By RUSS CHARPENTIER 
STAFF WRITER, Cape Cod Times 1/10/99
-- IN BASEBALL, this is the time of year a young man's fancy turns toward spring. That would certainly be true for one right-handed pitcher who is looking to continue a climb up the minor league ladder.
--West Barnstable's Peter Princi, who turns 23 on Feb. 4, headed South last week, baseball glove in tow. The kid from the Cape got his toes wet in the minors last year, signing with the New York Mets as a free agent in June after graduating from Wake Forest University with a degree in business.
--Princi spent the summer pitching for Pittsfield, a short-season Single A team in the New York-Penn League, and showed enough promise and potential to be invited back this year.
--Naturally, he can't wait to get going after an off-season spent in the Hyannis offices of Smith Barney Inc., and Cape Cod Bank and Trust. But the 6-3 Princi also hit the gym hard and put on a needed 15 pounds to reach 200 and hopefully speed up his fastball a little. He also threw some in a local gym with ex-Red Sox hurler Greg Harris, who lives on the Cape.
-- But the inner clock of a ball player tells him it's time to be where it's warm. Pitchers and catchers report to the Mets' minor league camp in Port Saint Lucie March 6 and they better be ready to go.
--Hoping to make Double-A
-- Princi will be. He'll work out for a couple of weeks with college coach George Greer at Wake Forest in North Carolina, then move on to Florida. There he'll work at the Mets camp in Port St. Lucie, and also throw to his catcher from last summer in Pittsfield, Mike Ribaudo, who lives in Sarasota.
--"My goal is to start off at St. Lucie (Class A) and hopefully get a shot at Double A by the end of the season," Princi said.
-- New York Mets assistant farm director Kevin Morgan said that will all play out in spring training.
-- "It would be Columbia (S.C., of the Class A South Atlantic League) or Port St. Lucie (Florida State League), I would think,'' Morgan said. "We had a championship team in Columbia last year and a lot of guys moved up, so there should be some openings there."
-- It's a long shot for any minor leaguer to reach the majors - only about 10 percent of those who sign pro contracts ever make it to the big leagues. Princi is aware of that. But he's willing to put in his time and work hard to chase the dream that hit him when he was a kid, pitching at the Barnstable Little League Field behind the Kennedy Rink.
-- "Hopefully my hard work will pay off," he said. "If not, I can say I had a wonderful career. I learned a lot from baseball I can use in life. But my goal since I was 8 years old has been to play in the big leagues."
-- Which is why Princi found himself at Waconah Park in Pittsfield one night last June, coming on to start the seventh inning of a one-run game. It was his first appearance on a pitching mound while drawing a paycheck, and it was nearly overwhelming.
-- "I was nervous," Princi said. "I had been there a week but had only thrown a couple of times in the bullpen. I uncorked a wild pitch on my first pitch. My first three pitches were balls. I had to step off the mound and gather myself and think of how many hours it took to get where I was. They call it a focal point. You step off, take a deep breath and look at something. In the outfield or somewhere. Maybe the trees in the distance."
-- He straightened out from there, with a little help.
-- A special source of help
-- "When I'm out there I really get into a zone," he said. "It's kind of crazy to think, but I feel like my mom's there with me. I was 13 years old, in eighth grade, when she passed away. She came to all my games all through little league. My dad and my mom went to all my games.
-- "Even in little league I was competitive as hell," said Princi. "I kicked dirt. I remember my mom's voice always soothed me when I was on the mound and I'd get this extra focus. To this day, if something's going wrong, I can take a deep breath and still feel her presence out there. Maybe it's a coincidence, but when I'm really in a zone it's like there's something else there guiding the ball to the plate. Maybe it's just because I'm in a zone, but I feel her out there."
-- The summer went better for Princi as he went along. Working with Pittsfield pitching coach Doug Simons and organizational coach Al Jackson, he overcame a midseason slump and didn't allow a run in his last 13 innings. He finished 1-3, 5.75 ERA, with three saves. He allowed 47 hits in 40ª innings, struck out 38 and walked 22. He was used mainly in the setup and closer roles, pitching one or two innings at a time.
-- At that level, though, it's not statistics that the baseball braintrust are looking for.
-- "He did a respectable job,'' Morgan said. "Now it's a matter of coming into spring training and continuing the learning process. Hopefully he'll continue to make progress. He's been able to work with some of our pitching coordinators. He's eager to learn and that will help.''
-- Princi threw his fastball consistently between 88 and 92 mph last year and said he'll need to increase that to become closer material. And he'd like more consistency with his control.
-- As for learning, Princi said he's all eyes and ears.
-- "I have a lot to learn," he said. "I'm only 22. By watching, I learn something every day.''
-- What he learned last summer was pro ball is a seven-day-a-week, nine-hour-a-day job that at the Class A level pays $1,000 a month. He also learned that at each rung up the ladder you climb, the quality of the competition only increases. 
-- Constant improvement needed
-- The fact that in 1993 he was the winning pitcher in the state American Legion championship game for Sandwich Post 188 means nothing now. That he pitched in the Cape League for three summers helped him get here, but he knows if he doesn't continue to improve, he'll be back on the Cape - and out of baseball.
-- "It's a cut-throat business,'' Princi said. "If they don't think you have the potential to reach the big leagues, they won't keep you around.''
-- Life in the bushes. All baseball fans have heard the stories: broken-down buses, flea-bag hotels. Lousy stadiums with poor lighting and even worse playing fields. 
-- "Everyone asks me if it's like Bull Durham,'' Princi said. "It's not that bad. At least with the Mets. They put us up in nice hotels. The bus rides in the league were long, up to 12 hours, but we had nice buses.''
-- Even Pittsfield was a good place to play.
-- "We probably averaged 4,500 fans a game,'' Princi said. "I had a great summer. A lot of New York fans would go to the Berkshires for a vacation and go to Pittsfield for a game.
-- "One game I blew a save and heard boos as I left the field. The next night I got the save and got a standing ovation. Emotionally, you just have to stay on an even keel.''
-- Princi pitched in front of 9,000 fans one night in Erie, Pa.
-- "I loved pitching in Lowell. They drew 5,000 every night, packed the stadium. Once you're on the mound, though, you have to block everything out.''
-- Not during the off-season, though. That's when Peter Princi allows himself to dream. Every drop of sweat in the weight room, every stride on his runs just might bring him one step closer to Shea Stadium and The Show.
-- "I'll be 23 this season,'' Princi said. "The average age guys get to the majors is around 25.''
-- So he'll keep working. He'll keep learning. And eventually he'll find out if he has what it takes to step on the mound in New York City. 
-- When and if he does, he knows he won't be alone.