Hamelin Takes the Slow Road Back

In June, 1989, Bob Hamelin’s ticket was stamped for Kansas City. The only question was when the Royals would promote the former Irvine High and Rancho Santiago first baseman to the big club. The consensus then was that it wouldn’t take long.

But Hamelin’s route through the Royals’ minor league system took an unexpected detour when he injured his back while playing for the Memphis Chicks in ’89. The injury limited Hamelin to only 68 games, but he still hit .308 with 16 home runs and 47 runs batted in that season.

He played 90 games with triple-A Omaha in 1990 before the back pain became too much to bear. In ‘91, he lasted only 37 games at Omaha before he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back. He underwent disk surgery June 28 and missed the remainder of the season.

Hamelin has taken a cautious approach so far in ‘92, spending the early months of the season at the Royals’ extended spring training camp. Now, he’s joined the organization’s Class-A affiliate at Baseball City, Fla., to begin a rehabilitation assignment.

“He’s doing well enough to be playing every day,” said Karl Rogozenski, Baseball City’s general manager. “He is one of a few players who have joined us for rehab assignments.”

Since joining the club two weeks ago, Hamelin has been used primarily as a designated hitter. In six games, he’s batting .240 with one home run and two RBIs.

“We’re taking it slow,” Rogozenski said. “There’s no sense overdoing it. He’s taking some cuts against the pitching in this league (the Florida State League). When he’s healthy, he’ll get back where he belongs.

“It’s not like he has to get up to the big leagues this year. He’s got to get healthy first.”

Batman? When John Kruk, the Philadelphia Phillies’ first baseman, loaned Ryan Klesko, a first baseman in the Atlanta Braves’ organization and a former standout at Westminster High, a few bats during spring training, it seemed like a nice gesture from one hard-hitting first baseman to another.

But there’s more to slugging than mere lumber, as USA Today’s Baseball Weekly points out.

Though each player uses the same model Louisville Slugger, Kruk has enjoyed more effective use of his than has Klesko.

A glance at the stats tells the story:

Through 66 games, Kruk leads the National League with a .366 average. Klesko is hovering around the Mendoza Line with the Braves’ triple-A affiliate at Richmond, Va., hitting a career low .222.

However, it must be pointed out that Klesko is in his first season at the triple-A level. Since joining the Braves’ organization after his senior year at Westminster in 1989, he has been moved along rather quickly.

In ‘89, Klesko batted .404 in 17 games at Bradenton, Fla., the Braves’ rookie league team, then was promoted to Class-A Sumter, S.C., where he batted .289 in 25 games. In ‘90, he began the season at Sumter (.368 in 63 games), then moved to stiffer competition at Class-A Durham, N.C. (.274 in 77 games).

Last season, he made the jump to double-A Greenville, S.C., where he batted .291 with 14 home runs and 67 RBIs in 126 games and established himself as one of the top hitters in the Braves’ farm system.

Add slow starts: Kyle Abbott, the Angels’ first-round pick in 1989, earned a promotion to Anaheim last September after posting a 14-10 record and a 3.99 earned-run average at triple-A Edmonton last season.

In five games with the big club, he was 1-2 with a 4.58 ERA. The Angels thought so much of Abbott they used him as traded bait for Von Hayes, a veteran in the twilight of his career.

The Phillies, who also acquired Ruben Amaro in the transaction, made room for Abbott in their starting rotation.

But Abbott, a standout at Mission Viejo High and a member of Cal State Long Beach’s College World Series team of 1989, didn’t exactly take Veterans Stadium by storm. He struggled mightily, to put it mildly.

After going 0-7, the Phillies sent Abbott to their triple-A affiliate at Scranton, Pa., for a little confidence boost. . In four starts, Abbott posted a 3-1 record with a 1.86 ERA.

That was good enough to earn a call back to Philadelphia on Thursday. But on Sunday, Abbott gave up four runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings as the Phillies lost to the Cubs, 5-2, and his record fell to 0-8.

Meanwhile . . . Abbott’s college teammate, Andy Croghan, is on a slower route through the minors. A right-handed pitcher who graduated from Servite, Croghan was a 16th-round pick by the New York Yankees in the 1991 draft.

In his first professional season, he started 14 games and was 5-4 with a 5.63 ERA at Class-A Oneonta, N.Y.