Stark Makes Most of Second Chance : Baseball: Former Los Altos High standout battles back with the Class AA Birmingham Barons.

Ever since he was a young boy, Matt Stark has dreamed of becoming a major league baseball player.

But after signing with the Toronto Blue Jays after his senior season at Los Altos High, Stark never envisioned how difficult the dream would be to realize.

Especially since he was selected as the ninth player in the first round of the 1983 draft.

In the seven years that have followed, the 25-year-old catcher and designated hitter has played for six teams. He has been under contract to three major league teams and has also struggled with serious injuries to his ankle and shoulder.

But Stark finally appears to be nearing his goal.

As a member of the Birmingham (Ala.) Barons, the Class AA affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, Stark is fourth in the Southern League in home runs with 10 and second in runs batted in with 62 after the first half of the season. He is hitting .297 and has struck out only 25 times in 222 at-bats.

Last week, the 6-foot-4, 250-pound Stark was named Southern League player of the week when he hit .455 with a home run, three doubles and 12 RBIs in seven games.

“I’ve had my ups and downs in my career,” Stark said. “I’ve met a lot of peaks and valleys here and there and now it’s time for me to aim upward.”

Ken Berry, a former player for the White Sox who is manager of the Barons, said Stark already has the ability to play in the majors.

“From what I’ve seen from Matt, he can be in the big leagues right now as a designated hitter,” Berry said. “But whether anybody brings him up is another story. From my standpoint, if I want a guy who can keep the ball in play, drive in runs and not strike out a lot, he’s my man.”

For Stark, the most imposing barrier on the road to the major leagues has been staying healthy.

Stark’s Odyssey in pro baseball started with Toronto’s rookie team in Medicine Hat, Alberta, in the summer of 1983. The next season he was with the Blue Jays’ Class A squad in Florence, S.C. That was where his injury problems first developed.

“Halfway through the season I fractured my ankle so I missed a half of a year there,” he said.

After recovering from the injury, Stark made good progress the next two seasons. He started the 1985 season in Florence but was promoted to Toronto’s Class AA team in Knoxville, Tenn., toward the end of the season.

The following year he had his best season in the minors--at least before this year. Playing for Knoxville, Stark batted .295 with 17 homers and 70 RBIs.

It appeared Stark had realized his dream when he made Toronto’s 24-man roster as a catcher in the spring of 1987.

“That was probably my best year,” he said. “(The Blue Jays) gave me a full opportunity to make the team in spring training and I did.”

Unfortunately, about a month into the season, disaster struck for Stark.

“I made the big team and then a month into the season I developed tendinitis (in the right shoulder) and sat out the 1987,” he said.

At first, Stark was placed on the team’s 21-day disabled list. When the injury was slow to heal, he was sent down to Knoxville.

It was shortly after that that Toronto’s team doctor, James Andrews, determined that Stark had suffered a torn rotator cuff. Andrews operated to repair three dime-width tears in the rotator cuff in July of 1987 and Stark spent about eight months in rehabilitation.

Stark said he was not at full strength upon his return in 1988, when he batted .266 with 11 homers and 54 RBIs at Knoxville. He was limited to playing designated hitter.

That turned out to be his final season in the Toronto organization. After the season, during the baseball winter meetings in December of 1988, he was purchased by the Atlanta Braves for $50,000 and placed on the team’s 40-man protected roster.

“Atlanta purchased me with the hope of being in the major leagues (the next season) but I never really got the chance,” Stark said.

He said he was probably purchased by the Braves because former Toronto manager Bobby Cox had become Atlanta’s general manager. “He knew I could swing the bat but he was taking a gamble with my arm,” Stark said.

In spring training in 1989, Stark practiced at the team’s major league camp in West Palm Beach, Fla., but rarely played in games and was unceremoniously released March 27.

“It was kind of an unusual spring for me,” Stark said. “They bought me but I didn’t have a chance to play in many games. I only caught in a couple of B games and I kind of got the feeling that (Atlanta manager) Russ Nixon didn’t care for me and the only reason I was there was because of Bobby Cox.

