LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Franklyn Kilome plopped his hands on his head and leaned back in a folding chair. As the lanky Dominican pitcher sat in a corner of the home clubhouse last Tuesday at First Energy Park, his pitching coach whispered words of advice. The two men, separated by 17 years, met for almost 10 minutes.
Brian Sweeney shook Kilome's hand. Sweeney, a former big-league pitcher and the first-year pitching coach at single-A Lakewood, smiled.
Development, specifically in the South Atlantic League for a pitcher with meager experience, is not a straight line. But it can be a beautiful thing, even on the nights when a touted starter cannot pitch past the fourth inning.