Orioles Finally Set at Third : Worthington Ends a Long Search for Brooks’ Replacement

They have names like Glenn Gulliver and Juan Beniquez and Wade Rowdon, Fritz Connally and Pex Hudler and Kelly Paris. Alphabetically, they range from Beniquez to Worthington.

There are 35 of them, all bound by a common thread: They have tried to play third base for the Baltimore Orioles since Brooks Robinson retired in 1977.

Most have failed. Only three--Doug DeCinces, Rich Dauer and Floyd Rayford--played as many as 200 games at the spot Robinson ruled for two decades.

Now, at last, the Orioles may have found a worthy heir. He is Craig Worthington.

For the second time this season, the 24-year-old rookie had three hits, including his sixth home run, as the Orioles beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-4, Monday night at Memorial Stadium for their fourth straight victory.

Since a shaky start that brought him to mid-June with a .199 batting average, Worthington has been on a .324 tear over 30 games that has raised his average to .245.

At the same time, he has reduced his strikeouts. He fanned 43 times in 176 at-bats in the course of compiling the .199, but only 13 times in 102 trips since.

Worthington says he was never terribly worried about that .199 because he was driving in runs with the few hits he did deliver. Now, his 41 RBIs--third on the club behind Mickey Tettleton and Cal Ripken--put him second only to Junior Felix of the Toronto Blue Jays among major-league rookies.

“I wasn’t wondering if I was ever going to hit, because I was getting the RBIs,” Worthington said. “I was thankful for that. I felt in my heart I’d get my average up.”

To do it, batting coach Tom McCraw said, Worthington would have to make an adjustment.

“He had to stand closer to the plate,” McCraw said. “We didn’t think he was seeing the outside pitches. He was taking them for strikes. Now he’s getting a better look at balls on the outside of the plate and not getting himself in a hole. He’s driving them to right-center field for hits.”

First-base coach Johnny Oates, the manager of Triple-A Rochester last year when Worthington was the International League’s Most Valuable Player despite his .244 average for the Red Wings, says the third baseman has made major strides as a hitter.

“He’s adjusting and becoming more selective,” Oates said. “He’s seeing pitchers now for the second and third time. Some pitchers are limited in what they can throw, but Craig didn’t know that the first time around the league.”

In late March, when the Orioles sent Juan Bell to Rochester, Manager Frank Robinson was saying, in effect, that the third-base job was Worthington’s. The club went into spring training with Cal Ripken at third base on an experimental basis with the idea that Bell might make it at shortstop.

“We wanted to take a look at the Cal-Bell combination, but Worthington was still going to get a long look,” Robinson said. “I guess we knew he was our third baseman when we sent Bell out.”

In the field, Oates says Baltimore has not yet seen the best of Craig Worthington. He has 12 errors in 82 games, with four of them coming in the last week.

“He hasn’t played as well defensively as he did last year,” Oates said. “Sure, he’s made some outstanding plays, but he made some last year that made me wonder how in the world he did it. I saw what he did for me, so maybe I expect too much.”