“You figure that when a team purchases you for a big chunk of change they’re going to give you a chance to play, but they never did.”

It also disturbed Stark that the Braves simply released him instead of offering him back to the Blue Jays. But with his arm still hurting and his wife, Sharon, expecting their first child, Stark decided it was best to sit out the rest of the season.

After nearly a year away from pro baseball, Stark wound up signing with the White Sox organization before this season. Although he received other offers, he said he chose the White Sox because Larry Himes--Chicago’s general manager--seemed to be most interested.

Since joining Chicago’s Birmingham farm team, Stark has been an immediate hit at the plate. He plays mostly as a designated hitter and has been catching only once a week. Kurt Brown, a former No. 1 draft pick from Glendora High, and Matt Meruloo share most of the catching duties.

“They’re just trying to bring me along slowly,” Stark said. “They’ve taken an overly precautious approach. Hopefully I’ll catch a little more in the second half of the season.”

Said Berry: “He’s been coming on but he’s still at the point where he throws one day and then sits out. When he gets to the point that he can go out more than one day, we’ll put him in the lineup. We’re just going one day at a time with Matt.”

While his arm is still not at full strength, Stark said he has seen enough improvement to make him optimistic.

“It’s definitely better than it was before,” he said. “The White Sox have done some different things with me like using a medicine ball and a tubing (exercise) and I think that’s helped.”

He credits the improvement to a rigorous conditioning program that the White Sox have instituted under conditioning coaches Steve Rogers and Vern Gambetta.

“It’s excellent,” Stark said. “They have two guys, one in the majors (Rogers) and one in the minors (Gambetta). They have aspects they work with for every sort of problem. That’s really done a lot of good for me.”

Stark is hoping that the conditioning program will eventually enable him to play as a catcher in the major leagues.

“I can go as a DH but my worth is more as a catcher,” he said. “If I can go behind the dish and catch I can be more valuable because I’m just a better hitter than some (catchers) in the majors. In my whole career, I’ve never been a .250 hitter.”

Stark first demonstrated his affinity for hitting when he played at Los Altos. As a senior with the Conquerors, he batted .527 with four home runs and 15 RBIs and made the All-CIF Southern Section team.

He was also an outstanding tight end in football, catching 82 passes for 1,064 yards and six touchdowns as a senior to help lead Los Altos to a CIF championship. Stark was good enough to sign a national letter of intent to play football at USC.

“He was very special,” said Dwayne DeSpain, Stark’s former football coach at Los Altos. “I really felt he was an All-American, blue-chip kind of guy. If he made the right kind of progress at SC, I think he could have made it to the pros. It’s just something you never know about. It’s something that you can always talk about.”

At first, Stark said he was looking forward to attending USC and playing football and baseball.

“But I had to make a decision that every first- or second-rounder has to make,” he said. “I wanted to play both but that was just impossible. I could’ve played football and been pretty good but I have no regrets about it.”

Stark said he also received a strong financial incentive to bypass a college football career. He signed for $130,000 plus $7,500 in incentive bonuses. He is making $30,000 with the Barons this season.

Not that he doesn’t wonder about college life from time to time.

“You always wonder what college life would’ve been like but I don’t regret it,” Stark said. “With any luck, maybe I’d have three or four years in the big leagues right now. But at least I’m getting another opportunity now and I’m trying to make the most of it.”

With veteran catcher Carlton Fisk of the White Sox approaching the end of his career, Stark is hoping that he will receive an opportunity to play for Chicago.

“I haven’t set a time limit but I’m capable of going up tonight if Ron Kittle (White Sox designated hitter) gets hurt,” he said. “Hopefully, in September when the rosters go up (to 40 players), I can get called up.”

He admits that he is not as patient with his baseball career as he was when he first started playing in the minors.

“They always say you’ve got to give it time, but I’m at the point in my career where I have to see what I can do now,” he said.

With his impressive first half of the season at Birmingham, Stark is more than living up to the promise that once made him a first-round draft choice.

He is hoping the end result will be another chance to play in the major leagues.