Cory Stuart's Greatest Achievement

It was a storybook year for Cory Stuart of the Staten Island Yankees after missing the entire 2004 season with chronic tendonitis in his elbow. Learning a new arm angle and despite a tremendous season that culminated in a league championship, Stuart's greatest achievement was remaining pain free.

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"I like to stay aggressive and throw strikes. Throwing strikes is the key for me. I have good stuff and I just need to let it happen. If I can do that this season, it should be a great year," Staten Island reliever Cory Stuart prophesied to PinstripesPlus.com in an interview back in January.

Fast forward to eight months later after Stuart and the Staten Island Yankees won the 2005 New York Penn League Championship on Thursday, completing an improbable 52-24 regular season culminating in a two-game playoff sweep over the Williamsport Crosscutters before sweeping the Auburn Doubledays in two games for the NY-Penn League title.

Stuart's contributions - a 3-1 record with 7 saves and a 0.83 ERA in 22 appearances - were a big reason why Staten Island was able to win their league championship.

"I'm happy with what I've done," Stuart told us in an recent interview. "I just tried to contribute as much out of the bullpen as I can. It is kind of a team effort down there."

Despite averaging almost 14 strikeouts per 9 innings and having the amazing statistics to go along with his dominant stuff, Stuart remembers what the keys were to his season.

"I've been fighting through elbow problems the last two, two and half years," a modest Stuart reflected. "I've just been trying to stay as healthy as I can. Basically that's what I was trying to do [in Extended Spring Training]. I feel good, definitely the best I've felt in a while. Everything's going good now."

Despite possessing a very good 2-seam fastball clocked in the low 90's and a devastating slider, there was another reason for his dramatic success in 2005.

"I changed my arm angle," Stuart revealed. "I just wanted my arm to feel better so that was something I had to work on, finding a release point from a different angle. It was difficult at first but other than that I've been [concentrating on] throwing strikes."

Stuart has worked to compliment his two plus pitches with a developing changeup, a pitch he hopes will ensure his success at the higher levels.

"I worked on a changeup a little bit too," added Stuart. "I'm going to need that pitch as I move up the minor leagues, a level or two. I'm just trying to mix it in as often as I can. I see a lot of right-handed batters but if I see a point where I can throw it, I will."

While his 2-seam fastball and his developing changeup were pitches that worked for him this past season, it was his relentless slider that had coaches and teammates alike raving about the former closer for the University of British Columbia.

"I'd put his slider right up there with [Josh] Schmidt's as very above average," an impressed P.J. Pilittere told us. "He comes down sidearm a little bit and he can be really, really dominating with that slider. "Not too many guys are touching it. His is pretty phenomenal."

While posting dominant numbers out of the bullpen and winning a league title were arguably more than he could have hoped for in 2005 after missing the entire 2004 season, the fact that Stuart remained healthy the entire year was perhaps his biggest accomplishment.

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