Wordplay Canyon's outspoken Duffy puts ability to throw where mouth is By MARK ARMIJO Arizona Republic Staff Grand Canyon College shortstop Darrin Duffy is a gifted player whose broad range and jackhammer throwing arm have put him among the top 25 college baseball prospects in the country, according to Baseball America. However, Duffy has a problem. His mouth. Sometimes he talks too much. He never has grasped the ability to know when to shut up. It used to be that Duffy would be ejected from games as often as he would get base hits, of which there has been a ton since his playing days at Maryvale High School. Duffy never played favorites with his victims. If he wasn't chewing out himself, he was chewing out umpires. "He was his own worst critic," said Gil Trejo, his high school coach. "He had perseverance you wouldn't believe." Canyon teammate Roger Caldwell puts it another way. "Sure, he gets mad. But we all do , when somebody does something ; bad," Caldwell said, "He just wants to win so much." Although the ejections have dwindled to one this season, Duffy never totally has bottled his emotions. He still speaks when he is asked not to. "It's been my biggest problem," Duffy said with a sheepish grin. "I know I'm outspoken, and I found myself having to control it a lot. But they (Canyon coach Gil Stafford and assistant coach John Pierson) have settled me down to where I've very much learned to control it." Even if Duffy hadn't learned when to turn the switch off, it probably wouldn't affect his major league draft status. Duffy is that promising, Stafford said, and scouts realize his aggressions are reserved for the playing field. Duffy, 5-foot-ll and 175 pounds, is batting .330 with eight home runs and 66 RBI, and is expected to be a high draft choice in the June summer draft. Ironically, it was Duffy's mouth that first attracted Stafford. The coach said he liked it, so much that he offered Duffy a scholarship when almost no other four-year school did. "Darrin has got a lot of fire in him, a lot of energy," Stafford said. - Duffy, G8