Bichette Is Making the Most of His Chance to Play Everyday

Imagine it. A contented Dante Bichette patrolling right field in Anaheim Stadium. After three unfulfilling seasons as an Angel, it finally happened Monday night.

Wearing a blue and gray road uniform of his new team--the Milwaukee Brewers--Bichette stood in front of his locker in the visitors’ clubhouse and announced he was a happy man.

As an Angel, all Bichette wanted was a daily spot in the batting order and a patch of outfield grass to call his own. But, in his mind at least, the Angels never gave him the chance he thought he deserved. And he said so, which angered Angel Manager Doug Rader, which served to further frustrate Bichette.

He always seemed to be sharing right field with someone else--Chili Davis, Claudell Washington, Dave Winfield. Finally, the Angels traded Bichette to Milwaukee in March for 39-year-old Dave Parker, banking on a career’s worth of experience from Parker to lead them.

Now, Bichette, 27, said he is grateful for the chance to play every day. He’s no longer an angry young man searching for his niche in the major leagues.

“I’m a lot smarter,” he said. “I’m a lot more confident. I think I know how to handle myself better.

“Yeah, I’m happy. All I wanted was a chance. Now, I’m learning how the league is pitching me. I’m producing runs and that’s what I’m here to do.

“That’s the type of player I always thought I could be. I just needed the chance--and I got it.”

So far, so good.

In Milwaukee’s 7-2 victory, Bichette singled and scored, knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly and threw out Winfield at home plate in the eighth inning. He is batting .222 with 33 runs batted in, second-highest on the club, and has a team-leading 10 home runs.

It’s nothing he couldn’t have accomplished in Anaheim if given the chance, he said.

“I felt I had a real future here. I was very surprised (by the trade). I had heard all the rumors. I guess I thought too much of myself, but I didn’t think they’d give up on me.”

He smiled when he said that.

Really, he said, the hard feelings for the Angels are behind him.

He resisted comparing Parker’s statistics to his own. For the record, Parker is batting .209 with three home runs and 18 runs batted in.

“I don’t want to get into all that,” Bichette said. “It was a good trade for both teams with the leadership he provides, the experience he has.”

There was no hint of the bitterness, real or imagined, he was once said to hold for Rader. Bichette said he would probably just say “Hi” to Rader when he saw him behind the batting cage.

“Me and Doug’s relationship is a lot better than people think,” Bichette said. “It’ll probably be a lot better now that I’m not playing for him. I respected him very much when I first met him. And I respect him just as much now. The only problem I had was I wanted to play every day.”

And about the rumors Bichette was late for games, that his heart really wasn’t in the game and that he once fell asleep in the clubhouse? Earlier this year, he said some of it was true, but it was just a result of his frustration.

He did not comment on a story in the latest issue of Sport magazine, in which Rader was quoted as saying during the winter meetings, “He (Bichette) has to show me that he can play good baseball in June, July and August, not only in April and October.”

Said Bichette: “Doug was frustrated with me because I showed my feelings a little too much. I like Doug Rader as a manager. I felt I had to stick up for myself.”

That’s all in the past now.

“Things worked out for the best, I think,” Bichette said. “I’m thankful for a chance to play every day in the major leagues.”