Chatsworth Uncovers Gem in Free-Swinging Pearlman

In boys-of-summer slang, pearls are new baseballs, ones right out of the box. Balls as pearly white as freshly scrubbed teeth. No grass stains, no scuff marks. Seams as raised as railroad ties.

Chatsworth High’s Adam Pearlman, who routinely is called “Pearl” by teammates purely for expediency, last week had umpires busting out a string of new balls.

To begin with, Pearlman hit three balls over the fence for home runs. He hit an additional two that ricocheted off fences for doubles, soiling those balls too. He doubled on two other occasions, scalding a couple of more baseballs.

In four games, the senior catcher was eight for 10 with seven extra-base hits (21 total bases) and drove in 11 runs for the Chancellors (3-1). That output came, it should be underlined, from a guy who as a junior third baseman batted ninth and hit .240 (12 for 50) with one homer and nine runs batted in.

“He hit the ball pretty consistently in winter ball,” Coach Tom Meusborn said. “But to expect that kind of a power surge, well, nobody saw that coming.”

Indeed, Pearlman (5-foot-11, 185 pounds) suddenly has developed light-tower power. Each of his three home runs was hit to a different portion of the field.

“Adam’s changed,” said teammate Mitch Root, a returning All-City Section selection and Chatsworth’s cleanup hitter. “He’s a totally different person. He’s hitting the . . . out of the ball.”

As a result, Adam’s ribbing from teammates has been merciless.

“They’ve been all over me,” said Pearlman, who bats sixth. “Especially Mitch. He keeps saying that I’m carrying the whole team, and that we’re gonna switch spots.”

Try 10-spots. The two have $10 riding on who finishes the season with more home runs.

“I’ll catch him one of these times,” Root said. “But right now, he’s on fire.”

Nobody is quite certain what in the blazes has gotten into Pearlman. Especially Pearlman. He claims he wasn’t swinging the bat well in winter ball, no matter what Meusborn says about his play. That is, unless Meusborn’s definition of consistency means that Pearlman had a knack for hitting the mile-high fly.

“I was batting Nos. 4 and 5 for a while,” Pearlman said. “But coach said I was popping up too much, so they moved me. The guys said I’m still popping them up, but now they get out of the park.”

Pearlman could become the third in a line of Chatsworth senior catchers to step forward in as many years. Two years ago, Eric Johnson started and Mike Mancuso served as the backup. Johnson earned a scholarship to Cal State Northridge. Mancuso started last season and helped lead the team to a City 4-A title as Pearlman waited in the wings as the No. 2 catcher. Mancuso is now playing regularly at USC.

“I think when these guys become seniors they figure, ‘It’s my turn,’ ” Meusborn said. “And that they better make the most of it.”

Pearlman’s confidence level now matches the approximate trajectory of his home runs.

“Last year I was in and out of the lineup,” he said. “I was afraid that if I struck out, I’d be out of there, back on the bench.

“I feel a lot better in there now. I’m really seeing the ball.”

So is the opposition, and new balls at that. Primarily after Pearlman hits an old one over the fence.