POWER CUTS : Three Years of Smash Hits by Sharts Produce an Impressive Stack of Records

Scott Sharts stood in the batter’s box, massive legs tensed and bat raised, then peered over his left shoulder and anticipated the pitch.

Standing off to one side of the batting cage, Hank Robinson began to stew. Already, he didn’t like the subtle changes he saw in his 15-year-old prodigy. Robinson watched Sharts take his turn against the junior varsity pitcher three more times before approaching him.

Three years later, Sharts remembers the decidedly one-sided conversation: “He told me, ‘Your stance is different. I don’t know why it’s different. I told you how to stand. You’re not swinging level, your hands are here and I wanted them down here.’ He went right back to the start. He was upset with me. From Hank, when he was upset with me, I was upset with myself.”

Robinson, a 65-year-old retired bit actor and stunt man, coached Robinson’s Mets, a Southern California Baseball Assn. winter-league team of which Sharts was a member. He taught Sharts the swing that has produced a Southern Section-record 32 home runs in three seasons at Simi Valley High.

Sharts played for Robinson for two seasons before switching to the Chicago Cubs’ scout team last winter in order to test his swing against college pitching. Robinson’s swing, embodied in Sharts’ 6-foot, 6-inch, 220-pound frame, has produced a slew of Simi Valley records.

In three seasons, Sharts has 104 hits, 77 runs scored, 89 runs batted in and 23 doubles in a school-record 248 at-bats.

Robinson predicted big things for Sharts three years ago. First, however, the former minor league catcher and manager had to redirect Sharts’ ability. Sharts was a pitcher when Robinson first saw him at an American Legion game. At the plate, Sharts was a line-drive hitter, but to right and right-center fields. Robinson introduced the right-handed hitter to the left-field fence. Treat it with great disrespect, Robinson instructed. And so began the transformation.

“I looked at him and watched him take batting practice and could tell he could be a great power hitter,” Robinson said. “I straightened up his stance and gave him a chance to swing through the ball. And once he got his hands down--and naturally you’re stronger down there--he could hit the ball a lot farther.”

Sharts hit a team-high six home runs as a sophomore in 1986 as the Pioneers went 26-4 and were ranked No. 1 nationally most of the season. As a junior, Sharts, already gaining a big-time, big-hit reputation, hit 11 home runs. This season he has 15 home runs--one shy of the Southern Section single-season record.

“Hank used to say to me, ‘You’re going to be the best home run hitter around this Valley--ever,’ ” Sharts said. “I don’t think I really picked up on what he was saying until my junior year in high school. I said, ‘This guy is for real, and he’s done a lot for me.’ I will never forget that man for what he’s done for me.

“He knows so much about the art of hitting. I feel that I have him inside of me, playing in his younger years. Hitting the ball like he wants to. He just turned my life around in terms of hitting.”

At the behest of either, the older man and the young slugger frequently met at batting cages in the Valley, fiddling with Sharts’ stance, tinkering with his swing. Sharts would finish 1 1/2-hour sessions with blood oozing from blisters on his hands--and love it.

“That’s what I wanted to see,” Sharts said. “That’s a sign of real work.”

Sharts began pulling the ball, using his tremendous hip and leg strength. The home runs came, and so did the singles, the gappers. Strikeouts are rare--he has six in 98 at-bats this season. His career batting average is .420, including a .528 mark this season.

Mike Scyphers, the Simi Valley coach, has sent players to the major college and professional levels, and considers Sharts his best prospect yet. Not only does Sharts hit, he pitches. He is two victories away from the school record of 20, set by his brother Steve in 1981-82. Scott Sharts has been beaten only four times and is 8-0 this season.

“Scott is a really, really intelligent pitcher,” Scyphers said. “And I don’t think people realize it. But I think coaches in our league are starting to realize it.”

In kind, Sharts credits much of his pitching acumen and drive to Steve. At first, Scott approached pitching like he did hitting--by relying on brute strength. That changed when Steve, a 23-year-old, left-handed pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies’ double-A affiliate in Reading, Pa., would come home from places like Bend, Ore., and Clearwater, Fla.

Steve would drag him out to the field (“Come on, get off the couch,” Steve would say, “You’re never gonna get better watching ‘The Flintstones.’ ”) and work on his curveball, his changeup.

“He’s got so much raw talent,” Steve said. “And he works real hard, too. When I watch him play he looks very professional out there. He has real confidence in his ability.”

Scott’s would-be professionalism depends somewhat on the free-agent draft June 1-3. He verbally committed last Sunday to Miami (Fla.) and said he would sign a letter of intent by May 19. Predictions from scouts as to how Sharts will fare in the draft range from the first round to much later.

“The only thing I can say is that he’s having one of the better years a high school kid has had in a long time around here,” said Phillies’ scout Jay Robertson, who signed Steve Sharts out of Cal State Northridge in June, 1985. “He has displayed the kind of power scouts are looking for. Very few guys possess the kind of power he has.”

Although he was not as highly recruited out of high school, Steve Sharts has experienced both college and professional ball. Steve said he thinks Scott could play in the minor leagues without much physical adjustment. Where he would have to adapt, Scott said, is mentally--having to play every day, with bus trips long enough to wade through “War and Peace.”

“I think he’s ready for it,” Steve said. “I think he wants to be ready for it. I know he’s glad he’s made a verbal commitment with Miami, but I also know he’s looking forward to being drafted in the first two rounds. I just hope I don’t have to pitch to him.”

When it comes to pitching to Sharts, Camarillo Coach Ken Wagner’s strategy typifies that of the Marmonte League coaching majority.

“We never have figured it out,” he said. “He’s hit everything we’ve thrown up there for the past few years. We try to throw to him inside, but if you don’t get it there and he extends his arms, he’ll hurt you.”

Wagner summed it up: “The best way to pitch to him is to intentionally walk him.”

Scouts, however, are concerned with Sharts’ speed--or lack thereof--which is nothing new to Sharts. As a 6-year-old, he was given the name Thunder Thighs as a brave in the Indian Scouts. Steve either razzed him with reverse psychology, calling him Maury Wills, or went the direct route by calling him Waddles. “Don’t be afraid to hit a triple,” Steve would say. The message sunk in long ago, but all the training left Sharts less than fleet.

Scyphers, however, is quick to point to Sharts’ lateral quickness at first base and his soft hands.

“There’s a lot of big leaguers who can’t run,” he said. “Maybe they could run in high school and have slowed down, I don’t know. But if he keeps hitting gappers and putting the ball over the fence . . .”

If, indeed, he keeps putting the ball over the fence, a Sharts’ family dream could come true. Steve said he thinks about the day he’s on the mound, perhaps at Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium, facing a young power hitter from his hometown. In fact, from the same home in Simi Valley.

“I know Scottie’s going to have a great chance,” Steve said. “It would be a dream to pitch against him in the big leagues. I can just hear the announcers now, what they’d be saying . . .

“Scottie’s a fastball hitter, and I always think about it. Do I challenge him with a fastball and sit him down, or hit him with a curveball and make him look foolish? I’m sure he’d say, ‘I’d hit his fastball.’ ”

It looks like they’ll leave in the lefty to pitch to the right-handed hitter. Steve Sharts, in relief, will face brother Scott Sharts, a kid with a lot of power . Steve Sharts checks the runners and looks in for the sign. He sets. The runners are off. The pitch, it’s a fastball . . .