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<P align=center><FONT color=white face=arial><B>1.</B></FONT></P></TD>
<TD bgColor=#25358e> <B><FONT color=white size=3 face=arial>태너 쉐퍼스 Tanner Scheppers, RHP  1987. 1. 17.   6-4(193cm), 195 (88.4kg)</FONT></B>     </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR><IMG border=2 hspace=10 align=right src="http://pds16.egloos.com/pds/200909/28/60/d0029960_4abf7e0298b9d.jpg"> 프레스노대학에 갓 입학할 때만 해도 <STRONG>태너 쉐퍼스</STRONG>는 180cm 정도의 보통 키에 강한 어깨 정도만 눈에 띄는 평범한 유격수였다. 고교 마지막 토너먼트에서 마침 팀에 투수가 더 없어 감독은 쉐퍼스를 마운드에 올렸는데 당시 쉐퍼스는 변화구도 던질 줄 몰랐다. 그런데 땜방으로 시작한 투구가 땜방에 그치지 않았다. 그날 '온리 직구'로 던졌던 쉐퍼스는 6이닝을 던졌고 시즌 막판에는 50이닝을 던지고 있었다. 어깨만 믿고 뿌렸던 구속도 처음 80마일 중반대에서 어느덧 90마일 초반이 나오고 있었다. </P>
<P> 그렇게 투구와 연을 맺은 쉐퍼스는 볼티모어의 29라운드 지명을 거부하고 대학에서 본격적인 투수수업을 받는다. 어느덧 쉐퍼스는 유격수를 보기엔 너무 큰 193cm의 장신으로 자라 있었고 과거 메이저리그 투수출신의 바비 존스는 사이드암에 가까웠던 초보투수의 팔각도를 높여주어 공을 내리꽂듯 던질 수 있게 해주었다. 마운드에 올려봤더니 93-96마일의 불같은 패스트볼과 83-86마일의 슬라이더를 구사했다. 뒤늦게 투수를 시작해 싱싱한 어깨를 가졌을 뿐 아니라 입학할 때부터 쉐퍼스는 깔끔한 투구폼을 가지고 있었다. </P>
<P> 해를 거듭할수록 사람들이 기대했던 쉐퍼스의 발전가능성이 진가를 발휘하기 시작했다. 스피드건에는 100마일에 가까운 구속들이 찍히기 시작했고 패스트볼과 슬라이더의 조합만으로도 대학리그의 타자들을 압도할 수 있는 투수가 되어 있었다. 선발로 나올 땐 90마일 중반대에서 구원으로 나올 때는 90마일 후반대까지 구속이 상승하는 패스트볼은 무브먼트도 좋을 뿐 아니라 카운트를 잡는데도 유용한 구질이었다. 슬라이더도 최고 90마일까지 나오는 파워슬라이더를 구사했으며 이후에는 상대적으로 느리지만 역시 커브 중에선 파워커브인 74-78마일의 변화구를 구사하게 된다. </P>
<P> 2008년 드래프트는 대학과 고교에서 다양한 유망주가 쏟아졌으나 상위에는 브라이언 매티스(샌디에이고 대학), 애런 크로우(미저리), 크리스챤 프리드리히(이스턴켄터키) 같은 대학투수 유망주들이 포진하고 있었고 태너 쉐퍼스(프레스노) 역시 이들과 함께 당당히 Top 10 에 들어갈 재능으로 꼽히고 있었다. </P>

Quick Jumper

Sheppers quickly becomes a pitching prospect

By Aaron Fitt
February 19, 2008

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Tanner Scheppers was a 6-foot shortstop with a quick arm who had never pitched in a game when Fresno State signed him in November of 2004 as a senior at California's Dana Hills High.
캘리포니아에 있는 데이나힐 고등학교를 마치고 2004년 11월 프레스노 주립대 입학서에 갓 서명한 태너 쉐퍼스는 마운드에 한 번도 올라가본 적이 없는 키 183cm의 번개같은 어깨를 가진 '유격수'였다.

Three years later, Scheppers has emerged as the Bulldogs' ace and a potential first-round pick.
3년이 지난 후, 쉐퍼스는 불독스(프레스노 주립대 야구팀 이름)의 에이스가 되었고 향후 1라운드감으로 떠올랐다.

Scheppers got his first taste of pitching when Dana Hills ran out of arms at a tournament in the spring of 2005. There was no one else who could pitch, so Scheppers got up on the mound and threw as hard as he could. He didn't even have a breaking ball, but he lasted six innings.
쉐퍼스는 2005년 봄 토너먼트에서 데이나힐 고교에서 남아있는 투수가 없자 처음으로 마운드에 올라가 본 적이 있기는 하다. 투수를 볼 수 있는 선수가 한 명도 없었기 때문에 쉐퍼스가 마운드에 오른 것이었고 태너는 자신이 던질 수 있는 힘껏 공을 던졌다. 당시 그는 변화구도 던질 줄 몰랐다. 그런데 6이닝을 계속 던졌다.

