As you watch minor league baseball at the low Class A level, keep in mind there’s often  more than meets the eye.

Case in point: Taylor Tankersley, who labored with the Greensboro Grasshoppers last summer, going 2-7 with a 5.18 ERA.

“You wouldn’t look at him and say ‘he’s going to the big leagues next year,’” said Hoppers pitching coach Steve Foster.

Yet that’s exactly where the left-hander is, in the bullpen of the Florida Marlins. So how did he make that kind of dramatic improvement? The Marlins changed his role.

In Greensboro, and later in four games with the high A Jupiter Hammerheads, Tankersley was a starter. But in the Arizona Fall League, he became a closer.

He made the Double-A Carolina Mudcats out of spring training and was electrifying in 22 games, going 4-1 with six saves and a 0.95 ERA. That earned him a promotion to the big leagues in early June. Tankersley has appeared in 14 games with Florida, with one win, two saves and a 2.35 ERA.

“All along Taylor Tankersley was a closer working in a starter’s role,” Foster said. “If a sprinter tries to be a marathon runner, it doesn’t work. I believe you take sprinters and let them sprint their way to the big leagues and you take marathon runners and let them run distance to the big leagues.”

So Foster wanted to see Tankersley go right into the bullpen last season, but the Marlins organization wanted him to refine some pitches, which he could better do as a starter. While he worked on his curve and changeup, his fastball dipped to 86-90 miles per hour.

Now, as a setup man being groomed as a closer, Tankersley is throwing 92-93 and adding a hard slider. And that perfectly fits his mentality.

“He wants the max effort every pitch,” Foster said. “His makeup is aggressive, right after you, but when you slow it down, it doesn’t work. That’s what I like about him, that attack mode. That’s who I was and I recognized that in him and it worked out. And I think it’s going to work out a long time for him.”

Foster believes Tankersley could have a career comparable to a former Cincinnati Reds  teammate, left-hander Norm Charlton, who pitched 13 seasons in the majors.

ALUMNI NEWS: The Marlins recalled left-hander Jason Vargas (Hoppers ’05), who made seven starts at Triple-A Albuquerque after being optioned. He’ll be used in the bullpen. Vargas took the loss against Washington Thursday night when he gave up a single to the Nats’ Ryan Zimmerman.

Meanwhile, the season ended for Marlins’ right-hander Carlos Martinez (Bats ’04), who will require Tommy John surgery. Martinez appeared in 12 games and was 0-1 with a 1.74 ERA.

JULY RITUAL: For the third straight year, Travis Chick (Bats ’04) has been traded in July.

This strange trip started two summers ago when Chick, who had posted a 6-4 record with the Bats, was traded by the Marlins to the San Diego Padres on July 31. He finished the season in the Midwest League at Fort Wayne, where he went 5-0.

With the Padres’ Double-A team in Mobile in 2005, Chick struggled and was 2-9. On July 23, he was dealt to Cincinnati and went 2-2 with the Reds’ Double-A team in Chattanooga.

Back in Chattanooga this season, Chick was 4-5 with a 4.61 ERA. Like clockwork, Chick was traded to Seattle for Eddie Guardado on July 6. The Mariners assigned him to their Double-A team in San Antonio.

Now with his fourth organization in five years, Chick is 24 and is projected as a middle reliever in the majors– although with who is anybody’s guess.

Sports writer Bill Hass has observed and covered minor league baseball in Greensboro since 1979.