HOME GROWN : This Lineup Could Give Opposition Some Trouble : Orange County’s Active Players Are Quite a Formidable Group

They honed their skills on the playgrounds and Little League fields of Orange County, and when they were ready, they took their wares to the major leagues. These are the county’s pros--yesterday’s dreamers, today’s heroes, all . . .

The prep baseball programs in Orange County annually produce some of the country’s strongest players. Eventually, some become professional players with more than half of the major league teams boasting at least one player who began his career at a county high school.

Legendary Walter Johnson of Fullerton High School began the talent parade at the turn of the century that has continued to the 1984 U.S. Olympic team that included Capistrano Valley’s Eric Fox and Don August.

Major league talent? How about a county all-star team that includes four players who participated in the 1984 World Series, a two-time most valuable player of the All-Star game and the American League’s Fireman of the Year.

Former county players now in the majors could provide the nucleus for a formidable team, including World Series champion performers Dan Petry and Marty Castillo of the Detroit Tigers, National League champion members Garry Templeton and Tim Flannery of the San Diego Padres, two-time All-Star game MVP Gary Carter of the New York Mets and relief specialist Dan Quisenberry of the Kansas City Royals.

Two players who spent most of last season in the minor leagues--Mets outfielder John Christensen and Oakland A’s first baseman Dan Meyer--would help to fill out the 10-man roster.

Two other players--Montreal Expo slugger Tim Wallach and Tiger catcher Castillo--would have to be moved out of position to field the team. Here’s the batting order for the county all-star team:

Garry Templeton, San Diego Padres, SS

High school, class--Santa Ana Valley, 1973. Height--5-11. Weight--190. Bats--R, L Throws--R. Update--Templeton bats eighth for the Padres but the former Santa Ana Valley star’s speed would be wasted anywhere but at leadoff on this team. He had only 39 walks and 8 stolen bases, which isn’t ideal for a leadoff batter, but he has a career-best batting average of .322 and 34 stolen bases. Considered by many to be baseball’s premier shortstop when he hit .322, .314, and .319 with the St. Louis Cardinals in the late 1970s, Templeton still gets great respect as one of the better athletes in the National League. Traded to San Diego in 1982 for Ozzie Smith, Templeton has a career batting average of .288 over nine seasons.

Brian Downing, California Angels, LF

High school, class--Magnolia, 1969. Height--5-10. Weight--200. Bats--R Throws--R. Update--Downing led the Angels in several offensive categories, including total bases (249), hits (148), doubles (28) and RBIs (91). A fierce competitor, the catcher-turned-outfielder, he established an American League record by going 158 games without committing an error, handling 330 total chances. He was co-MVP of the Angels last season with a .275 average, 23 homers and 91 RBIs. The MVP award is the latest measure of how far Downing has climbed in a career that began years ago in Anaheim--with much less fanfare.

As a young player, Downing was once cut from Magnolia’s junior varsity. He hit .240 on the Sentinel varsity, where he faced such local pitchers Randy Jones, Steve Busby, Al Hrabosky and Bert Blyleven. Downing was a reserve on a Cypress College team that went 2-20 in 1970.

Downing’s nomadic 11-year career included stints at third base and right field with the Chicago White Sox.

Tim Wallach, Montreal Expos, RF

High School, class--University, 1975. Height--6-3. Weight--200. Bats--R Throws--R. Update--All right, Wallach is a third baseman but he proved to be an outstanding athlete during his career at University High, Saddleback College and Cal State Fullerton before turning professional. The adjustment to the outfield wouldn’t be too difficult, and his power (18 homers, 72 RBIs) would be a welcome addition to any lineup.

Wallach, one of the most gifted players in the major leagues, nearly made a beeline from Cal State Fullerton to the big leagues. As a member of the Titans’ 1979 national championship team, Wallach tied the NCAA season record with 102 RBIs, and was named an All-American and the Sporting News College Player of the Year. He could have become a California Angel. The Angels drafted him in 1978 as a junior, but he decided to stay another year at Fullerton when the Angels offered him only $10,000 to sign.

Once with the Expos, Wallach dispensed with the minors in just two seasons. It is typical of his style that he not only homered in his first time at bat in Triple-A, but he did it again when he arrived at Montreal in 1981. He switched from first base and left field to a full-time job at third base in 1982.

There, Wallach has helped fans forget his predecessor, Larry Parrish, by hitting well and leading the league in put-outs for three years, as well as in assists last season. The Expos hardly ever play without him; he has appeared in 97.3% of the Expos’ 485 games since 1982.

Gary Carter, New York Mets, C

High school, class--Sunny Hills, 1970. Height--6-2. Weight--210. Bats--R Throws--R. Update--Carter was a three-sport star at Sunny Hills High who turned down a football scholarship at UCLA to sign with the Montreal Expos. Carter is an ideal clean-up hitter who tied Philadelphia’s Mike Schmidt for the National League RBI lead at 106. He also hit 27 homers. Carter is the premier catcher in the major leagues.

The seven-time National League All-Star and most valuable player in the 1984 all-star game was traded from the Montreal Expos to the Mets in one of baseball’s biggest off-season transactions. Carter’s last season with the Expos was one of the most productive of his career. He hit .294 with 106 RBIs--both career highs--and 27 home runs. But last winter, Carter requested to be traded, feeling he was being made the scapegoat for the Expos’ failure to win a pennant. While at Sunny Hills, Carter also was a record-setting quarterback. He held school records for passing yardage, completions and touchdown passes until Jim Karsatos broke them in 1979 and 1980.

