Angels’ Mark Trumbo ready to make leap to big leagues

Mark Trumbo’s locker is next to the entrance to the Angels’ spring training clubhouse, in a corner of the room reserved primarily for minor league prospects.

On the other side of the entrance — across what Trumbo calls “the great divide” — is the high-rent district, where Bobby Abreu, Torii Hunter, Vernon Wells and Kendry Morales dress side by side.

“Hopefully, in time, I’ll be able to make the jump,” Trumbo said Saturday. “That’s the goal.”

It hardly takes a leap of faith to believe the slugging first baseman may soon find a home in a big league locker room. Last summer he tied for the minor league lead with 36 home runs for triple-A Salt Lake. And he hardly missed a beat in winter ball, leading Magallanes of the Venezuelan League in almost every offensive category including slugging percentage (.579), on-base percentage (.405) and on-base plus slugging percentage (.984).

“From what I saw, he looked like somebody that was closing the gap,” said Dodgers’ minor league manager Carlos Subero, who managed part of the winter in Venezuela. “Good hitters, when you make a mistake, they make you pay. And that’s what he did.”

He did it again Saturday in the Angels’ spring-training opener, belting a long home run in his second at-bat to lead a 4-1 victory over a Dodgers’ split squad.

With Morales still rehabbing the broken ankle that ended his 2010 season in May, Trumbo reported to camp in midseason form, hoping to get a chance to impress.

“I’m not in the position where this is my time to come and get into shape,” said the 25-year-old, an 18th-round pick out of Villa Park High in 2004. “I need to take care of that before I get here and be ready to go, be ready to win a job if there is an opportunity.”

Manager Mike Scioscia insists that opportunity is there.

“Whether Kendry was 100% or not, Mark was a guy that would be coming into this year and definitely getting a good look to win a spot on our roster,” he said. “When a player gets to a certain level and is ready for that challenge in the major leagues, that’s another big step.

“With his upside and the year he had the last time, he’s certainly ready for a challenge.”

Game attitude

The Angels’ exhibition opener came less than two weeks after the team’s first spring workout, so Scioscia had the team on the field three hours before the game working on fundamentals.

“There’s a lot in the mornings that we focus on to get guys more proficient in some of the things that we know are going to be important to our team. And that’s what we’re going to continue to work on,” said Scioscia, who drilled his players on baserunning and interpreting signs from third-base coach Dino Ebel. “There’s a teaching aspect, a fundamental aspect, that goes on in the morning.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com