Former UNLV outfielder Dobson gets his shot at the pros

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, July 30, 2003 | 8:45 a.m.

KEIZER, Ore. -- Three days into his first season in the minors, Pat Dobson got a rude awakening.

"The first day I got here, we played three games (in Salem) against Eugene, we finished the third game here at 11 at night," he said. "Our coach told us to be back here at 3:30 in the morning, we get on a bus, drive 12 hours to Boise, get off the bus ... and had 15 minutes to get dressed and be on the field stretching for a game that night. It was ridiculous.

"The guys were just saying, 'Welcome to pro ball.' That's what they say to each other, 'Welcome to pro ball.' "

Dobson, the 2002 California junior college player of the year, thus began his career in the minors, with the short-season Northwest League's Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. Dobson was the San Francisco Giants' 18th-round draft pick, after playing for the Mountain West champion UNLV Rebels this spring.

Dobson has sat out most of this summer because of an abdominal injury he suffered against San Diego State in spring. In the 15 games he has played for the Volcanoes, he has hit .231 with two stolen bases.

His wild summer started shortly before the baseball draft, when he had a meeting with then-UNLV coach Jim Schlossnagle about his future with the Rebels.

"He sat at a table across from me, and told me, when he was convincing me not to sign this year, telling me what the benefits were of going back to school. I asked him specifically if he was leaving, and he gave me a little grin and said, 'Why would I leave this place? Look what I'm doing here.' "

Two weeks after Dobson reported to the Giants, Schlossnagle left to take the head job at Texas Christian.

"I was really (upset)," Dobson said. "Two weeks after I leave, he's gone. That kind of hurt my feelings. The way he treated some of our other players ... he's a great recruiter, but my blood will always be at UNLV. I wouldn't go anywhere to help Schloss out."

Dobson, at first, didn't think he'd even get the opportunity to play professionally. A year after being passed over in the draft, he found himself waiting again, not getting the phone call he had dreamed about.

Dobson said he was told by both the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays that he would be picked in the seventh round. Neither called.

"After the 15th round, I stopped watching the draft. I drove over to school, and started hitting in the cages. I saw Coach Bud (Gouldsmith), and he congratulated me.

Dobson said he didn't know what Gouldsmith was talking about, "and and he said, 'You just got drafted.' "

Soon after, Dobson was at the Giants' extended spring training camp in Scottsdale, Ariz., and a week after that, he reported for duty in Salem. The difference between the minors and pro ball, particularly the lack of pressure, were welcome.

"The coaches are way more laid back, for lack of a better term," he said. "It lets you just go out there and play without any pressure, and you kind of figure out what parts of the game you understand and what parts of the game you're struggling with. And if there's something you don't understand, that's where they focus in on you and make a simple adjustment."

His biggest adjustment has been getting used to the grind, the long schedule, and yes, the buses.

"The difference is you're playing every day here," he said. "We have 81 games in 84 days. At UNLV we played 60 games in three months. It's understanding and learning how to play that type of game.

"Soon, we're going to be playing 162 games plus postseason.

"The coaches are trying to help us understand that there's different parts of the game that you don't have to go 100 percent, because your body can't go 100 percent all the time."

Which was part of the reason he had injury problems at UNLV.

"At Division I, it's win-win-win," he said. "So, there's no way with the success we were having, and the places I wanted to go, that I could shut it down. I played through this injury when I got here, they understood I was playing in pain, playing at just 50-60 percent, so we came to the conclusion that it'd be better to be at 100 percent later this season, and shut it down for a while.

"I don't want to say winning's not a big deal, because it is, but they're more concerned about getting healthy."

The injury has allowed Dobson to sit back and learn while adjusting to the way things are done in the pros, and enjoy the atmosphere of playing for real for the first time.

"I didn't know it'd be this fun," he said. "I'm having a blast -- I'm living my dream."