Dodger Notebook : Glove-Man Wellman Shows He Also Knows How to Handle Bat

The Dodgers haven’t told Brad Wellman what it will take in spring training for him to make the club as a utility infielder, but he probably already knows it doesn’t include impressive offensive displays.

Wellman’s main contribution would be as a stabilizing defensive player who can fill in at second base, shortstop or third base. Any offense would be considered a bonus.

Monday, in the Dodgers’ 6-3 exhibition victory over the Baltimore Orioles here, Wellman showed that his durability extends beyond just his ability to play three positions in the infield.

Wellman, whose contract was not renewed by the San Francisco Giants after last season, went 3 for 4 against three Oriole pitchers and had two runs batted in. In the first inning, Wellman knocked in Mariano Duncan from third base with a single to left. In the third, he put down a well-placed bunt on a squeeze play, scoring Reggie Williams from third. And Wellman led off the seventh with a double to left field.

“He raised a lot of eyebrows today,” said Dodger coach Bill Russell, whose retirement in October left an opening for a utility infielder. “We knew he was good from the way he played against us in the past, but he did have a very good day at the plate.”

Since it’s still early in the spring, neither the Dodgers nor Wellman will speculate on who will make the 24-man roster. But Wellman is confident in his ability.

“It’s going to be a fight, but I like competition,” Wellman said. “I’ve had a lot of (competition) in the last few years.

“If I could just play second, I’d be in trouble. They are looking for a good utility man, and it might help that I can play second.”

Wellman, 27, played only one full season with the Giants, 1985, and has spent much of his five-year career shuttling between Triple-A ball in Phoenix and San Francisco. Although Wellman never hit above .240 for a prolonged stretch in the major leagues, his defensive prowess was impressive.

He showed his glove work in the ninth inning of Sunday’s exhibition opener in Vero Beach, Fla., turning a difficult double play at second base with Dave Anderson.

“I’ve played second base regularly for five years, but I can play short and third, too,” Wellman said. “I remember my first day in San Francisco, Frank Robinson calls me in and says, ‘Brad, I’m starting you at shortstop tonight.’ Well, back then, I hadn’t played much shortstop and my mouth dropped open. He asked me, ‘You can play shortstop, can’t you?’ I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ So I did.”

Manager Tom Lasorda has always liked Wellman’s style.

“He’s not doing something that I haven’t seen him do before,” Lasorda said. “He’s a pretty valuable little ballplayer.”

Dodger Notes Rick Honeycutt and Alejandro Pena, Dodger pitchers with previous shoulder injuries, made their first competitive appearances of 1987 on Monday. Honeycutt, who had surgery before last season to remove the tip of the shoulder blade in his left shoulder, pitched regularly last season but not always effectively. He looked in top form Monday, giving up no runs and two hits in three innings. Pena, still trying to recover from a serious shoulder injury in 1985, gave up two hits and one run in the fourth inning, but settled down and retired the side in both the fifth and sixth innings. . . . Dodger coach Don McMahon, who runs the speed gun, clocked Pena’s fastest fastball at 89 m.p.h. McMahon said that Pena’s average was 85. . . . Pitching coach Ron Perranoski on Pena: “He was better the last two innings than the first, which is always a good sign. He has more arm speed this year, and he’s throwing free of pain. That’s the important thing at this point. But it’s still too early to tell.” . . . Honeycutt says his left shoulder is no longer an issue, that the pain has long since passed. “That is no longer my No. 1 concern,” he said. “Now, I just want to get down to where I feel like I’m making the pitches I want to.”

Pedro Guerrero update: Guerrero and Manager Tom Lasorda did not take the team bus from Vero Beach Monday morning. Rather, they chartered a helicopter Sunday night because they had a morning speaking engagement in Miami. Once back on the ground, Guerrero got his first hit of the season, a sharp single to left field in the fifth inning. But he also struck out in the third inning with two out and Mariano Duncan on third. And he had his first fielding error, bobbling a ball off the wall in the left-field corner. Guerrero didn’t appear to move fast for the ball, but he said afterward that he stepped in a hole in the outfield . . . . Len Matuszsek, who had a game-winning ground-rule double in Sunday’s game against Houston, hit a solo home run to right-field off John Habyan in the seventh inning Monday.