Farm-raised Roy Corcoran emerges with Mariners

Roy Corcoran might have the best drawl in ball.

His accent is pure country, redolent of the Deep South, befitting someone who grew up in the tiny Louisiana town of Slaughter.

"People mention my Southern accent everywhere I go," Corcoran said. "Everywhere. It never stops. I don't see anything wrong with it. But I hear myself on film, it's pretty bad. I grew up around it. That's probably why it's so heavy."

The population of Slaughter in the 2000 census was 1,011 — "but it wasn't like that years ago when I was a kid," Corcoran points out. "It's grown a little bit. We call that growth."

The growth spurt resulted in Slaughter being upgraded from "village" to "town." Slaughter is about 100 miles northwest of New Orleans, and 27 miles north of Baton Rouge. But as Corcoran once pointed out, "People in Baton Rouge don't even know where Slaughter is."

People in Slaughter know exactly where Roy Corcoran is, however. They're following closely his emergence as a right-handed reliever with increasing responsibility and an expanding future in the Mariners bullpen.

"It's thrilling," said Barbara Corcoran, Roy's mom, by phone from Slaughter, where folks are digging out from the thankfully minimal damage of Hurricane Gustav while bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Ike.

"It's also nerve-racking. We watch all the games. But they come on late, and Roy's not coming in until the seventh or eighth inning. I try to take a nap first."

What she has seen is Corcoran develop from a pitcher who was not even in Seattle's plans as a nonroster invitee in spring training to one who has worked his way into a vital late-inning role this year, and perhaps beyond.

"I see him as a guy that next year, when we're talking about getting someone to replace [Brandon] Morrow as a right-handed setup guy, Roy has to be considered for that," said Mariners bullpen coach Norm Charlton. "He doesn't have a 97 [mph fastball], but he gets outs in big situations."

And he's also a blast to have around the bullpen.

"The 'pen's entertaining enough," Charlton said, "but you add Roy, it becomes almost like a comedy show."

That's just Roy being Roy. Actually, it's Roy being Slaughter.

This is a guy who was reading tractorhouse.com (which bills itself as "your headquarters for farm equipment used and new") when he got called up to the Mariners in early April.

This is a guy who once described his winter training regimen to an interviewer like this: "I just throw a tarp over a tree limb and throw at it."

Here's how Barbara Corcoran describes Slaughter: "There's one service station, a little grocery store, a post office, an elementary school, some welding and industrial shops. And that's it. It's a small country town."

Here's how Roy describes growing up in Slaughter — or more accurately, on a farm outside of town: "It was awesome. I couldn't have asked for anything better. I knew everyone, everyone knew me. I lived by all my cousins and sisters.

"People ask me if I'm going to move somewhere else. I'll never move anywhere else. I'll be at home for the rest of my life."

Roy, 28, is one of two pitchers from Slaughter to make it to the big leagues.

The other happens to be his brother, Tim, two years older, who pitched parts of 2005, '06 and '07 with the Tampa Bay Rays. Tim spent this year in the Florida Marlins' farm system, battling back from an elbow injury.

The Corcoran boys were driven naturally to baseball. Barbara's grandfather played semipro ball, and her husband, Elliot, also had ballplayers in the family. Barbara Corcoran herself was a fastpitch player until she was 30.

"When the boys were 5 and 3, I started Tim in T-ball," she recalled. "Of course, Roy had to be a part of it."

And thus started their baseball rise, Tim to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and a 44th-round selection by the Mets in 1996, Roy to Louisiana State and the Montreal Expos organization as a nondrafted free agent in 2001.

"We kept them in baseball and out of trouble," Barbara Corcoran said. "Tim had to work for it. With Roy, it seemed to come naturally. Tim got all the private lessons. I'd take Roy, and he'd sit and look and listen."

The brothers, who now live together on the family farm in the offseason, have kicked around the minors for years with minimal major-league opportunities. Before this season, in seven professional seasons with Montreal/Washington and Florida, Roy had been up three times for a total of 16 appearances. Tim has 40 major-league games in 11 pro seasons.

They've persevered. Their parents made sure of that.

"They've always said they're not coming home on their own," Barbara said. "Roy did come back one time. He had a girlfriend, and he said he was giving it up and getting married. She didn't want him to be gone. I said, 'Have you lost your mind?'

"Two days later, he called the team and said he was going back. That was the last we heard of the girl."

Roy is getting married this winter to a woman from Slaughter.

"She was raised across the creek from our farm down yonder," said Barbara Corcoran approvingly.

Roy, who has appeared in 40 games this season for the Mariners, with a 3.43 earned-run average, figures to have a busy winter in Slaughter.

There's much hurricane damage to clean up at the farm. There's the wedding. There's all the folks to fill in with details on his life in the big leagues. Lots of hunting and fishing, of course, and about 50 head of cattle on the farm to tend to.

"When we go home, we're just regular people," Roy said of himself and Tim. "We still do everything we've always done. My life doesn't change very much."

The family hopes to come to Seattle next year. They've heard great things about the Puget Sound from Roy.

But it's no Slaughter, Louisiana.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com