Fowble Ends Ride on the Arizona Shuttle : After Playing 5 Positions in 3 Years, Granada Hills Graduate Gives Up on College

Greg Fowble has no regrets.

Three years ago, after a stellar athletic career at Granada Hills High, Fowble said no thanks to the Cleveland Indians, who had selected him in the eighth round of the amateur baseball draft.

Instead, he went to Tucson to play shortstop for the University of Arizona, which had just won its third national collegiate baseball title.

Fowble theorized that playing for the Wildcats and Coach Jerry Kindall would not only increase his ability but also his stock with major league teams.

After three years at Arizona, Fowble, 22, has decided that the Wildcats’ recently completed season is going to be his last as a college baseball player. He will not return to complete his final year of eligibility even if he does not sign a professional contract.

“I’m definitely either going to sign or stay home next year and get a job,” Fowble said last weekend during the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. West I regional. “I’m definitely not coming back.”

Fowble batted .271 this season for the Wildcats, who were eliminated from the regional by Cal State Long Beach and finished the season 45-18-1.

Ironically, Fowble said that he had considered transferring to Long Beach during the summer when Dave Snow was named coach because Fowble “needed a new place to be.”

But fearing that Kindall would not give him a release, he returned to Tucson with hopes of duplicating his 1988 season, during which he batted .320 as the Wildcats’ second baseman.

Fowble, however, became a victim of his own versatility.

Kindall moved him to left field during the fall to take advantage of his speed. But Fowble opened the regular season as a late-inning utility player and designated-hitter and finished it as Arizona’s starting third baseman.

“He (Fowble) stabilized us at third very, very well,” Kindall said. “Wherever you have a need, Greg can fill it. He’s become a very good third baseman. He was a good second baseman. At shortstop he’s capable.”

Much has changed since 1987 when Fowble opened the season as the starting shortstop for the defending national champions.

“We knew Greg had a lot of potential,” Kindall said in March of 1987. “The only question was whether he was our shortstop of the present or the future.”

After Fowble committed 32 errors his freshman year, he became the Wildcats’ shortstop of the past.

Fowble, however, did not learn of his destiny until he returned from a summer spent sharpening his shortstop skills in the Cape Cod League.

On the first day of fall practice before his sophomore year, Fowble and his teammates hustled to their positions and prepared to field ground balls.

“I ran out to shortstop and he (Kindall) said, ‘Fowble, second base,’ ” Fowble recalled. “And I never played shortstop one time last year.

“I couldn’t believe that I wasn’t even going to get a chance to see if he thought I’d gotten better or anything.”

Fowble batted .320 and had one home run and 37 runs batted in while playing second. He felt confident that he had found his true position.

He was so confident, in fact, that he again said no to Cleveland, which selected him in the 49th round last June. Fowble was eligible to be drafted as a sophomore because he was 21 years old.

Fowble batted .340 last summer for Kenai in the Alaska Summer League, came home to California for his wedding, then returned to Tucson billed as the fourth-best second baseman in the nation by Baseball America magazine.

Kindall, however, moved Fowble to left field during the fall.

“I personally feel I never lost my position at second base,” Fowble said. “I never had a chance to defend it.”

Fowble is hoping he gets another chance to play professional baseball as either a draftee or free agent. If nothing works out, he will pursue a career in law enforcement.

“I think I made the right decision out of high school by not signing,” Fowble said. “Coming to college really helped me grow up as a person and a player--I think I’ve gotten a lot better.

“I don’t regret coming here. I just wish it would have worked out a little better.”