MacDougal's roller-coaster ride
Royals' former All-Star reliever back from injuries
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com

KANSAS CITY -- An All-Star one year, a non-star the next. That was pitcher Mike MacDougal's fate.
But now the right-hander is back -- back as an effective pitcher, back as the Royals' closer.

"The big thing is my arm feels healthy," MacDougal said. "It's a whole different game when you're feeling good."

MacDougal, a gangly redhead from Mesa, Ariz., burst into prominence during the Royals' wild ride in the American League Central pennant race in 2003. He became the closer and had 24 saves when he represented Kansas City in the All-Star Game in Chicago.

His numbers fell off in the second half of that season -- he finished with 27 saves -- and the Royals eventually flamed out. Then, the next spring, so did MacDougal.

At Spring Training 2004 in Surprise, Ariz., MacDougal was stricken twice with a stomach virus that sapped his strength. Then his arm became a problem.

"My shoulder was bothering me and when I started to get healthy from that, I think I was over-compensating and then I hurt my elbow," MacDougal said.

MacDougal spent the summer bouncing around the Minor League system. Finally, he made it back to the Royals last September.

"I always thought I would make it back," he said. "I knew my arm was hurt, but I didn't feel like it was permanently damaged, either. So it just worked out that it took pretty much the whole year to get where I needed to be. When I came back in September, it felt good but I didn't have the arm strength there. But, yeah, I thought I'd be back. It just took longer than I wanted to."

This season, MacDougal was supposed to be a setup man for closer Jeremy Affeldt. But when Affeldt had groin problems and Ambiorix Burgos proved too inexperienced for the job, manager Buddy Bell moved MacDougal into the closer's role again.

"Just the consistency that he's shown since Spring Training is probably the No. 1 thing that sets him apart," pitching coach Guy Hansen said.

When you're losing games at a record pace as the Royals have been, save opportunities are few. In 54 games, MacDougal has 16 saves in 19 chances.

When it came time to shut down the Royals' 19-loss skid on Saturday night, MacDougal came through brilliantly. With the tying run at second base in the eighth, he came in to strike out Mark Ellis. Then he reeled off a perfect ninth to save the 2-1 victory.

On Sunday, his string of 15 straight save conversions came to an end when he gave up a score-tying single in the eighth. But he worked a scoreless ninth, wiggling out of a two-on jam, and the Royals won in 12 innings, 5-4.

MacDougal's big challenge always has been his control. He can throw 97-mph fastballs and sinkers, sliders, cutters and the occasional changeup and curveball. But he doesn't always know where they're going.

A clean inning doesn't happen often for MacDougal. The other day in a blowout loss in Seattle, he needed work and was brought in for one inning. He walked two, threw a wild pitch and made a throwing error on a sure out at the plate. Hey, nobody's perfect.

MacDougal has not been charged with a run in 17 of his last 20 appearances.

"The big thing that set him apart was when Buddy came aboard and made him the closer, and he just at that time was being introduced to the cutter. That and Buddy staying with him as the closer were his keys," Hansen said.

This isn't the first time that MacDougal has had to rebound from physical adversity. After being called up for the first time in Sept. 2001, he was chatting along the dugout rail when Carlos Beltran let go of his bat during a swing against the Cleveland Indians.

The bat caught MacDougal in the head, causing a skull fracture that left him with numbness in his fingertips through the next season. For a long time, he had extreme difficulty throwing strikes and walked 79 in 70 2/3 innings combined for Triple-A Omaha and Double-A Wichita.

But he came back in 2003 for an All-Star season. Now he's rebounded again.

"He's actually been wonderful from the start of Spring Training on," Hansen said.


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