SAN DIEGO STATE BASEBALL PREVIEW : Dietz Hopes It Gets Better for Young Team

Jim Dietz, San Diego State’s baseball coach, sat at his desk last Friday, one week before the start of the season, and put his head in his hands.

He rubbed his eyes, but the picture remained the same.

His voice was hoarse from a cold. His starting shortstop had gone AWOL for a 1 1/2 days, reappeared and was promptly suspended. His caterer for the weekend’s baseball alumni get-together had backed out a few hours earlier, pleading that he hadn’t realized it was Super Bowl weekend.

Take all of this away, and his morning still had been a wreck. Of three meetings scheduled with various administrators, two had been canceled.

So perhaps you can understand why nobody will be more relieved than Dietz when the first pitch is thrown against The Master’s College at SDSU’s Smith Field this afternoon at 5.

“The ballgame is the most peaceful time of the day for me,” said Dietz, in his 19th season at SDSU. “It’s my peace-and-quiet time.”

But the way things shape up for the 1990 Aztecs, quiet time may turn into hair-pulling time. Of 41 players on the preseason roster, just 11 are returning lettermen, and only two others had significant playing time on last year’s 37-25 team that finished second in the Western Athletic Conference with a 17-9 record. Of the others, 10 played on the SDSU junior varsity team last year, and 18 are newcomers.

One of the returning players is senior shortstop Brian Grebeck (.243 batting average last season)--if he stays in the good graces of the coaching staff. Dietz suspended him indefinitely last week for disciplinary reasons and reinstated him earlier this week. Grebeck still hasn’t earned his starting job back, though.

“He’ll be in the doghouse for a while, but he’s back,” Dietz said. “He’ll have to work himself back into the lineup.”

SDSU will have a new regular first baseman (freshman Jason Ledford), second baseman (community college transfer Scott Dennison or sophomore Steve Murphy, who was with the junior varsity most of last season), third baseman (community college transfer Steve Boucher or Stan Kwan, who appeared in 16 games last year) and center fielder (freshman Derek Vinyard or Bill Dunckel, a transfer from Palomar Community College). And as long as Grebeck remains out of the lineup, Dietz’s freshman son, Steve, will play shortstop.

The Aztecs will also have a renovated pitching staff. Five of last season’s pitchers were picked in Major League Baseball’s June free-agent draft, and four signed.

“We’re awfully young,” Dietz said. “There are some things we’ll have to become good at. Last year, we were really united as a ballclub--probably more so than any other club I’ve had here. We’ve got skilled people but not a lot of experience.

“We’ve lost a lot of pitching, so that will be nerve-wracking. It will require a lot of them to learn under fire.”

Junior left-hander Erik Plantenberg (6-3 last year, 3.96 earned-run average) is SDSU’s lone returning starter. Helix graduate Rick Navarro (1-0, 2.12), a sophomore left-hander, will move into the starting rotation, along with sophomore right-hander Brian Holliday (junior varsity last year) and, most likely, senior left-hander Kevin Nielsen (0-1, 2.49). Nielsen was the fifth pitcher drafted last June--by the Kansas City Royals--but elected to remain in school.

Besides Plantenberg, senior right-hander Rusty Filter (2-1, 1.25) is the most experienced pitcher. He will be used mainly as a middle reliever but will also be a spot starter when SDSU is in a pinch. Kurt Archer, a right-hander who spent the past two seasons at two different community colleges, will be the right-handed stopper.

“Last year, I felt nine or 10 guys could step in at any time and do an outstanding job,” said Gary Kondratek, SDSU’s pitching coach. “This year, we may be down to five or six we can depend on.”

While the others try to blossom, junior catcher Eric Christopherson will be a steadying influence. Christopherson (.256, 24 runs batted in) is returning for his third season.

“He’s an outstanding catcher,” Dietz said. “He thinks real well, and in my system I put a lot of emphasis on catchers calling their own games. He throws real well and gives us a certain amount of leadership.”

Flanking Vinyard or Dunckel in center will be veterans Anthony Johnson (.284) in left and Jeff Barry (.346, 35 RBIs) in right. Johnson is a senior who has played three years at SDSU; Barry is a junior who has played two seasons. Barry played center last season but will move to right because he has the stronger arm.