M. Connolly is growing up fast

[an error occurred while processing this directive]His face is fuller than that of the 17-year-old’s drafted out of high school by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2000. Back then, the Pirates took a chance on an unproven, 169-pound lefty in the 19th round of the amateur draft. Today, they have a stockier Triple-A starter who weighs 197 pounds, which is still a bit on the small side. (Of the 13 other pitchers on Indianapolis’ roster, two weigh less than Connolly.)

He’s still polite but with a harder edge. Allowing five runs in four-plus innings of Wednesday’s 8-7 loss to the Syracuse SkyChiefs may have had something to do with that.

Then again, maybe it’s because after six starts, he’s still searching for his first Triple-A victory. Or maybe his Boeing jet-sounding 7.67 ERA had him down. Perhaps it’s the lingering effects from a left-elbow surgery that ended his 2004 season a month early.

"I pitched well earlier this year and got moved up and it’s just an adjustment to the next level, and then adjusting to the level after that," said Connolly, who went 5-6 with a 3.32 ERA for the Double-A Altoona Curve before his June 28 promotion. "It just takes a little time. Hopefully, I can figure it out here soon."

The sooner the better for Connolly, whose baseball career is teetering at the Triple-A level. He’s one step away from the major leagues, but there are no guarantees he’ll ever make it there. He could be a career minor leaguer, he may never fully recover from last season’s surgery and he has no idea where he’ll play next season.

"I just want to go out there and play well and give (the Pirates) no reason not to let me play in the bigs," Connolly said. "Hopefully, they consider me a player who can play in the big leagues."

The big question for Connolly (0-2) is whether the Pirates — or any of the other 29 big-league organizations — consider him to be good enough for the majors.

"He’s a very competitive young man and he has a good feel for pitching," Indians manager Trent Jewett said of Connolly, "and his passion is very solid."

When asked specifically about Connolly’s stuff, Jewett said: "At some point, he will (have big-league stuff). I don’t think his stuff has progressed all the way back to where he’s used to pitching. I think at some point it will come back. Usually, the second year back off an injury, the arm starts to come back and your concern about re-injury goes away. I’m not concerned about his stuff."

Connolly had bone chips removed from his elbow last August. His velocity didn’t appear to be all the way back Wednesday.

Two years ago in a start for Altoona at Binghamton, Connolly’s fastball was clocked between 89-91 mph. In Wednesday’s start, his fastest was 87, but most pitches fell in the 85-86 range.

"I went through some aches and pains early in the year and now I’m starting to feel good," Connolly said. "My arm is starting to come back a little bit."

Connolly had his moments Wednesday, but not all were good.

Syracuse’s first four hitters were lefties, and Connolly allowed one hit and struck out three in their 10 combined at-bats against him.

"Because I’m left-handed, I can throw some off-speed sliders and stuff like that to the lefties and get them to chase pitches," said Connolly, who was hit hard by the same lefties in his previous start, an 8-5 loss to the SkyChiefs. Connolly gave up all eight runs in an outing that lasted four innings.

"He made the right adjustments (against the lefties)," Jewett said.

However, Connolly had little success against Syracuse’s right-handers Wednesday as the Nos. 5-9 batters went 6-for-9 with four hard-hit doubles.

"Getting hit around, you can’t let it bother you," said Connolly, a two-time Daily Star Player of the Year. "Every pitcher goes through it and it’s just how you come back from your last outing, going out there and competing and battling."

What Connolly could use over this season’s final month is a stretch similar to what younger brother Jon did in 2003. That season, Jon Connolly, 21, went 16-3 for the West Michigan Whitecaps with a 1.41 ERA.

Mike Connolly has performed well throughout his career, but he’s yet to put together a truly dominant stretch. He has a career record of 42-35 and an ERA of 3.80. In 614 innings, Connolly has struck out 561 and walked 207.

"Whenever you’re in Triple-A, you feel like you’re right there," said Connolly, whose brother is in Arizona rehabbing after recent season-ending shoulder surgery. Jon was playing Double-A baseball in the Cubs’ organization before the operation on his pitching shoulder. "You know it’s right there and you know you just want to go out and perform well."

After this season, Connolly’s future is up in the air. He’ll be a six-year free agent at the end of the year, which means if the Pirates don’t protect him on their 40-man roster, Connolly is free to sign with another organization.

"I’m happy where I’m at," he said. "They’ve treated me well. I’m not really concerned where I play. I just want to go out there and have fun and enjoy doing what I do."

Connolly said playing in Indianapolis — a big city that’s home to NFL and NBA franchises — has been different in a good way.

"The field is really nice," he said. "You can see the RCA Dome and the city skyline behind the outfield. They take care of you well. I can only imagine what it’s like in the big leagues and how they take care of you there."

Maybe one day he’ll find out.