Baseball : For a Change, Skeels Feels at Home Despite His Slow Start at Riverside

The Riverside Red Wave, the San Diego Padres’ affiliate in the Class-A California League, had trouble developing much of a clubhouse atmosphere during the first half of the season--mostly because there was no clubhouse. A Spartan trailer with neither air-conditioning nor showers served as dressing quarters for the players.

“It was the size of a bedroom,” said Andy Skeels, a Riverside catcher who played at Thousand Oaks High, Oxnard College and the University of Arkansas. “We live across the street from the park, so right after batting practice we’d go home, watch TV, eat and go back to the park for infield.

“It was kind of weird walking across the middle of the street in your uniform.”

The clubhouse has since been completed.

“Now it’s sweet,” Skeels said. “It’s head and shoulders above anything in this league.”

Skeels, 22, has been looking pretty good himself lately. He is batting just .230 with three home runs, but he has 53 runs batted in and is hitting better than .300 during the second half. He is also beginning to feel comfortable behind the plate. An outfielder in high school, Skeels did not become a catcher until his second year at Oxnard.

“I think my slow start, which began in spring training, was just a case of being unfamiliar with the way things really worked,” Skeels said. “I kind of went in with some unrealistic expectations. I was trying to please everybody.”

Skeels hit 18 home runs his senior year at Arkansas--a school record that helped him earn All-American honors--but he has recognized the difference between using aluminum and wood bats.

“I’m probably someone capable of hitting 10 to 15 home runs a year,” said Skeels, who will participate in the Arizona Instructional League. “The guys who hit 20 to 30 every year, how many of those guys are around? I’m not one of those types.”

Back on track: Keith Nicholson was 9-6 with a 4.07 earned-run average last season at Lakeland in the Class-A Florida State League, so he was understandably disappointed at the end of spring training when the Detroit Tigers reassigned him to the South Atlantic League and their lower Class-A team at Fayetteville, N. C.

“My manager in Fayetteville, Leon Roberts, took me aside,” said Nicholson, who had spent two of the previous seasons with a co-op team in Gastonia, N. C., in the South Atlantic League. “He played in the big leagues for nine years. He told me as long as you have the uniform you still have the chance to move up.”

Nicholson, a 23-year-old right-hander who played at Chatsworth High and Mission College, made the most of his opportunities. Although he was just 2-5 as a starter at Fayetteville, he compiled a 2.09 ERA with 60 strikeouts and 34 walks in 90 innings.

In July, he was promoted to Lakeland, where he has compiled a 2.73 ERA in seven games.

“My biggest improvement was getting stronger by working out in the weight room during the off-season,” said Nicholson, who now carries 187 pounds on his 6-foot, 1-inch frame. “I’ve gained almost 12 pounds of muscle since I signed. Now I’m throwing the ball hard with a good clue of where it’s going. That wasn’t always the case.”

Warming to the task: Tim Laker had his doubts.

After a slow start with the Class-A Jamestown (N. Y.) Expos, the former Simi Valley High and Oxnard College catcher was not sure he had made the right decision when he passed up a scholarship to attend Arizona State and signed with Montreal.

“There was a while there when I was just kind of doubting myself,” said Laker, who was selected in the sixth round of the June draft. “I guess that’s pretty normal.

“The first three or four weeks of the season, I wasn’t used to wood bats and facing pitchers this good. But I’m glad I decided to sign. It just took me a while to get adjusted.” Laker, 18, is behind the plate about every other game and is batting .217 and has 14 RBIs.

With Jamestown leading the New-York Penn League, Laker will get playoff experience before returning home and then heading to West Palm Beach, Fla., for the Instructional League.

“I’m not really worried about the numbers this year,” Laker said. “I’ve learned a little more about calling a game, receiving and the whole catcher’s makeup.”