Long Beach State University Athletics
Liebel Has the Look of a Winner
3/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 6, 2008
Andrew Liebel has already accomplished something that eluded Jered Weaver, Abe Alvarez, Cesar Ramos, Daniel Choi, Mike Gallo, Randy Moffitt or any other Long Beach State pitcher.
He has his own gear.
Actually, his family has the gear. His sister Stephanie and a friend thought it would be cool if the extended Liebel family had something to wear at Dirtbag games when the senior right-hander took the mound. So on any given Friday night, a few dozen fans at the game can be found wearing "Liebel Fan Club" T-shirts.
Tastefully done in Dirtbag black-and-gold, the words surround crossed bats and his number, 39, in the middle. His dad Jim has braved a few cold and wet nights so he could proudly show off his T-shirt.
"It was my sister's idea," Liebel said with a grin. "I told her about a Web site where she could design her own, and she bought about 20 for family members and friends."
It's a big family.
"My dad, mom, sister, brother, uncles, cousins, family friends. I love it just because it brings the family together more often than just holidays. I've been getting to see a lot of my uncles."
The way Liebel has been pitching, the school should consider adding them to the Dirtbag Dugout Store.
Attendance at games Liebel pitches is certain to grow as he keeps adding zeroes to his resume. Pro scouts are likely to start visiting Blair when Liebel pitches as they assess his abilities for the next level. They'll be the guys behind home Advertisement plate wearing baseball gear of their own and holding radar guns and clipboards.
In less than a full calendar year, Liebel has gone from a setup man in the Dirtbag bullpen to the ace of the staff, contender for postseason awards, and potential high draft pick.
This season, he has thrown 15 1/3 flawless innings, not allowing a run while striking out 22, and he's only winless because his teammates had to go extra innings to win both of his starts.
Last season, Liebel developed as the most reliable arm on the staff regardless of his role. He had five wins in 19 relief appearances, with 10 of them lasting three innings or longer. He made his first of six starts on April 27, and the Dirtbags won five of them, the only loss a complete-game 2-1 defeat to UC Riverside.
Liebel pitched a complete game win over Pepperdine in a do-or-die Long Beach Regional outing - head coach Mike Weathers called it one of the gutsiest performances he's ever seen - and finished the season 9-3 with a 2.84 earned run average.
The 6-0, 195-pounder from Damien High in Pomona is a quintessential late-blossoming star. He was an all-league pitcher as a senior in high school, posting a 1.75 ERA with five wins and four saves. But his transition from thrower to pitcher came in college.
"I started pitching as early as I could," Liebel said. "Back in the day, I didn't have a pitching mindset. I was just throwing. My development really began in college - my growth, my maturity, my understanding of the game."
Liebel took advantage of everything Long Beach State had to offer, starting with pitching coach Troy Buckley, the guru of Dirtbag pitchers before leaving in the offseason for a job with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
But it also included listening to everything his teammates had to say. Those teammates have included the cream of the program the last four years - Colorado Rockies standout Troy Tulowitzki, Tampa Rookie of the Year candidate Evan Longoria, pitchers Cesar Ramos and Neil Jamison, and more recent teammates like Robert Perry.
"It's been a mixture of both," he said. "A high caliber coach, and being around high caliber players and watching seeing what they do, how they go about the game and their work ethic.
"You spend time around guys like Tulo and you learn what it takes to be that kind of player. It definitely impacted me and how I play the game today."
Liebel always wanted to be a starter but was willing to fill whatever role requested.
In retrospect, Weathers says he was being a little greedy keeping Liebel in the bullpen as long as he did last season.
"It was such an advantage having him down there and knowing he could come in and bail a starter out in important games," he said.
Liebel has already flashed development from last season to 2008. He has always had good control and had a streak of 31 1/3 innings without a walk last season. But he wasn't a strikeout pitcher, with 59 in 101-plus innings.
Now he's sending hitters back to the dugout briskly, with back-to-back 11-strikeout performances. He chose not to play summer ball, after throwing 101-plus innings plus many more when asked to warm-up when he was a reliever. He hit the weights and added some muscle to his frame.
"He's always been around the plate and now he has full control of three pitches," Weathers said. "He's becoming dominant. Plus, he never wants to come out of a game."
"That has to do with command of my fastball and creating some downward angle," Liebel said. "I'm trying to make it hard for batters to square up to the ball. When I can mix in a breaking ball and have a good pitch sequence, it keeps hitters off-balance."
His teammates enjoy playing behind him, too, because he works fast and is economical in his pitches.
"You love playing behind someone who works fast and makes you stay in the game," shortstop Danny Espinosa said. "You know he's always around the plate."
There will be a lot of scouts behind home plate at his future starts, too. If his sister is a true entrepreneur, she'll keep some extra T-shirts handy for new members of his fan club, too.
