He’s Still No. 1, With a Catch : Parrish Must Improve Hitting to Keep First-String Angel Job

If he could have picked his spots, maybe Lance Parrish wouldn’t be in the one he is now, patiently fielding questions about trade possibilities and how many more years he wants to play.

Two seasons ago, when Doug Rader was the Angels’ manager and Mike Port was general manager, Parrish made his eighth All-Star team and finished with a .268 average and 24 home runs, his best numbers since 1985 with Detroit. The 1990 season was peppered with images of Parrish coming through in the clutch. When there were runners on base, he was at his best, hitting .292. At 34, he could look forward to catching as long as he was able to squat.

Last season, Angel management changed. So did Parrish. Buck Rodgers replaced Rader, Whitey Herzog replaced Port and Parrish replaced a sparkling year with a sorry one. He hit 19 home runs, but his .216 average was one point away from the lowest in his 14-year major league career. His 117 strikeouts were the second-highest of his career, only three fewer than his total in 1984, when he had 176 more at-bats and hit 33 home runs. By mid-July, he was trying to change his stance and his approach at the plate; he hit .186 in the second half.

“Not one of my better years,” Parrish said, almost wincing at the obvious. “I had a bad year hitting for an average, and it’s unfortunate that it worked out at a time when there was a change in the manager, a change in the front office. I wish I could have had the year I had the year before, coming into this season.”

Because he didn’t, and because he is a 35-year-old catcher with a $2.25-million salary on a team that would like to streamline for youth and economy, he must fight off a challenge by John Orton, 26, for the starting job.

Should Orton fail--though solid defensively, he hit only .224 with triple-A Edmonton last season and .203 with the Angels--former Montreal catcher Mike Fitzgerald and Ron Tingley also are standing by.

“I don’t mind a little head-to-head competition,” said Parrish, who can’t remember the last time he had any.

He also must hope against injuries to catchers on other teams. Although Rodgers said the Angels aren’t shopping Parrish, they are willing to listen to proposals.

“Catcher is a position we’re at least two, three or four deep in,” Rodgers said.

Parrish worried about off-season trade rumors that he was going to Montreal, and now he is working to survive the spring.

“I am to the point where I’ve taken it as a challenge. I feel like I’ve got to impress these guys with my abilities. It’s not to the point where I’m losing my mind over it. It was a great opportunity for me to be able to come here from the Phillies, finally come home and be with my family and everything. We’ve been this route before. If I’ve got to go somewhere, I’ve got to go. It would definitely throw a monkey wrench into family plans, but business is business.

“I really believe that, given the opportunity, I can show these guys I still am the No. 1 guy and I deserve to have that role here.”

At least, Parrish’s old job is his to lose. Shortstop Dick Schofield, after a poor offensive season and an unsuccessful free-agent year, has to beat out rookie Gary DiSarcina to get his job back , Rodgers has said.

“Lance is 35 years old, going to be 36 (June 15) and coming off a poor year, so I think we’ve got to take a look at him,” Rodgers said. “Schofield is a different situation. We offered him three years and he didn’t take it. He signed a one-year contract, so chances are Schofield may not be back. With Lance, you have a chance he can come back . . . and put up some pretty good numbers, even though he is 36.”

Even if Parrish’s offensive statistics don’t return to earlier levels, he expects to extend his career because of his defense.

“It’s always been my understanding that when a ballclub looks at a catcher, they look at your defensive skills first,” Parrish said. “It’s a defensive position. It’s how you handle pitchers, how you do the job behind the plate. I think I’ve done a solid job for this ballclub since I’ve been here, and I’ve done a pretty decent job throughout my career. Offense is kind of a bonus.”

Parrish has proven himself one of the most offensively productive catchers. The only ones with more home runs while playing the position have been Carlton Fisk, with 348; Johnny Bench, 327; Yogi Berra, 304, and Gary Carter, 294. Of Parrish’s 304 homers, 286 have been as a catcher.

“Even when I have an off year offensively, I think it’s going to be a lot better than a lot of guys do,” Parrish said.

His batting average was his obvious shortcoming last season. But there was another disturbing statistic: 19 passed balls, most in the majors.

Was this an indication of slowing reflexes? Parrish, who made only two errors all season, maintained that it was not.

“It was just one of those things,” he said. “Anything that I say would really be making an excuse, so it’s really not worth going into. I know that on more occasions than people are aware, when I get crossed up behind the plate and I end up missing the ball, it ends up being a passed ball. It seems like every time I get my glove on anything and I don’t catch it, it’s a passed ball. But I think really there’s a fine line between wild pitches and passed balls. It’s really up to the official scorer.

“There were times when a ball would be up over my head and I’d get my glove on it. It would kick off and I’d get a passed ball. I’d reach across the plate, it kicks off and I’d get a passed ball. Somebody would cross me up and I’d get a passed ball. It just kind of added up to around 19, more than I guess you’re comfortable with.”

Rodgers, a former catcher, understands some of the difficulty.

“Whenever you catch (Chuck) Finley, you’re going to get some passed balls,” Rodgers said. “Finley throws a lot of forkballs low or in the dirt. It’s not quite as bad as a knuckleballer, but it’s hard.

“I thought (Parrish) caught pretty well at the the end of the season when I was here. There were no glaring problems.

“I think he’s worked hard here on defense (in spring training). His throwing has always been OK.”

Still, Parrish’s performance at the plate, not behind it, is going to get the most attention.

After hitting .292 with runners on base in 1990, he saw his average in those situations fall to .220 last season. His batting average in late-inning pressure situations was .105.

Parrish blames it in part on the adjustments he said Rader and his coaching staff asked him to make last season. Parrish backed off the plate, he said, trying to hit the ball to right field.

“I think last year was an exceptional year in that halfway through the season, I was asked to experiment with my batting stance and my approach to hitting, and I carried on that experiment most of the second half of the season,” he said. “I had a couple of good games and I thought, ‘Well, maybe this is going to work.’ But it doesn’t take major league pitchers long to figure out how to pitch you. I was backed way off the plate and trying to go the other way, and they were just wearing me out on the outside corner.

“I didn’t feel comfortable. I was kind of out of my element hitting-wise, doing something I had never done in my career before. I’m not putting the blame on anybody. It’s just something I tried that didn’t work out.”

He has abandoned that approach completely this spring.

“I’ve gone back to basically the way I was hitting before,” he said. “I’m closer to the plate. I’ve opened my stance a little bit. I’ve felt a lot more comfortable. I can drive the ball a lot better. I can cover the plate a lot better than I could before.”

He is going about the business of spring training as usual, he said, adding: “Nobody’s really told me anything. I just show up out here like everybody else and do my job.

“The thing I really want to get away from is, I don’t want this to create any animosity on the ballclub. It has nothing to do with anybody. Everybody’s got their job to do, and they came here hoping to win a job. I don’t have a problem with it. I feel like if I come here and I’m not qualified to do the job and John Orton is, then Johnny should be catching--or Tingley or anybody else.

“I really don’t know what my status is anymore. I’m just here working out like everybody else. Whatever happens, happens. I feel confident in my ability. I feel confident that if I was--or I suppose I am--in a position of competing for a job, my ability will take over.”