Jefferson Learns to Adjust to Life Down Under : Padres’ Demoted Center Fielder Trying to Make the Most of His Triple-A Stay

As Stanley Jefferson spoke by phone from Calgary, Canada, Monday morning, snow began falling outside his hotel room.

“I’ll say this is a bit of an adjustment,” said Jefferson, once the Padres’ center fielder, now with triple-A Las Vegas. “Playing in 5-degree temperatures is definitely an adjustment.”

Certain towns in the Pacific Coast League may run cold, but according to the principal in one of the most surprising Padre demotions in recent memory, anywhere is warmer than the place he left.

“I’m OK now because here nobody bothers you. You can just go out and play,” said Jefferson, speaking at length for the first time since his April 19 demotion that opened a space for second baseman Roberto Alomar. “Down in San Diego, it was real tense. It was really unstable. It was difficult to go to the park because you could never figure out what was going on.

“Shoot, by the second game of the year, there was already a lineup change. It’s hard to play like that.”

Judging by the statistics, Jefferson, 25, found it darn near impossible. After a promising spring (.307, a team-leading 8 stolen bases), Jefferson, the opening-day center fielder and the projected Padre leadoff hitter for the rest of this century, tripped over his bat. It took him 17 at-bats before he finally got a hit, a double against the Dodgers in the seventh game of the season. He collected just 4 hits in his first 37 at-bats (.108) before being sent down.

Yes, the second-day lineup was different--Jefferson was benched after he went 0 for 4 on opening night in Houston. By the fourth game, he had been dropped to eighth in the batting order. By the time the Padres had played 11 games, he was benched for good. He got into his final game, April 17 against San Francisco in San Diego, only because Tony Gwynn had been thrown out in the third inning by umpire Joe West.

“They showed no patience at all,” Jefferson said. “Everything was rush-rush.”

Two days after that game, Jefferson was called into Manager Larry Bowa’s office after the April 19 rainout in Los Angeles. After having played 116 games for the Padres in 1987--never going near triple-A after he came over from the New York Mets in the Kevin McReynolds trade--Jefferson took the news hard. So hard, he was in Bowa’s office nearly half an hour, paralyzed with shock.

“I can’t tell you what I thought, because I was pretty numb then,” Jefferson said. “Everything was so foggy. It was so hard to explain. So many different things went through my head.

“I heard the words, and all I wanted to do was leave.”

According to Jefferson, one of the reasons for wanting to leave centered on a familiar uncomfortable clubhouse feeling.

“There was still tension there, the same tension there as last year,” he said. “In the spring, it was different, a lot looser, but as soon as the season started, it was that tension all over again.”

The same tension led to a near fistfight last season between Bowa and Jefferson. This spring, Jefferson declared that all was resolved and happy.

Monday, Jefferson was asked if the change in the situation had left him bitter.

“No comment,” he said.

Standing behind Bowa’s demotion decision are such statistics as: Since he joined the Padres, Jefferson has hit .220. Going back to last year, he was on a 7-for-92 skid (.086). He had struck out 100 times in 459 at-bats, or nearly once a game. All the speed and fielding skills in the world--most of which Jefferson possesses--will be of no value to a leadoff hitter who cannot hit.

Bowa shrugged when informed of Jefferson’s comments.

“Look at his numbers. They are not respectable for a leadoff hitter,” he said. “All those things he said are excuses players use for not playing well.”

Jefferson said his swing is returning, as a 3-for-4, 2-RBI game in his second night in Las Vegas will indicate. He said the same about his confidence.

“I’m getting comfortable, more relaxed,” Jefferson said. “I see things more clearly now. I see how it’s going to be up there, and I’ve learned to adjust, and when I come back I will have a much clearer head about it.

“My swing will be fine, and I will be back.”

Bowa said he hopes so, despite everything.

“I truly hope Stanley does what he is supposed to do,” Bowa said. “If that happens, he can really help us.”