Rookie Jefferson Is Man on Move : He Sometimes Gets Sidetracked While Racing for Stardom

First inning, first Padre batter. Stan Jefferson, the rookie outfielder, bounces an apparent routine grounder to second. Jim Morrison, the Pittsburgh second baseman, fields the ball cleanly and throws crisply to first. Jefferson is safe.

“Pure speed,” said Tony Gwynn, the Padres’ All-Star right fielder. “It’s that simple.”

After advancing to second on a ground out, Jefferson makes a tentative move toward third. He’s caught leaning by pitcher Doug Drabek, who throws to Morrison. Morrison tosses to third baseman Bobby Bonilla, who tags out Jefferson. For the second time in three games, Jefferson has been picked off.

“I don’t mind if you’re thrown out at second base by the catcher on a good throw, but we have to stop getting picked off,” said Larry Bowa, the Padre manager. “We don’t have the kind of team that can score eight or nine runs.”

That, for his good days and his bad, is where Jefferson figures in Bowa’s plans. He is the speedy leadoff hitter who must get on base, rattle the pitcher and somehow find a way to get around to home. And lately, the days have been mostly good.

Jefferson had a single, walked twice and scored what proved to be the winning run Thursday as the Padres defeated the Pirates, 2-1, at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Jefferson is in the midst of his longest hot streak of the season. He is hitting .406 (13 for 32) in his past 10 games. He has started to show signs of becoming the leadoff threat the Padres envisioned when they acquired him as one of the key players in the deal that sent outfielder Kevin McReynolds to the New York Mets in December.

“I’m finally starting to feel comfortable,” said Jefferson, who grew up in the Bronx. “In the last week or so, I’m starting to play like I’ve wanted to all season.”

But sprinkled around those moments of daring baserunning and patient hitting are moments such as the one that found Jefferson stranded between first and second. Or his hesitation on Bonilla’s hard fly ball in the fifth that turned a possible third out into a run-scoring triple.

Then there was the time in May when he decided to challenge Bowa in the clubhouse after a game in Pittsburgh. It took several teammates to restrain Jefferson.

“That’s behind me,” Jefferson said. “He (Bowa) was upset and lost his temper. It’s forgotten.”

Such mercurial play and behavior have marked Jefferson’s adjustment to the major leagues.

“Stanley’s biggest problem is that he gets down on himself too easily,” Gwynn said. “This is his first year, he has to realize he can’t do everything at once.

“Stanley didn’t understand what was going on (with Bowa). He thought he was being picked on; that people were disappointed in how he was playing.”

Jefferson has the unrestrained impatience of any talented player wanting to make the best of his first year. His frustrations have been compounded by ankle and shoulder injuries that twice put him on the disabled list.

“I want to get out there and play every day,” Jefferson said. “I’m not the kind of player that likes to sit around.

“I’ve always been hard on myself and I don’t see where I should be any different now. I’m just trying to make contact, get on base any way I can and then see what happens.”

What happens is often good, sometimes it is bad, but always it is exciting. Jefferson is second to Gwynn on the team in stolen bases (19), but he has been caught stealing a team-high eight times.

“I’m still learning the pitchers,” Jefferson said. “It’s hard to just come in and start stealing right away. After I see a pitcher two or three times, I’ll know what to do.”

Jefferson is the only player besides Gwynn who has the go-ahead to steal on his own. Gwynn wishes Jefferson would use it more often.

“He can’t hesitate,” Gwynn said. “He’s got to get out and go.”