LAWTON, Okla. (AP) - When Fred Dabney signed on as a pitching coach with the Texas Rangers’ organization in 1999, his long-range goal was to work his way to the major league level. One talk with Farm Director Reid Nichols changed his mind. A 1986 Lawton High School graduate, Dabney pitched in the minor leagues for nine seasons and in Taiwan for one more.
When Dabney moved into the coaching field, Nichols had one question.
“He asked me: ’what’s your goal’?” Dabney told The Lawton Constitution.
“And I said the typical: well, I’d like to be a big league pitching coach.
“And he said: ’that shouldn’t be your goal. Your goal should be to be the best pitching coach out there because you can’t control whether you go to the big leagues as a coach or not, but you can control how you work every day, go about your business every day and having the goal of being the best pitching coach out there, where players look at you and go: ’you know what? He’s the best pitching coach that I’ve had’.
“Ever since then, I’ve made that my goal. I’m not worried about being in the big leagues. If the situation arises, it arises. If it doesn’t, every day I do my job to the best of my ability and that’s my main thing.”
Dabney has reached the Triple-A level with the Milwaukee Brewers and currently works with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the Pacific Coast League.
The Sox were in Oklahoma City recently for a series with the host Dodgers. Dabney took a break from his pregame routine to fill in some blanks.
His coaching career started with the Gulf Coast League Rangers in 1999. He stayed with the Rangers through 2003, with stops in Savannah, Charlotte and Stockton.
Dabney joined the Brewers in 2004, working in Huntsville and Brevard County through 2011.
In 2010, he spent one month with the parent club while Stan Lyles underwent surgery.
Dabney reached Triple-A in 2012 when he was assigned to the Nashville Sounds. Following a major shakeup last winter, the Brewers signed a contract with Colorado Springs.
The down side is that the move takes him further from his home in Venice, Fla, where wife Inger has a thriving dental practice. Son Dane
(20) just completed his redshirt freshman football season at Liberty University and 17-year-old Tanner has a summer job in Venice.
“They’re just a blessing,” Fred said. “Inger does a tremendous job, with me being gone during the summer. She’s the glue behind our family.”
Dabney has done OK with his ’second family’. In three plus seasons in the PCL, he has twice coached the league Pitcher of the Year (Jimmy Nelson in 2014, Johnny Hellweg in 2013) and helped lead Nashville to the league’s lowest ERA in 2014.
The league takes notice. Dabney has been notified that he will be the PCL pitching coach for the First National Bank Triple-A All-Star Game on July 15 at Omaha’s Werner Park.
“Branch Rickey, who is the league president, called me and said: ’hey, we wanted to talk to you about possibly being the All-Star pitching coach’,” Dabney said.
“My wife and I had plans during the All-Star break to spend some time together.
“I thought about it and I told them the next day that I’d do it - with her permission.
“It’s an opportunity. Any time you get asked to do something like that, it’s a good thing. I decided to accept gladly.”
The Sky Sox have had a rough start and currently sit in the basement in the PCL American Northern Division behind Oklahoma City, Omaha and Iowa. The team ERA also is higher than he would like.
That doesn’t mean the potential isn’t there.
“These players wouldn’t be here if we felt like they didn’t have potential to pitch in the big leagues,” Dabney said. “Everybody here at this level, they’re just a phone call away.”
Preparation begins well before the first pitch.
“My biggest thing at this level is to get them on the same page,” Dabney said. “The pitchers and catchers talk before the game, we go over hitters before the game. Everybody’s in communication with how we’re going to do certain things.
“At times, the catcher realizes that there might be some certain things that the pitcher is working on. Say it’s his third pitch. Well, we want him to have success throwing his third pitch and it’s his catcher’s responsibility to pick his times that he thinks are best to get that third pitch in so he can help develop it.
“It could be his fourth pitch.
“I’ve always told the guys that a catcher’s responsibility is to do everything he can to be on the same page with you. His job is to suggest.
“Ultimately, when that ball leaves your hand, you’re responsible for it. The catcher puts down a pitch and you’re not feeling it, shake him off and throw the pitch that you want to make, and throw it with conviction.
“Our catchers do a great job and they know a guy’s ability and strengths and know things they’re trying to develop and work on.
“It’s a big process. There’s a lot involved in it, and I think we do a good job here with that.”
It’s a long way from the old Lawton High diamond, where Dabney’s teammates included Kelly Stinnett, James Byrd and Charles Thompson.
He attended Cameron for one year and Seminole Junior College for one before being drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 15th round of the 1988 amateur draft.
He pitched in Utica, New York, South Bend, Sarasota, Birmingham, Nashville, Canton-Akron, Orlando and Iowa before joining the Mercuries Tigers in 1997.
“I always thought I was going to be a big league pitcher,” Dabney said. “That didn’t turn out.
“Being around the game and learning and feeling that you have things to offer other people - the good things and the bad things that happened in my career
- I just always thought that I wanted to be part of the game somehow. I was fortunate to get that opportunity.”
If you knew then what you know now, would you have made it?
“Ah, yes.
“I was of the generation where if a coach says something, you do it. And that’s a good philosophy to have. But I think the biggest thing for me is when I dropped down and threw sidearm. I would have questioned that a little bit because I did have a really good changeup.
“Everything happens for a reason, so I’m not disappointed.
“I think all the stuff that I went through made me a better coach. I think outside the box as a coach; I don’t try to put everybody in the same bubble.
“If I feel a guy needs to throw on a certain side of the rubber or he needs to develop a fourth pitch . I think all the stuff that I went through prepared me to be a better coach.
“My responsibility is the players, the pitchers that I deal with, and that’s what I focus on. I don’t on me and where I am. I focus on what I can do to help these pitchers be the best that they can be and have them reach their goals and ultimately creating value for our organization.”
A plus on playing in Oklahoma City is the opportunity to see family.
“It’s fun seeing my parents (Ed and Theresa), my brothers and some friends,” Dabney said. “It’s been a good time.”
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Information from: The Lawton Constitution, https://www.swoknews.com
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