Learning to Survive Mounds of Trouble : Prep baseball: Garden Grove pitcher Joe Aguirre handles adversity and opponents with the greatest of ease.

Joe Aguirre pointed to an area way beyond the newly erected outfield fence on the baseball field at Garden Grove High School and laughed as he recalled the long homer he gave up to Fullerton slugger D.C. Olsen in a scrimmage this year.

“They still haven’t found the ball,” Aguirre said jokingly.

The shot, Aguirre said, came on a two-strike count when he tried to fool Olsen--last season’s triple-crown champion in Orange County--with a curveball against his catcher’s advice.

“I said, ‘No, Joe. He’s already seen two of those,’ ” catcher Chris McClintick said. “We put an ad in the lost and found for that one.”

That Aguirre can deal with adversity on the mound is a testimony to his growth as a pitcher. With the help and support of Argonaut Coach Jim Rawls the past two seasons, the senior left-hander has gained the confidence to understand that moments like the one against Olsen are not the only measure of a pitcher’s ability. Once, not long ago, Aguirre probably would have been devastated by the home run.

As a freshman at St. John Bosco in Bellflower, Aguirre said the coach told him he couldn’t pitch.

“I tried out as a pitcher and after that I kind of thought that I wasn’t able to pitch,” Aguirre said. “It was a psychological thing.”

So when he moved with his mother and brother to Garden Grove for his sophomore year and made the Argonaut JV team, he wasn’t even dreaming about pitching. But Rawls encouraged him from the beginning.

“He (Rawls) was always telling me I could do it,” Aguirre said. “Now I feel more comfortable pitching.”

Rawls remembered Aguirre’s hesitancy when they first talked.

“He came with a funny attitude. Somebody gave him a bum rap,” Rawls said. “I’ve coached baseball for 20 years and I can tell you that Joe is a pitcher.”

Aguirre, 17, proved his coach correct last season. Despite a 6-7 record, he posted a 1.14 earned-run average and had 49 strikeouts in 50 innings with a young and inexperienced team that finished fifth in the league at 6-8, 9-14 overall. He also came close to a couple of no-hitters, beating Pacifica, 2-1, on a two-hitter and Kennedy, 1-0, on a one-hitter in back-to-back games.

Aguirre is looking to improve on those numbers this season, despite giving up five runs in 5 1/3 innings against La Quinta in his first league outing.

“I walked a few batters and I hit three batters,” he said. “I only gave up two hits, but the walks killed me. I just had trouble finding it (the plate) that day.”

When he is on, however, Aguirre can be overwhelming. He mixes a good fastball with an explosive curve, and he has recently started toying with a changeup.

“His best pitch is the curveball,” McClintick said. “The spin on it is so incredible.”

Said Rawls: “He throws really hard for his size (5-feet-10). And he has a major league curveball.”

Aguirre also can hit a curve, a skill that keeps him in the games as an outfielder or first baseman when not pitching. Going into today’s game against San Francisco Riordan in the West Anaheim Lions Tournament, Aguirre is batting .555 as the No. 3 hitter in the Argonauts’ lineup. And because of his speed, Rawls expects him to steal more than 15 bases.

“We are able to move him anywhere and it gives us the ability to play other people,” Rawls said.

But earlier in the season, Aguirre was not happy with his offensive production. He blamed a brief slump partly on his limited practice time because he was busy averaging 15.2 points and 10.0 assists as an all-Garden Grove League point guard on the Argonauts’ basketball team.

However, with the help of his father, Jose, who has worked with him since his Little League days, Aguirre is in the swing of things.

“When I’m struggling, I’ll call him and he’ll come to the games early to work with me whenever I need help,” Aguirre said. “He’s been there for me all the way through.” With his hitting problems straightened out, Aguirre can concentrate on not feeding guys like Olsen one curveball too many. If he does, however, Aguirre knows how to react.

“That kind of stuff . . . it’s going to happen,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me. I’d like to face him (Olsen) again but if I don’t, I’ll give him credit for that one. He’s one up on me.”