Angel Math: Two Shortstops, One Job : Baseball: Patience runs thin on Schofield’s hitting, but Rodgers has to decide if DiSarcina is ready.

His hands are still soft, still sure, still capable of scooping ground balls hit to shortstop with grace. But Dick Schofield’s hands might not hold onto the job he has held for the past eight seasons.

After perennially proclaiming their faith in their starting shortstop’s offensive potential, the Angels’ patience evaporated when he hit .225 last season. Last winter, they all but gave the job to Gary DiSarcina, a gangly infielder nurtured in their farm system, when they withdrew a three-year, $6-million contract offer Schofield rejected as too low.

When Schofield couldn’t work out a deal with the Kansas City Royals and bound himself to the Angels by accepting arbitration, they were almost taken aback. He then signed a one-year, $1.5-million contract before going to arbitration.

Whether he can take his job back is a major question this spring. Manager Buck Rodgers appears at times to favor DiSarcina, but his decision isn’t easy.

At 29, having twice led American League shortstops in fielding percentage, Schofield’s defensive credentials are established. Knowing that his infield must play exceptionally tight defense for his low-scoring team to be competitive--and knowing that Jim Abbott and Chuck Finley are ground-ball pitchers when they are most effective--Rodgers knows Schofield can handle that pressure. That might be too heavy a burden for DiSarcina, 24, who has played only 38 major league games.

But do Schofield’s defensive abilities outweigh his .232 lifetime batting average and his .183 average against left-handers last season, second-lowest in the American League? And does his failure to hit a home run last season--continuing a decline since he hit 13 in 1986--further offset his defensive strengths?

“How long do you go with Dick Schofield hitting .225 or .230?” questioned former Angel manager Gene Mauch, who managed Schofield early in the shortstop’s career.

Perhaps not much longer. But it’s not certain DiSarcina can do any better.

DiSarcina, 24, has hit .175 for the Angels in limited duty over three seasons. However, he hit .310 for triple-A Edmonton in 1991, with 58 runs batted in over 119 games. This spring, he has out-hit Schofield, .320 to .217, a difference of only three hits. Defensively, he’s not as smooth as Schofield, but he’s sound. DiSarcina was the Pacific Coast League’s top fielding shortstop last season and led shortstops with 99 double plays and 419 assists.

“I think Dick’s a lot better (defensively),” DiSarcina said. “It’s good to see him play because then I have something to strive for. He knows where to position himself. He’s a step ahead of everybody, and that’s something I can learn from. I still need help there: where to play. Things like that give him a little bit of an edge.”

Rodgers says he sees no edge. He called the pair’s competition wide open, and said he probably will delay his decision until the eve of the season. He acknowledged that DiSarcina hasn’t sparkled on offense in the minor leagues--he hit only .212 in 1990 at Edmonton--but added, “our shortstop last year didn’t have much, either.”

Good-field, no-hit wasn’t always Schofield’s tag. At 19, in 1982, he hit .360 for Danville of the Midwest League. A year later, he hit .284 for Edmonton with 16 homers. He made his Angel debut in 1983, at 20.

“In all the years I managed, one of my toughest disappointments is that Dick Schofield didn’t blossom into a truly great ballplayer,” said Mauch, an unofficial adviser to Angel owners Gene and Jackie Autry.

“There’s nobody I’ve ever seen--not Pee Wee Reese, Marty Marion or Phil Rizzuto--who was better on two plays: plays to his left and the slow-hit ball past the pitcher’s mound. Ever. Ground balls have never been a mystery to him. Some people just understand them. He recognizes them. And he’s got great feet, which comes from playing basketball. He can only catch with his hands the ground balls his feet get him to, and he gets to a lot.

“Why he didn’t come along as an offensive player has always been a sad mystery to me. As a kid, everyone thought the thing that would be his forte would be offense. . . . Some guys one day come to the ballpark and say, ‘I’m good.’ At age 30, or whatever Dick is, I don’t know that Dick has ever come to the ballpark and said, ‘I’m good.’ I’m not too sure that day has yet arrived for Dick Schofield.”

Schofield, too, wonders where his promise went.

“It’s a little frustrating, not being as successful as I thought I was going to be. But I still have some good years to go,” he said. “Hopefully, in however many years I play, I can reach my potential. If not, I have no excuses. . . .

“Some of the things people said were unfair. People (Mauch among them) said I was going to hit 20 home runs, and I never hit 20 home runs in my life. You can only do what you’re capable of doing.”

He has done well this spring, running the bases aggressively and making contact at the plate.

“I feel really good swinging the bat,” he said. “I’m going up and getting my hacks. I just play and try to enjoy it. When you’re having fun, it’s a little easier.

“It’s great to have competition, but I also think there’s got to be a point where you’ve got to start getting ready for the season, doing the things you need to do. You don’t want to think you’ve got to bust your butt every second. You want to know where you stand.”

If he stands behind DiSarcina when the season begins, Schofield said, he would ask to be traded.

“I don’t want to be a backup,” he said. “I want to be a starting shortstop. If they go with Gary, I told Dan O’Brien (the club’s senior vice president for operations) I’d like him to try and get me somewhere I can play.”

DiSarcina also wants to play every day. Although DiSarcina can also play second base and third, Rodgers isn’t inclined to keep him as a utility player if Schofield wins the shortstop job.

“I think--I know--I’m ready to play in the big leagues somewhere,” DiSarcina said. “I’d like it to be with this club, because this is the club that really molded me.

“I’ve been hearing that for three years now, that I’ve got to play every day. If (Rodgers) wants me to play every day (in the minors), what do I do, bitch and complain? It’s a lot easier to be sent down for a specific reason, to be told, ‘You’ve got to work on your hitting,’ or ‘You’ve got to work on your bunting.’ If you’re sent down because there’s no room or because it’s a numbers game, you wonder, ‘What more can I do? Can I do it?’

“I don’t want to get sent down. But I do want to know I did everything I could and played as well as I could. If the end of spring training were right now, I couldn’t complain. I think I’ve played up to my ability. If they go with Schoey, then that’s it, but I’ll know I did all I could. All you can do is your best. All any player wants is an opportunity. If they’re going to go with somebody else, so be it. You just can’t lead people on.”

Angel hitting instructor Rod Carew has been working with DiSarcina this spring and is optimistic about him.

“He can hit the ball all over the field, and I think it would be beneficial to him to hit the ball behind the runner, pull it,” Carew said. “As long as he doesn’t try to (hit home runs), he’ll be OK.

“He’s got good potential when he’s staying within himself and doesn’t try to do too much. I like the things he’s doing. He’s a good student. He wants to learn, and he’s aware of the things he’s doing wrong.”

DiSarcina was a student at the University of Massachusetts when the Angels called him up for the first time, in September, 1989.

“I had all my books bought,” he said. “Then I thought, ‘I like that classroom better.’ ”

He would grade his spring performance as a B, “with room for improvement.”

He added: “So far I’ve held my own. I haven’t had a bad game yet. There are still a lot of things I need to work on and improve, like working the count at the plate and being more selective, trying not to do too much and just do what the situation calls for, whether it’s moving the runner over, bunting, whatever.

“I think I’ve made a strong case. It should be interesting.”