By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jeff Austin never felt like he fit in with the Kansas City Royals organization, but he seems to have found a home with the Reds.

The former reliever, who was called up from Triple-A Louisville April 19, took a 2-1 record and the lowest ERA of any Red who has started this season (4.44) into Saturday's game at Milwaukee. He had his roughest outing of the season, allowing five runs and six walks in 3 1/3 innings against the Brewers, and received a no-decision in an 8-6 loss, but the Reds think he can be a steady presence in their rotation.

AUSTIN FILE

• Full name: Jeffrey Wellington Austin • Born: Oct. 19, 1976, San Bernardino, Calif. • Bats/Throws: Right • College: Stanford, received English degree in 1999 • Highlights: Named Baseball America's College Player of the Year in 1998 after going 12-4 with a 3.11 ERA. Finished fourth on Stanford's all-time strikeout list with 317 and finished college career with a 23-10 record and 3.60 ERA. • Beginnings: Selected by Montreal in 10th round of 1995 free agent draft but did not sign. Made major-league debut June 26, 2001.

"I think he has the potential to be a solid, major-league starting pitcher," Reds general manager Jim Bowden said earlier in the week. "We traded two A-(level) players in the hopes that (Reds pitching coach) Don Gullett can help him make some adjustments, and hope he gets some opportunities here he didn't get (with the Royals)."

Austin, 26, says he wasn't the prototypical Royals pitcher.

"They have so many quality arms over there - young quality arms - with guys like Ryan Bukvich, Mike MacDougal, Jeremy Hill and Jason Grimsley," Austin said. "That's four guys throwing almost 100 miles an hour. So, the guy that is throwing 95 (which Austin was reaching on the radar gun when he was a pure fastball-slider guy out of the KC bullpen) gets lost in the shuffle."

The Reds aren't going to get any of those flame-throwers. And they're not going to get Kyle Snyder, either.

"He's going to be a great pitcher," Austin said. "He's got Cy Young stuff."

What the Reds did get from Kansas City is the best their general manager could waggle out of it, the guy who got lost in the shuffle. Austin wasn't given much consideration in the Royals' starting rotation, but he is figuring strongly into the Reds' plans.

"I didn't feel the (Royals) organization had confidence in me," Austin said. "It was as though what I was doing wasn't what they wanted. From Day 1 over here, they've shown nothing but confidence in me."

Then Austin said something that might be the key to it all.

"Another thing we have over here that Kansas City doesn't have is Don Gullett. From the first bullpen session I had with Don, he simplified everything. It was like somebody just turned the light back on for me."

What exactly did Gullett do?

"He said, 'Jeff, I want you to throw the ball downhill,' " Austin said. "Well, I'd heard that 15 times over at Kansas City's place. For whatever reason it didn't click. Or they didn't show me, the way Don did. With Kansas City, it was almost like, 'Well, this kid had success in college - he had so much success in college - that he'll figure it out. Let's not change anything.' "

Austin was Baseball America's College Baseball Player of the Year at Stanford University in 1998.

Gullett's phraseology is what clicked.

"He said, 'Jeff, you've got good stuff, but what happens if we do this?' He said, 'When you throw it downhill, if you bounce it, that's OK. Just don't miss up here (high).' And everything came back! I don't know if it was a difference in arm slot, or a difference in getting 'out front,' but thank goodness he's here," Austin said.

Austin doesn't know the philosophy of the Reds' scouting and development departments in regard to starting pitching. But Austin likes what he sees at the Reds' major-league level. He sees guys getting chances under Gullett's tutelage, and he sees them getting better. He sees a staff being developed. He sees no evidence of malice on the part of the Reds' hitters that these starting pitchers' growing pains sometimes leave the offense so far behind that they have to bomb their way back.

So even though the Reds might be one of the worst teams in the majors at finding and developing starting pitchers, they are somehow staying alive with a patchwork starting rotation - and Austin is helping to lead the way.

Austin likes the way the Reds' big-league club focuses most of its workouts in the weight room on game preparation.

"What Kansas City does a good job of is finding specimens," Austin said. "Look at guys like Kyle Snyder and Mike MacDougal. Those guys are 6-foot-5 and they throw hard. Even in the way (the Royals) work out, they're much more focused on building muscles. I was shocked when I went into the weight room here. Over here, everything is so much more game-oriented, baseball-oriented. You build muscles over there; you build skills over here. I like that."

But face it: The Royals have had more success at keeping their minor-league pitchers healthy, and getting them to the major leagues.

The Reds have done more with less at the big-league level, but too many of their high-level draft choices have been derailed by arm injuries and shelved for periods by surgery (such as No. 1 picks Ty Howington and Chris Gruler).

Maybe there's something good in KC's weight program. Maybe it just didn't work for Austin. Maybe he is better suited to being in red.

Austin said he doesn't think Kansas City knew what to do with him after they drafted him with the fourth overall pick.

"I think what they were looking for was a Kerry Wood," said Austin, referring to the Chicago Cubs' hard-throwing right-hander. "I think they wanted somebody who was going to strike out 15 guys every game. And when they got me, they didn't see that. I don't think they knew what they got."

E-mail jerardi@enquirer.com