Gulf freshman Kyle Trouton has pitched like a varsity veteran this season

By JOEY KNIGHT

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Gulf High freshman Kyle Trouton doesn't stand at the threshold of teenage independence; he sits, patiently.

While his Bucs teammates hop into an assortment of pickups and SUVs after a recent practice at Rudy Snyder Field, Trouton rests on a set of wooden bleachers. Waiting for a ride from your mom is a public indignity to which this 15-year-old apparently has grown accustomed.

"By next season I'll have my driver's license, so it isn't that bad," said Trouton, only 4 when his idol, Atlanta Braves outfielder Chipper Jones, made his big-league debut. "But I just sit here like, "Where's my mom?' I still have to ask my mom to take me everywhere."

So maybe Trouton can't get one over on the Department of Motor Vehicles. For now, that's OK. As long as he continues this dead-on impersonation of a varsity veteran when he's pitching, Gulf's coaches will transport this 5-foot-5 left-hander any place he desires.

"I've never seen a kid that's got better composure for a ninth-grader," Bucs pitching coach Dan Fagan said. "It's just unbelievable."

Thrust into the ace's role while Kevin Fagan -- Dan's son -- spent the early part of the season on the shelf with a shoulder injury, Trouton has carried all 140 pounds of his weight and joined an ever-growing fraternity of solid Pasco County left-handers.

More than that, he has come to represent the microcosm of Coach Shaun Wiemer's 2-13 club: young, promising and a year or so from being really special.

While his numbers (1-3, 3.24 ERA in 21 innings) seem as modest as his stature, Trouton's emergence as a dependable starter -- and reliever -- could transform the Bucs into a district tournament spoiler if Fagan's health keeps progressing.

After all, this is a club that has squandered leads of four or more runs to Land O' Lakes, Mitchell and Zephyrhills; and led Ridgewood 1-0 in the fourth inning Friday before collapsing.

"They're seeing that light at the end of the tunnel," Wiemer said. "They know it does not matter what record you bring into districts when we go to Hudson [for the Class 4A-District 10 Tournament] that week. They understand that."

Trouton, who lives on the border dividing the Gulf and Mitchell school boundaries, appeared destined to be a Mustang, but was turned away when Mitchell's population capped out. He joined Gulf for the county's summer wooden-bat league last year, but never pitched.

"We were trying to work our main pitchers," Dan Fagan said. "So we weren't aware he was as good as he was."

The epiphany came during tryouts for the spring season. Though Trouton's change-up needed work, he threw his curve and 75-mph fastball for strikes and displayed what Fagan called "exceptional" mechanics.

Later, the coaches discovered his poise and resilience.

He got his first varsity win in a 6-3 upset of Hudson on March 12, scattering five hits in four innings. In last week's 11-9 loss to Mitchell, Trouton watched his defense surrender three first-inning runs, but responded by allowing one run over the next four innings.

"If you get rattled then it just all goes down from there," Trouton said.

"He's done that all year," Dan Fagan added. "If he has a bad inning, he runs back out to the mound. He runs out to the mound. He loves it so much."

With only one game during spring break, Trouton isn't expected to pitch until next week. If he can stay fresh, and Kevin Fagan's rehab remains on pace, the only thing short about Gulf's district tournament stay may be its diminutive southpaw.

"That's our goal now, to work and get [Kevin] back into shape," Dan Fagan said. "It's all going to be right at districts. Kyle's going to be so much stronger because of all the experience that he's getting. It's going to give us a good one-two."