John Christensen, New York Mets, CF

High School, class--Troy, 1978. Height--6-0. Weight--180. Bats--R Throws--R. Update--Christensen figures to make the Mets’ team after finishing third in the International League at Tidewater with a .316 batting average. He led all outfielders with a .994 fielding percentage. The former Troy High star also showed he can hit with power--he had 16 homers in Triple-A ball.

He will probably be the fourth outfielder on this season’s promising Mets’ team, playing behind starters Darryl Strawberry, Mookie Wilson and George Foster. Called up from the minors for the first time last September, Christensen introduced himself to the big leagues by hitting a pair of doubles off Philadelphia’s Steve Carlton on Sept. 18.

Christensen hit .295 as a member of Cal State Fullerton’s national championship team in 1979. He later was named a second-team All-American in 1981 when he tied the former school record of 23 homers in a season, set by his 1979 teammate Tim Wallach.

Dan Meyer, Oakland A’s, 1B

High school, class--Mater Dei, 1970. Height--5-11. Weight--180. Bats--L Throws--R. Update--Meyer spent most of last year with Tacoma of the Pacific Coast League where he batted .293 but figures to battle former Angel Bruce Bochte for an infield spot with the A’s. Meyer played at Mater Dei and first surfaced with the Seattle Mariners before joining the A’s organization.

Meyer has hit .254 in his 11 seasons with Detroit, Seattle and his current team, Oakland. Meyer hit .380 over three seasons at Mater Dei High School. Meyer went to the University of Arizona for a year but returned to play at Santa Ana College for a year, hitting .280. Detroit scouts were impressed with his swing so that by 1972 he was playing for Bristol of the Appalachian League. By 1974, he made it to the parent club in Detroit. His best season as a major leaguer was 1977 with Seattle, when he batted .273 and hit 22 home runs.

Marty Castillo, Detroit Tigers, 3B

High school, class--Savanna, 1974. Height--6-1. Weight--190. Bats--R Throws--R. Update--Castillo was originally signed as a third baseman by the Tigers but was converted into a catcher in 1980. He has played both third, catcher and left field in the major leagues. Castillo had four homers among his 33 hits in limited playing time for the world champions last year.

Castillo attended Chapman College after graduating from Savanna High School. Though his career average in his four cumulative pro seasons is .213, he hit a two-run homer in the third game of the 1984 World Series to power the Tigers to a 5-2 win over the San Diego Padres. That series saw Castillo play against the Padres Tim Flannery--an old teammate of Castillo’s at Chapman College, where the two sang together in coffee houses when they weren’t playing baseball. Castillo has been with the Tigers’ organization since 1979.

Tim Flannery, San Diego Padres, 2B

High school, class--Anaheim, 1975. Height--5-11. Weight--170. Bats--L Throws--R. Update--Flannery hit a career-high .273 as a valuable utility player for the Padres last season and batted .313 in the 19 games he started. Although only 27 years old, the former Anaheim High standout has been with the club longer than any other player. Flannery hit the ground ball that Cub first baseman Leon Durham misplayed in the fifth game of the National League series that led to four unearned runs and the Padres’ trip to the World Series.

Flannery, who played at Chapman College, often teams with Templeton on the double-play combination for the San Diego Padres. The two Padre teammates played against each other in high school in 1973 during a one-game playoff between Anaheim and Santa Ana Valley with the winner going on to the Southern Section playoffs. At the time, Templeton was a senior and Flannery was a sophomore. Templeton got four hits that game, but Flannery and the Colonists won in extra innings. Flannery has hit .246 in his six major league seasons.

Dan Petry, Detroit Tigers, P

High school, class--El Dorado, 1976. Height--6-4. Weight--200. Bats--R Throws--R. Update--Petry won 14 of his opening 18 decisions en route to an 18-8 record with a 3.24 ERA, and had the third-best winning percentage (.692) in the American League. He became the 10th pitcher in Tiger history to win 10 or more games in five straight seasons. The former El Dorado star has an excellent slider and has led the Tiger staff with the lowest earned run average in four of the last five seasons. He’s only 26 years old, yet has six years of major league experience.

He led El Dorado to the Southern Section 2-A championship in 1976, after the Golden Hawks had finished second in the Orange League. In 1979, he made his first appearence as a major leaguer at Anaheim Stadium and held the Angels to two hits in eight innings en route to a 6-1 win.

Dan Quisenberry, Kansas City Royals, P

High school, class--Costa Mesa, 1972. Height--6-2. Weight--180. Bats--R Throws--R. Update--Quisenberry has compiled more saves (175) than any other relief pitcher in the major leagues over the past five seasons. The former Costa Mesa High performer has walked only 35 batters in 405 innings over the past three years after perfecting a submarine delivery at La Verne College.

One of major league baseball’s premier relievers wasn’t exactly a prep phenom. Quisenberry wasn’t drafted out of high school. He went to Orange Coast College, then transferred to La Verne before signing undrafted with the Royals in 1979. He once said that if it weren’t for Pittsburgh Pirates’ reliever Kent Tekulve, he would be “spending the rest of my career in Omaha (the Royals’ minor league affiliate).” Quisenberry credits Tekulve with teaching him the sidearm sinker that has made him one of the game’s best stoppers. He set a major-league record with 45 saves in 1983 and followed that with 44 saves last season, making him the first pitcher ever to record more than 40 saves in successive seasons. He finished second in the balloting for the American League Cy Young Award in each of those seasons.

Information compiled by Times Staff Writers Jim McCurdie, Gerald Scott and Sarah Smith.