Setters still teammates
By BRIAN HEYMAN
bheyman@lohud.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: August 6, 2006)
Dave Qualben and Bryan Hallberg didn't hang out a lot together
outside of the baseball team, but they considered themselves
friends. They were also a pair of junior pitchers worth scouting
this past college season. And when draft day came, they were on
pace for a quick Pace reunion of sorts.
Because Houston's scouts had enjoyed the view of the two.
The Astros went for the left-handed Qualben in the seventh round and took the right-handed Hallberg in the 12th round on June 6. The ex-Setters were both sent upstate to Troy to begin their hopeful journeys toward Minute Maid Park with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the Class A New York-Penn League.
Teammates again. Road roommates, too. It has made this a more comfortable first step into a brave, new world for a couple of 21-year-old prospects.
"It's a lot easier knowing someone," Qualben said. "When you're entering a whole new atmosphere and starting on a new team where you don't know anyone, it could be tough."
"That's awesome, coming here with a guy that you know, that you've played with the past three years and to be in the starting rotation together," Hallberg said. "It's really cool. You have someone to talk to about things."
And not only are the two of them together again, they're both excelling again.
Qualben had made eight starts through Thursday's play, and he owned a terrific 2.06 ERA to go with a 2-3 record. Hallberg had made six starts after opening with three relief outings, and he was 2-1 with a 2.68 ERA and one save overall. It's a nice start in their bids for a ticket to the big leagues.
"I think both of them have a very good chance," said Pace coach Henry Manning, who had some staff on his 34-17 team, considering two of his other pitchers were drafted on the second day, righty Earl Oakes by the A's in the 24th round and righty Matt Reilly by the Angels in the 27th round.
"I think Qualbie being a left-handed pitcher, he may have more potential. I think he'll only get better. He has the makeup as well.
"Not that Bryan doesn't. I think Bryan has the ability. It's just that you get in a system where you're a 6-1 right-hander throwing 91 mph, 92 mph, everyone can do that, it seems like, nowadays. If you look at it realistically, you've got a left-hander who's 88-91 and has two polished off-speed, slider-changeup type of secondary pitches, so you have to give the nod to Qualbie that he may get there first."
Qualben grew up a Yankees fan in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. He went to Xavier High and didn't bloom until his all-borough MVP senior year for a CHSAA division-winning team. But since it came late, he wound up receiving only one scholarship offer - Pace. The Setters were Division I at the time, but they dropped to Division II after his freshman year.
After a sophomore year in which he ranked third nationally with a 1.19 ERA, the starter's profile really started to rise that summer in North Carolina where he was named the No. 1 pitching prospect in the Coastal Plains League. Then he was named the No. 3 pitching prospect in D-II by Baseball America before his junior year. That heavy tag led to some early struggles.
Manning, a former minor-leaguer in the White Sox's and Red Sox's chains, sat him down and threw some wise words his way.
"I kind of put a little too much pressure on myself," Qualben said. "He got me to realize that I shouldn't be worried about what other people are thinking during the game, and I should just pitch the way I know how to pitch.
"Because I'm a very lighthearted person. I love smiling, joking around. Even though I take baseball very seriously, in between innings, I like to have a laugh. For a while, I was worried about who was watching me at all times and I would always be second-guessing my actions."
Yet when the season was over, the 6-foot-3 Qualben stood at 7-3 with a 2.37 ERA and had become the program's all-time strikeout leader.
Hallberg, meanwhile, made a quantum leap as a junior starter, going 6-3 with a 2.53 ERA.
The boyhood Yankees fan from River Edge, N.J., had attracted more interest than Qualben coming out of high school, including St. John's and Rhode Island. The All-Bergen County and all-state performer at River Dell ran the Pace option, but he went 0-4 with a 6.44 ERA as a freshman reliever and then 2-5 with a 4.82 ERA as a sophomore starter and reliever.
"I definitely felt I had a lot better command my junior year," Hallberg said.
Neither Hallberg nor Qualben seem surprised at how well they have been doing so far at this next level. And both are rather happy to be here.
"We're getting paid to play baseball," Qualben said. "There's nothing better than this. Long days, long nights, not a lot of pay. But it's not the important thing. It's the fact I'm getting to live a dream that a lot of little kids look forward to doing and trying to achieve, and a lot of people don't get that chance."
"It means a lot to me," Hallberg said. "Since my senior year of high school, I wanted to do it. Then I went to college for three years and that was my goal when I was there, to get better so I could go play professionally. And now I am. It's like a dream come true."