Ace in the hole.(Reds pitching coach Don Gullett)

Pitching coach Don Gullett's keen eye for mechanics and his fatherly manner have resurrected several careers and salvaged a pitching staff season for the Reds

Ken Griffey Jr. hits home runs, Danny Graves rolls up saves and Barry Larkin runs the clubhouse, but in almost any given season, the MVP of the Reds is pitching coach Don Gullett.

Each spring, the man former Reds manager Jack McKeon calls the "patron saint of the impossible" forms a major league pitching staff from rejects, has-beens, wannabes and just about any form of pitcher who might have a few quality innings left in his wretched arm. If seeing is believing, then take a gander at this year's rotation of Pete Harnisch, Osvaldo Fernandez, Elmer Dessens and Chin Reitsma.

Combined wins in 2000: 23.

Credit due Gullett for the Reds' ability to contend in recent seasons and early surge toward the top of the N.L. Central: immeasurable.

"I call him St. Jude," cracks McKeon, who worked with Gullett for more than three seasons.

You won't get much argument from Reds general manager Jim Bowden or from the more than 20 active players who have come under Gullett's careful watch since he became pitching coach in May 1993. Some way, somehow, the former Reds ace, who was once on the fast track to the Hall of Fame, has been able to pinpoint the slightest problems with the most damaged pitchers. Then, Gullett helps turn them into commodities. That's how Pete Schourek nearly won the Cy Young Award, how Jeff Shaw became a top closer, how Pete Harnisch found his groove and Mark Wohlers found his control.