SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Tustin’s Green Proves to be a Quick Study on the Field, in Classroom

Vince Brown was very careful in the way he coached Shawn Green two years ago when the outfielder was a freshman at Tustin High School.

Brown thought he was doing the right thing by bringing Green along slowly, keeping him out of the starting lineup and then inserting him in late innings to keep the pressure off the 14-year-old.

“I didn’t think he would have a problem playing on the varsity as a freshman, but I wondered how the senior players would accept him,” the coach said.

Green made a quick adjustment by getting five hits in his first eight at-bats, and his teammates came to Brown with a demand: “You gotta start Shawn Green.”

Brown figured it would be only a matter of time before Green would earn a starting position, having watched the string bean with the size 13 shoes while umpiring a Little League game in Tustin.

“You could hear him running to first base a mile away with those size 13 shoes,” Brown said. “He was a very gangly-looking kid with excellent hand-eye coordination. By the time he got to Tustin High, he had probably swung the bat a million times.”

Green was an accomplished hitter, but Brown inherited a student-athlete when Green enrolled at Tustin. Brown distinctly recalled a meeting with Green’s freshman English teacher in the fall of 1987.

“Baseball practice hadn’t started yet, and I started hearing from Shawn’s English teacher about how hard a worker he was and what a wonderful student he was,” Brown said. “He hadn’t played in a game yet, but I knew he was something special.”

For the past three years, Green has excelled equally in the classroom (4.6 grade-point average) and on the diamond.

Green has been selected to the all-Sea View League baseball team for three years and enters today’s Southern Section 3-A semifinal playoff game with 99 career hits.

Green figures to become the county’s career hit leader next season, when he should surpass former Laguna Hills standout Chris Sheff, who had 129 hits in 1986-89. Green has five hits in three playoff games and finished the regular season with a .467 average and 27 stolen bases.

“All of Shawn’s accomplishments in baseball have come with a lot of eyes on him,” Brown said. “There have been a lot of expectations for him. He’s so smart. He has the ability to listen, decipher and then use what works for him. He’s takes a blend of advice, mixes it together and then goes with it.”

Green has experienced only one hitting slump during his high school career. He went hitless in three games midway through this season, going 0 for 12. On the other hand, he had four-hit games against Los Alamitos and Corona del Mar.

Green said he doesn’t set individual goals before each season, adding, “I just want to go out every game and do the best I can.”

The scouting report on Green is relatively simple: He is a fastball hitter who prefers his pitches inside. He generally hits the ball to all fields, but when he is hot, he becomes a pull hitter. His problem pitch is a good fastball high in the strike zone, and occasionally he has problems with off-speed pitches.

Green has struck out only seven times this season and takes pride in being a contact hitter. His father, Ira, bought his son a batting cage when he was 8 and worked with him until he enrolled at Tustin.

“When I first got here, I was a little intimidated by the older players,” Green said. “But I knew the coaches pretty well, and after a couple of games, I relaxed. I’ve been playing year-round ever since.”

Top-seeded Tustin (25-3), which has advanced to the semifinals for the second consecutive year, will meet Hesperia at Victor Valley College at 3:15 today.

Last year, the Tillers lost to eventual champion Kennedy, 7-2, in the semifinals. Green said the team has taken a different approach to the playoffs this time around.

“Last year, everyone looked up to (pitcher) Monte Jones and expected him to carry the team,” Green said. “We doubted ourselves a little. This year, we have so much more talent and we’re a lot more confident.

“We have three leaders (shortstop Ben Munoz, catcher Ryan Relph and pitcher Dan Baker) to look up to this year. We’ve taken a very business-like approach to practice and seem to get things done better this year.”

Green has utilized the same approach to improve his hitting skills over the past three years. He spends an hour each weekday in the batting cage and two hours on Saturdays and Sundays.

“Automatically, Shawn will be one of the leaders of the team next season,” Brown said. “I’d like to see him get the county record for hits and take his place among the best hitters in county history.”