MINOR LEAGUE REPORT : Karros in Dodger Plans for New Dream Infield

Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Ron Cey were all groomed in the Dodgers’ minor league system in the late 1960s, brought up within three years of each other and spent 10 years as the longest continuously intact infield in history.

A similar foursome could emerge in Los Angeles sometime in the near future with Dave Hansen, Jose Offerman and Jose Vizcaino as three of the four new prospects.

The fourth, shooting for Garvey’s role, is Eric Karros, a former star at Patrick Henry High and UCLA now tearing up the double-A Texas League for San Antonio.

“The way they talk,” Karros said, “they’re trying to do the same thing they did in the late ‘60s. . . . They talk about how they’re going to try to bring us up together. It may be all talk, but who knows? Hopefully, it’ll work out like that, but you never know.”

On the field or off, Karros has done little wrong in his part.

At Patrick Henry, he was an All-County selection in 1985, when he led the Patriots to a near perfect season, their only loss, 7-2, to Mira Mesa in the title game at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Karros says the defeat probably is his biggest baseball disappointment.

At UCLA, he hit .454 in a limited role his freshman year, .312 with eight home runs and 57 RBIs his sophomore year and .415 with 17 home runs and 54 RBIs as a junior.

He was All-Pac 10 as a sophomore and junior and a third-team All-American as a junior.

Drafted in the fifth round by the Dodgers in the June, 1988, draft, Karros has progressed up the organizational ladder one year at a time, posting big numbers and championships at every stop.

At Great Falls, Mont., a Dodger rookie club, Karros hit .366 with 12 homers and 55 RBIs in 68 games while leading the team to the 1988 Pioneer League championship.

The following year, at Class A Bakersfield, Karros hit .303 with 15 homers and 86 RBIs in 142 games and led the Dodgers to the California League championship. Karros was also one of six Bakersfield players named to the All-Star team. It was the most players selected from one team since 1970.

This year, Karros is second in the Texas League with a .338 average. He also has 10 home runs with 53 RBIs and a league-leading 33 doubles for San Antonio, which was tied for first heading into Friday’s games. In the recent All-Star game, Karros went three for five with a home run, a double and three RBIs. Ricky Bones of the Padres’ Wichita affiliate edged him for most valuable player honors by throwing three shutout innings.

“Everything’s gone well,” Karros said. “I’m happy with the way things turned out. I think I’ve got a good shot at the first base job (in Los Angeles) when Eddie Murray is through.”

Out of Patrick Henry, Karros had a number of scholarship offers from four-year schools, but UCLA was not among them.

“I could have gone to (San Diego) State with (other Patrick Henry graduates) Scott Middaugh, Kasey McKeon and Eric Martinez. We all had our letters of intent, but I just wanted to get away. I always wanted to go to UCLA.”

So Karros walked on at Westwood with an understanding. “I could be on the team for fall ball. After that, no promises.”

He said the adjustment to UCLA and college life was eased by the help of another Patrick Henry graduate, Randy Hennis, who is now pitching in triple-A in the Astros’ organization.

Karros worked hard, quickly impressed UCLA Coach Gary Adams and was granted a scholarship before his sophomore year. But as hard as he had worked for that scholarship, Karros offered to give up a third of it before his junior year to help out fifth-year pitcher Mike Magnante, who was not receiving any aid.

“He needed some aid,” Karros says nonchalantly, “and I told Adams I’d give up part of my scholarship. As it turned out, they found some money from somewhere.”

Magnante now pitches in triple-A for the Royals. As for Karros, he hopes to be the next Garv.

Frank Carey, a graduate of Granite Hills and Stanford, was pictured among a series of articles titled “Down on the Farm” in the July 23 issue of Sports Illustrated. The issue devoted 56 pages to minor league baseball.

When the picture was taken, Carey played for Clinton, Iowa. He has since been promoted to Class A San Jose.