He ended up throwing close to 50 innings that season, relying solely on his competitive nature and a mid-80s fastball that sometimes flirted with the low 90s. The Orioles saw enough promise in him to draft him in the 29th round that June, but he opted to take his chances in school.

When Scheppers showed up on Fresno State's campus that fall, he was a gangly 6-foot-4 shortstop with no particular inclination to pitch, despite dabbling on the mound that spring.

"We watched him take a few groundballs and throw balls across the diamond," Bulldogs coach Mike Batesole recalls, "and we said, 'Why don't you go out and throw a bullpen?'"

That's how obvious it was that Scheppers had a chance to be special on the mound.

"He was one of those guys that you see the arm action and the delivery and you think, 'This could be one of those guys that really blossoms,'" Fresno State recruiting coordinator Matt Curtis said. "By the time we got him as a freshman, he was up to 91 (mph), and still feeling his oats as far as command. We liked the arm action, the clean delivery, the projectable body, and we just felt it was in there."

The Bulldogs were right, as it turns out. As Scheppers enters his junior season, he is not yet a household name around college baseball, but he is one of the first names on the lips of West Coast scouts, who are excited by the righthander's 93-96 mph fastball and above-average 83-86 slider with good depth. He could wind up as a first-round pick come June, but it has taken time and hard work to unlock his significant potential.

'An Amazing Arm'

The first of Scheppers' three pitching coaches in three years with the Bulldogs was former big leaguer Bobby Jones, an all-star righthander for the Mets and a one-time first-round draft pick out of Fresno State in his own right. Jones could see that Scheppers was capable of following in his footsteps.

"At the very beginning of my freshman year," Scheppers said, "Bobby Jones sat me down and said, 'You have an amazing arm, and we think your future is pitching. You're a great shortstop, but realistically you need to focus on just one thing.'"

There was plenty of work to be done before Scheppers was ready to pitch at the Division I level. In high school, Scheppers threw from nearly a sidearm slot and tended to collapse his back, so Jones put a brace on his leg to straighten him out, and raised his arm slot to high three-quarters. It took time for Scheppers to adapt to the speed of the game, learn to control the running game and how to react to adversity on the mound. But it didn't take much time for Scheppers to learn other important lessons.

"From high school to Division I baseball, it's a completely different world, that's for sure," Scheppers said. "You can't get away with the 90-mile-per-hour fastball belt high. I learned that control is the biggest part of the game, keeping the ball down in the zone."

Scheppers made just 12 appearances in his 2006 freshman year, going 1-0, 9.00 with 16 strikeouts and 15 walks in 15 innings. But that summer, while pitching for the Santa Barbara Foresters in the California Collegiate League, Scheppers started to become more comfortable with his delivery and with game situations. On top of that, he started filling out his lanky frame, and his velocity climbed into the consistent 91-93 range.

By the time the 2007 season started, Scheppers no longer looked like a gangly pitcher as he rediscovered the athlete who played shortstop in high school. He started the season in a swing role, and his velocity continued to climb throughout the season—on his fastball, but also on his electric slider, which sometimes even reached 90 mph according to Batesole. His sophomore year pitching coach, Ted Silva, emphasized being aggressive on the mound, and Scheppers developed enough confidence in his slider to throw it in a variety of counts to both righthanded and lefthanded hitters. He mixed in a slower 12-to-6 curveball to change the eye level for lefthanded hitters as well as a changeup that was really just a show pitch. But there was little reason to stray far from his dominant fastball-slider attack, which carried him into Fresno State's weekend rotation down the stretch.

"He's just gotten better and better and better," Batesole said. "Guys say that about a lot of guys, but he's become a man right before our eyes. At the end of last year, his last five or six starts, it was electric. You can call me nuts—I don't even know what 100 mile an hour looks like, but he threw a couple pitches last year where I just said, 'What the heck?' He's got that in him."

Peak Performance

Scheppers was peaking at the perfect time for the Bulldogs, who earned the No. 4 seed in the San Diego regional last year. He was dominant in relief in Fresno's opening game against the top-seeded Toreros, allowing one hit while striking out three over 31⁄3 scoreless innings, as the Bulldogs pulled off a 6-2 upset victory.

He got the start two days later in an elimination game against Minnesota. After Scheppers cruised through three scoreless innings, striking out four, the first Minnesota batter of the fourth inning lined a ball off Scheppers' face.

"I really don't remember the pitch, and I remember waking up with my coach around me, and a bunch of people around," Scheppers said. "I did get knocked out and black out at that point. I've seen videos and stuff of it, and it was a pretty bad pitch, that's for sure. If I've learned one thing, it's not to hang a slider in a 1-2 count."

Scheppers was rushed to a local hospital, and the Bulldogs stayed alive with an 11-6 win. Scheppers returned to Tony Gwynn Stadium later that day—sporting a lump that looked like a second forehead above his right eye—and rejoined his teammates during the third inning of their season-ending 13-2 loss to Cal State Fullerton.

"This is a tough kid—he showed up the next game against Fullerton and wanted the ball," Batesole said. "He said, 'Coach, I'm ready to pitch today.' Of course I couldn't do it, but that's the kind of kid he is."