Syracuse Chiefs Baseball

Chiefs reliever Josh Wilkie improves his game, hopes to be called up soon

All the thoughts and curiosities that can roll around the head of Syracuse Chiefs reliever Josh Wilkie boil down to one when a baseball spins out of his hand and at an opposing batter.

‘‘I know I don’t have the best stuff in the league. But I have to believe I’m the best,’’ he said. ‘‘You have to think you’re going to get everybody out. This guy (the hitter) is not better than me.’’

Sometimes Wilkie is right. He recently ran off a streak of 15 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run, a stretch that ran almost the entire month of July.

Sometimes that confidence is folly. The scoreless streak was snapped by a walkoff RBI single from Toledo’s Clete Thomas on Saturday and Sunday the Mud Hens’ Scott Thurman turned off the lights with a game-ending grand slam against the reliever.

The results vary, the process remains the same.

‘‘Pitching has a lot to do with confidence, how you perceive yourself on the mound,’’ said Wilkie, 27. ‘‘You just have to roll with it when you’re doing well, and battle it when you’re not. You think you deserve a shot (at the majors), you don’t get that opportunity, you don’t doubt yourself. You have to clear those thoughts, pitch with an edge.’’

The intense righty has navigated that thin boundary for six seasons. He was an accomplished, four-year starting pitcher at George Washington University but drew no interest in the draft.

He signed with the Washington Nationals as a free agent in 2006 and got tossed into the back end of the bullpen with the challenge of surpassing more highly regarded prospects in the fight for innings.

‘‘I was really frustrated, of course. I wanted to play baseball,’’ he said of not getting drafted. ‘‘That’s what drives me. That’s why I’m here now. That’s my edge. I want to say, (the heck with) you, look at me now.’’

A lot of people got an eyeful at Wilkie the past five years, just not necessarily the right ones. He’s made stops on every step of the organizational escalator, usually doing well but failing to find someone to champion his cause. He’s still waiting for his first chance in Washington.

‘‘He needs somebody up there that knows him and gives him a shot. Nobody’s had him before, that’s up there,’’ said Syracuse manager Randy Knorr, who managed Wilkie in Single-A Potomac. ‘‘I think he’s one of those guys you have to watch for awhile, see how good he is, that he’s always getting people out. There’s something to say when you get people out.

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