Nokes Has the Swing That Makes Sparks Fly

Sparky Anderson thinks his 23-year-old catcher has one of the prettiest swings in baseball. Anderson gladly will give a detailed explanation and a slow-motion pantomime of the swing he figures will take this kid to Cooperstown.

Anderson might be the one person in America imitating this swing right now. You probably won’t hear many 10-year-olds say, “OK, you be George Brett and I’ll be Matthew Dodge Nokes.”

Not yet, anyway.

Most fans outside of Detroit may not have heard much about Nokes, but the left-handed-hitting catcher is already making a name for himself around the American League.

“He’s a natural,” Anderson said. “Just throw the kid a bat and you know he can hit by the way he catches it.”

Don Mattingly, the Yankee first baseman whose sweet swing was deemed to be worth almost $2 million a year by an arbitrator, waited until he had seen Nokes hit a couple of times before rendering judgment.

“During our opening series (against New York),” Anderson said, “Don came up to me and said, ‘That guy is one good-looking hitter.’ ”

The Angels got a firsthand look at Nokes’ stroke Thursday night and they’d just as soon not have an instant replay. Nokes had a pair of hits--including a seventh-inning grand slam--as the Tigers rolled to a 12-4 win at Anaheim Stadium.

Nokes hit an inside slider off Willie Fraser. It wasn’t a tape-measure shot, but it still counted for four runs. The high fly ball down the right-field line carried just out of the reach of right fielder Devon White . . . who was carried into the seats by his momentum when he tried to catch it.

“When I first hit it,” Nokes said, “I thought I hit it pretty good. But when I saw the outfielder kind of gliding over toward the fence, I had my doubts.”

It was the first grand slam of Nokes’ career, but then he only had 77 major league at-bats coming into the season. And already this year, he has four homers, a club-leading 14 RBIs and a .310 batting average. Not bad for a young man who figured to be playing in Toledo right now.

“They told me in the spring that they were going to send me down to the minors because they wanted me to play every day,” Nokes said. “I was disappointed because you can get real hot in the minors and nothing much happens. But if you get hot up here, you’re in the lineup the next day and the next.”

Anderson kept thinking about that swing, and right before the season started decided to keep Nokes on the roster. At first, he used Nokes as the designated hitter against right-handed pitchers. Then, when catcher Dwight Lowry was sent down to the minors to make room for outfielder Billy Bean, Nokes became the Tigers’ No. 1 catcher.

“It’s exciting to be catching every day,” Nokes said. “It really helps my confidence knowing that I’ll be catching every game . . . at least when a right-hander starts.”

When Lance Parrish left the Tigers for a fling at free agency, Lowry and Mike Heath were supposed to fill the void at catcher. Lowry’s in the minors and Heath hasn’t caught an inning this season.

Nokes, however, was not exactly thrilled when folks in his hometown of San Diego called to tell him that they had read in the morning paper that he said he would make the people of Detroit “forget Lance Parrish.”

Actually, it was Anderson who said it.

“Nokes? He’s a good hitter,” Anderson said. “He’s a very good hitter. A couple of years from now, he’ll be a great hitter.

“He’s just a baby now, but by 1989 he’ll be one of the most destructive hitters in this league.”