BASEBALL / STEVE HENSON : Moorpark’s Young Makes Striking Progress With His Control

Ray Young’s third time through the California League was his toughest. Once again, he had no control--not of his pitches, not of his destiny.

Young’s career had been one long walk on the wild side. And there he was in August of 1988, stuck in Lodi again, surviving a season-ending trip with the Modesto A’s, his third Class-A team in his third organization in three years.

For Young, who pitched for Moorpark College in 1983, the third time was alarm. He had walked 118 batters in 74 innings, breaking his personal record of 111 walks set in 1985 with the Bakersfield Dodgers of the same California League.

Young’s earned-run average was 6.66.

“I might have went home for good if it wasn’t for my wife, Tamara,” Young said. “She always believed I’d make it, always believed in my ability.”

To Young’s eternal gratitude, so did the Oakland Athletics. They signed him after he was released by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987 and stuck with him through the wildness of ’88. The Athletics’ faith is paying off.

Now pitching for Tacoma, the Athletics’ triple-A affiliate, Young leads the Pacific Coast League in victories with 10 and is third in strikeouts with 83. Most impressively, however, he has walked 59 in 107 2/3 innings. Hardly pinpoint control, but. . . .

“He’s getting to the point where he doesn’t lose games with his mistakes,” said Karl Kuehl, the Athletics’ director of player personnel.

Young has excellent velocity. Last year at Huntsville, Ala., in double-A, he struck out 163 in 147 innings and allowed only 112 hits. Although Young walked 109, he was 13-6 and was especially effective in the second half.

“Right around midseason, something clicked,” Young said.

The changes were more mental than mechanical.

“Younger players have a way of being distracted easily and it was hard for Ray to keep his mind where it should be,” Kuehl said. “He began to set priorities.”

Or as Young puts it, “I got things straight in my life. I had to calm down and get down to earth.”

Heaven, of course, would be a promotion to the Athletics.

“This organization has been supportive and patient,” Young said. “They took care of me off the field and I feel like I owe them something.

“I just want to give them something back, hopefully by contributing in the big leagues.”

Dialing long distance for mom: Pat and Terry Tackett flew to Rochester, N. Y., last week primarily to see their 4-month-old granddaughter, Catherine Joy, for the first time.

Oh, and they also planned to take in a ballgame.

It would mark another first for Pat, who had never seen her son, Jeff, play professionally. He’s been in the Baltimore Orioles organization since being a second-round pick out of Camarillo High in 1984, but has always been assigned to a team on the East Coast.

So after listening to her granddaughter say goo-goo, Pat went gaga when Jeff hit a home run in his first at-bat.

“Needless to say, I was a bit overwhelmed,” Pat said.

Add Tackett: Chris Hoiles was promoted to Baltimore a month ago, leaving Tackett as the regular catcher at Rochester, the Orioles’ affiliate in the triple-A International League.

Tackett, a sound defensive player with an excellent arm, has flourished playing every day. He is batting .263 with three home runs and 23 runs batted in. Not bad for having one eye on the Orioles’ roster.

“Playing every day is the reason I’m hitting,” he said. “I take the 0 for four in stride, knowing I’ll be back in the lineup the next day.”

Tackett, who batted only .181 in 199 at-bats at Rochester last season, also reported to spring training with a firm idea about his hitting style. He spent the off-season batting under the guidance of his father, a former coach at Hueneme High.

“I didn’t go into spring training totally lost with my swing,” he said. “I told myself to hit the way I know I can hit and not listen to everybody tell me how to hit.”

All of Tackett’s numbers are sound. He has thrown out 48% of runners attempting to steal, well above the major league average of 30%.

Hoiles is Baltimore’s third-string catcher behind Mickey Tettleton and Bob Melvin. Tackett, however, holds hope.

“I think they might trade Bob Melvin and make Tettleton a straight DH,” he said. And, goes the thinking, promote Tackett.

Add Camarillo: Two former Scorpions who began this season as teammates with the Class-A Spartanburg (S.C.) Phillies of the South Atlantic League have fallen on rough times.

Ken Sirak, a 1986 Camarillo graduate drafted out of Nebraska last year in the 38th round, is sharing time at third base after beginning the season as the regular.

Gil Valencia, a 1988 Camarillo graduate drafted in the 65th round that year, was reassigned to Batavia of the Class-A New York-Penn League three weeks ago after batting .155 in 37 games with Spartanburg.

Sirak, a shortstop at Nebraska, made a successful conversion to third base this season, his first as a professional. He is batting .255 in 94 at-bats, but has slumped recently.

“Ken’s defense has been sound,” said Ken McMillan, a Spartanburg team official, “but he’s been struggling with the bat lately.”

Valencia, a left fielder, began his professional career with a splash last season at Martinsville, Va., of the Appalachian Rookie League. He was named the Phillies’ minor league player of the month for August and finished with a .287 batting average in 47 games.

Although he did not commit an error at Spartanburg, Valencia’s lack of hitting spurred the move to Batavia. He is batting .200 in nine games with his new team.

Simons says: Although Doug Simons insists there are better prospects in the Orlando Sunrays’ starting rotation, the left-hander from Calabasas High was the only one to pitch in the Southern League All-Star Game on Wednesday at Chattanooga, Tenn.

Simons, who leads the Minnesota Twins’ double-A affiliate with 10 wins, entered the all-star game after a rain delay with one out in the second inning and pitched 1 2/3 shutout innings, striking out one. Still, he is not expecting a quick promotion.

“(The other starters) are going to move up no matter what they do,” Simons said. “That’s just the way it is.”

Simons’ pessimism stems from two facts. He is the only Sunray starter who is not a first-round draft pick, and he is the only left-hander. The Twins’ rotation is already has three left-handers--David West, Mark Guthrie and Alan Anderson.

All Simons can do is continue to post sound numbers. He has allowed only 98 hits and 30 walks in 116 innings and has an ERA of 2.96.