record and a 4.31 ERA.
But before the 2002 season began, the shoulder finally recovered. Combine that with improved pitching technique and Millwood looked like the pitching ace he’d been in 1999, when he helped the Braves win the World Series.
Maddux and Braves Pitching Coach Leo Mazzone helped Millwood learn how to set up batters by placing his pitches, not just throwing heat. “Kevin will tell you he is now a pitcher rather than a thrower,” his dad says.
The weekend before Thanksgiving this year, Millwood will do what he’s done every year since he was drafted: participate free of charge in a baseball clinic sponsored by his old high school in Bessemer City. The home folks have stuck with him through ups and downs in his career, and he’s done the same.
Now the biggest hurdle Millwood faces is salary arbitration, a process that’s hard on him but is where negotiations likely will lead. “The team tells the arbitrator why you’re not worth what you think you are,” his dad explains. “That’s very hard to listen to. I believe it made a world of difference that Kevin didn’t have to go through that after the 2001 season. Kevin is hoping the Braves offer him the long-term contract this time.” So should Braves’ fans.
Contact Susan Shackelford at susan.shackelford@creativeloafing.com.
This article appears in Nov 20-26, 2002.
