White Determined to Return to Angels

Devon White understands why he was demoted to the minor leagues. What he doesn’t understand is why people still portray him as a baseball player with unrealized potential.

“Maybe my abilities are my downfall, you might say, because everybody expects too much out of me,” said White, an American League All-Star for the Angels last year who is now a member of the triple-A Edmonton Trappers. “You can’t be just good with the abilities I have. All the stats have labeled me, and I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself to try to impress.”

A promising rookie outfielder who hit .263 with 24 home runs, 87 runs batted in and 32 stolen bases in 1987, White accepted the assignment to Edmonton with grace and played well in his first Pacific Coast League game since 1986 Thursday night against the Portland Beavers.

Batting leadoff, White had two singles and a double, scored twice, did not strike out and hit a 380-foot fly-ball out in five at-bats. The Trappers beat the Beavers, 9-4, to improve their record to 14-5.

And White didn’t talk or play like a former All-Star just sent to the minors.

“You just have to pick yourself up and find a way back up there,” White said. “There’s no other way to take it. You have to be here, so you might as well have a good time. You step back and realize that you are still fortunate to be here.”

Trapper Manager Max Oliveras said he was elated to have White in his lineup, even though he knew the switch-hitter was sent down to work mostly with hitting instructor Joe Madden.

“I thought he would be sore, but he said ‘Max, I’m coming down here to help you guys out,’ ” Oliveras said. “It’s going to spoil me having him in the lineup.”

Oliveras said he asked White where he wanted to be inserted in the batting order, but the player told him to make that decision. “It’s part of getting him on the right track,” Oliveras said. “It’s part of the treatment. I want to inject into him the kind of fun we have down here.”

One of the best defensive outfielders in the majors, the only help White needs is at the plate. He and Madden will concentrate on what has been severely ailing White for the past year--the tendency to swing at bad pitches and striking out.

White hit .259 with nine home runs and 39 RBIs during the first half of last season--earning him a spot on the All-Star team--but his hitting has fallen off drastically since the 1989 All-Star break.

He finished at .245 with 12 home runs and 56 RBIs last year and struck out 129 times in 636 at-bats. White’s average had dropped to .213 with 72 strikeouts in 263 at-bats when he was sent down last Friday.

“Offensively, I know I was struggling and maybe this is the best thing for me right now,” White said. “Anybody that’s hitting .215 or .200 in the big leagues . . . They need to do better than that to stay up there for any period of time.”

White said he was not told when he would get the call back to Anaheim.

He still defended his hitting style--aggressive--and claimed he was merely in an extended slump.

“I go out there and hack, and I don’t worry about strikeouts,” White said. “I try to get on base anyway I can, and I try to hit the ball hard. I don’t try to go up and hit home runs. If it happens, it happens.”

White said the pressure to be the superstar everybody expects has played a part in his offensive problems. One of the reasons he was sent down, he said, was to relieve the pressure of being in the major leagues.

“Still, there is pressure because you know you have to play well to get back up there,” he said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself. I know I have to improve my hitting, and I know I can.

“I had a great first half last year and nobody complained, but as soon as you start doing bad, everybody sees everything,” he said. “It’s how you finish, it’s not the way you start.”