Marlins prospect tries to get life, career back

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Less than a year ago, Jeff Allison was recovering in a hospital from a near-fatal drug overdose. The former first-round draft pick figured he might never live out the dream of a life built on baseball.

So returning to the mound last Thursday to pitch in the minors was an accomplishment all by itself. But Allison -- the Florida Marlins' top draft choice two summers ago -- knows he's just starting to resurrect a career nearly destroyed by drug addiction.

"I take my life right now one step at a time, day by day, minute by minute," Allison said shortly after pitching his first organized game in nearly two years. "I put myself in those situations. I got out of it. But it's something I have to deal with the rest of my life now.

"But I'm here. That's all I can say. That's great."

The 20-year-old right-hander allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings for the Class A Greensboro Grasshoppers, getting a no-decision in a 7-6 win over the Delmarva Shorebirds on Thursday night.

It was Allison's first appearance in baseball since pitching in three games for the Marlins' Gulf Coast League rookie team in August 2003. His addiction to the powerful painkiller OxyContin, a failed drug test for marijuana and a heroin overdose all led him to miss the 2004 season.

He showed flashes of the promise that made him a top prospect, with several pitches reaching the low 90s on the radar gun. But Mark Shorey, who grew up with Allison in Peabody, Mass., said Friday that Allison looked different.

"He does not look like the cocky guy who can do anything he wants," said Shorey, a junior baseball player at nearby High Point University. "I think he realizes he's in the same boat as everyone else and he has to perform like everyone else."

Talent has never been an issue for Allison, who left so many hitters flailing at the plate at Peabody High School that he earned a $1.85 million signing bonus.

His judgment, however, led him astray when off the diamond.

The problems began surfacing when he left spring training last year without permission. Shortly afterward, he said he had a "problem" with OxyContin and that he'd been fined $200,000 by the Marlins for failing a drug test for marijuana, prompting him to leave camp.

Then, on July 17, he nearly died of a heroin overdose and had to spend a weekend in a Massachusetts hospital.

"I didn't have any direction in my life, and I didn't think I wanted to play again," he said. "But then a month later, it was like, 'OK, let's get my life going again."'

That has led him here, 800 miles and thousands of fans away from the club that drafted him. He was assigned to the Grasshoppers last month, but was put on the temporarily inactive list and made off limits to the media.

In the weeks that followed, the team brought Allison along slowly. Manager Brandon Hyde started by having Allison just play catch, then moved him to the bullpen about a week later and soon had him pitch simulated games.

Allison certainly has plenty of people around to help him. He is rooming with pitching coach Steve Foster, and said his teammates accepted him right away.

"I'm here to be his friend," said infielder Jonathan Fulton, who played with Allison two summers ago. "Every player goes through a slump or whatever."

Though Allison said he didn't know the status of his bonus -- he received only one-third of it after his problems surfaced -- he credited the Marlins organization for sticking by him.

"They've stayed behind me 110 percent," he said. "I'm here. That just goes to show how supportive they really have been. And I never doubted them for one second."

Allison acknowledged he was so excited about returning to the mound that he had a hard time sleeping in recent days. He got off to a shaky start, allowing two runs and being called for a balk in the first inning, but said he felt good once he got through the inning.

So did his teammates and coaches.

"Everybody was anxious," Hyde said. "But it was awesome to watch him out there. I know guys were excited to see him throw."

Allison is part of a five-man rotation, with his next start tentatively scheduled for Tuesday against Lexington. He figures it'll be the next hurdle in a long road back.

"I can't wait to prove all the people where I live back home wrong," he said. "Because to be honest with you, not too many people like me back home. ... But proving them wrong is a great feeling, and I feel like I took the first step."