Prep Wednesday : Designated Hitters Wait Their Turns, Then Come Out Swinging : Proper Attitude, Preparation Are Keys to Success

Marc Newfield, Marina High School’s best hitter, sits on a bucket near the dugout and watches his teammates take the field for a baseball game against Edison.

Newfield’s glove is nowhere in sight. Instead, he sits, watches and waits. Newfield looks bored, but he awakens in the bottom of the inning when the opposing pitcher takes the field.

Now, Newfield’s eyes are glued to the mound. He makes mental notes on how hard Edison pitcher J.J. Thobe is throwing and where he locates his pitches. He wonders how effective Thobe’s curveball will be on a windy afternoon.

Thobe retires the side in the first inning, and Newfield gets up from his makeshift seat and goes back into the dugout. He spends the next inning gripping his bat and taking practice swings. But mostly, he waits.

Finally, Newfield gets his turn. He grabs a batting helmet, takes a couple of swings and comes to the plate. After fouling off a pitch, he hits a routine grounder to third and is thrown out by five steps.

Newfield jogs back to the dugout and takes a seat on the end of the bench. His bat has never left his hands. He continues to nervously play with it and begins the waiting game all over again.

Marc Newfield is a designated hitter--or baseball’s answer to a good-hitting player without a position. Newfield, like most high school designated hitters, averages three plate appearances per game. That’s three opportunities to contribute in a game that many consider is the ultimate team sport.

A position player can contribute with his defense or his mere presence on the field, but a designated hitter’s role is limited. A couple of hits, and he’s a team player. Go into a slump and the coach will find another DH.

The designated hitter was established in the American League in 1973 in an effort to add more offense to the national pastime. The rule allowed a batter to be substituted for the pitcher in the batting order.

Three years later, the rule was adopted by the National Federation of State High School Assns. and has become a part of the high school game--with a twist.

Pitchers are often among the best hitters at the high school level, so coaches often substitute for a right fielder or a second baseman, generally good fielders but average hitters.

The designated hitter is popular among coaches because it gives them an added offensive weapon, but the position does have its drawbacks.

“It’s an important position, but it takes a sell job to convince a kid that he is going to be the designated hitter,” said Ron Drake, Mission Viejo’s coach. “Most kids would rather be on the field playing.

“You tell them that they’re going to be the DH, and they’re disappointed. But once they’re productive and start to see some results, then they start to feel like they’re part of the team.”

Vic Boyd, who shares the designated hitter role with Jim Betzsold for top-ranked Mater Dei, said he was initially hurt when Coach Bob Ickes informed him that his role would be as a DH.

“I worked real hard and thought I should be playing,” said Boyd, who had previously played first base and the outfield. “This is the first time I’ve been a DH, and I’ve learned to deal with it.

“Getting mad doesn’t help the situation. I’m happy where I’m at as the designated hitter, but I’d like to be playing in the field.”

Boyd showed earlier this season against Bishop Amat that he can make a big contribution as a designated hitter. He hit an eighth-inning homer at Mater Dei that gave the Monarchs a 1-0 victory.

“I was watching the pitcher all afternoon and hoping I’d get a pitch that was up,” Boyd said. “I was thinking fastball and got one. The worst thing you can do on the bench is to overthink. Sometimes, you can make this game more complicated than it already is.”

Ickes said his two designated hitters practice at their respective positions each day--Boyd in the outfield and Betzsold in the infield.

“I don’t ever want a kid to think that he’s just a DH,” Ickes said. “I want a player to be ready at any time to play the field.”

Boyd sometimes wonders if his future is being limited as a designated hitter.

“If a college scout is here, he might be wondering, ‘Why isn’t this guy playing? What’s wrong with him?’ Maybe they’ll think I have an arm problem or can’t judge fly balls.”

Drake thinks a good-hitting player has a good future in baseball, regardless of what position he’s playing.

“Some coaches from Pepperdine were at our practice earlier this year, and they really liked my DH (Steve Rooten) just by the way he swung the bat,” Drake said. “Colleges are always going to find a place for hitters to play.”

While Boyd is Mater Dei’s reluctant DH, Newfield said the role of designated hitter allows him more time to concentrate on hitting. So far, the position seems to agree with Newfield, who is hitting .448 with eight home runs and 28 RBIs.

“I really enjoy being the DH,” he said. “When I’m playing in the field, I think about fielding. I want to concentrate on hitting.”

Paul Renfrow, Marina coach, said Newfield, a junior, is the best hitter he’s ever been around.

“Marc has a God-given talent to hit,” Renfrow said. “He has tremendous hand-eye coordination and the quickest reflexes you’ll ever see. It’s pretty just to watch him swing the bat.”

Newfield spends most of his time sitting quietly on the bench, bat in hand, but livens up when his older brother, Paul, comes in to pitch.

“I get real nervous when he’s pitching and can’t sit still,” Newfield said. “I used to try extra hard to get a hit when he was pitching, but that didn’t work.

“You have to be steady. I feel like I’m contributing to the team and a part of the team when I’m hitting. When I don’t get a hit, I don’t feel like I’ve done much.”

Jack Hodges, Laguna Hills coach, found that the designated hitter position was just the remedy for pitcher Ron Kortman while he recovered from off-season shoulder surgery.

“He wasn’t ready to pitch, and I didn’t want him playing in the outfield, so Ron became our DH,” Hodges said. “Now, he’s the DH on the days when he’s not pitching. I really like the rule because it gives a coach this type of flexibility.”

But the risk of a possible injury while serving as a DH was exactly why Ickes removed Tony Pena, Mater Dei’s talented pitcher, as the team’s designated hitter after four games.

Pena has compiled an 18-3 record over the past two seasons and has signed a national letter of intent to continue his career at Arizona State in the fall. Pena batted .444 as Mater Dei’s DH before Ickes made a change.

“Tony is the best athlete on the team, but I decided to be very cautious with him,” Ickes said. “He has a whole future ahead of him, and I would hate to see him get hurt sliding into a base.”

Some view the designated hitter as only half a player, and Hodges said it’s sometimes necessary to choose a player with half the ability of another to fill the role.

“Everybody wants to be the complete player,” he said. “I can understand those who feel they’re only half a player as a DH.

“Sometimes, a coach is better off selecting a less-talented player to be the DH who has the right approach to the position over someone who might be more talented but doesn’t have the right attitude.”