MINOR LEAGUE NOTEBOOK / MIKE DiGIOVANNA : O’Leary Learns to Hit the Other Way

Troy O’Leary hit 11 home runs in only 2 1/2 months for the Milwaukee Brewers’ rookie league team at Helena, Mont., in 1989. It was probably the worst thing that ever happened to him.

The former Cypress High School outfielder’s power burst had him thinking he could be the next Barry Bonds. The next season, he began swinging from the heels and trying to pull everything to right field.

A mere six homers in a full 1990 season at Class-A Beloit, Wis., and five homers at Class-A Stockton in 1991 brought O’Leary closer to reality. But it wasn’t until last winter’s training sessions with Denver Zephyrs Manager Tony Muser and baseball scout George Zabala that O’Leary finally got out of the long-ball mind set.

“They changed my stance a little bit and made me hit the ball the other way,” said O’Leary, who was more heralded as a football player (All-Orange County) than a baseball player (second-team, all-league) during his senior year (1986-87) at Cypress.

“I was trying to hit for power, but I’m not a power hitter. I realized that and started trying for line drives.”

Good move. After three seasons at the Class-A level, O’Leary was promoted to double-A El Paso this season and currently is leading the Texas League with a .345 average. He also has 57 runs, 22 doubles, four triples, 19 stolen bases and 54 runs batted in.

And only one home run.

“But that’s OK,” said O’Leary, who will be 23 in August. “I’d like to have more, but I’m just glad to be out of A ball.”

O’Leary, a 6-foot, 185-pound left-hander who will play in the Texas League All-Star game this week, thought he might get bumped up to triple A last month, but now it appears the Brewers will keep him in El Paso for the season.

“They want him to continue to build on his success in double A,” El Paso Manager Chris Bando said. “Next year he’ll probably play triple A, and he might get a shot (at the major leagues) after that. He’s definitely one of the top prospects in the organization, but last year was the first year he lacked confidence.”

The confidence is back this season. Add to that the 10 pounds he gained during an off-season weightlifting program and some mental and physical maturity, and it’s easy to see why O’Leary’s fortunes are on the upswing.

“Without a doubt, he has the ability to spray the ball all over the park--not only to hit the ball the other way but to drive it,” Bando said. “He uses the whole field. He got away from the fundamental approach to hitting last year, but he made the adjustments, and now he’s one of the best two-strike hitters I’ve ever seen.”

Add O’Leary: The former defensive back had a full scholarship offer to play football at Oregon State and had drawn virtually no interest from baseball scouts until Cypress played Esperanza in an Empire League game in 1987.

As usual, many of the scouts at that game were looking at Esperanza shortstop Tom Redington, The Times’ Orange County Player of the Year. But O’Leary caught the scouts’ eyes when he went three for four and threw Redington out at second when Redington tried to stretch a single into a double.

“After that, they noticed me,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary told professional baseball teams not to bother picking him because he would be going to Oregon State, but the Brewers took a gamble and selected him in the 13th round in 1987.

O’Leary stuck to his football plans throughout most of the summer, but when the Brewers offered to pay for his education, he signed in time to play three games with Helena in August. He batted .345 for Helena in 1988, split the 1989 season between Beloit (.183) and Helena (.338), hit .298 at Beloit in 1990 and .263 at Stockton in 1991.

But this has been a breakthrough season for O’Leary.

“He’s definitely matured and improved,” Bando said. “He’s a guy who hasn’t played that much baseball in his life. He’s a football player, but the more he plays baseball, the better he gets.”

Inauspicious debut: After four Class-A seasons in the New York Mets’ organization, former Esperanza High School standout Doug Saunders finally got promoted to double-A Binghamton, N.Y., this year.

So how did he celebrate?

By going one for 35 to start the season.

The threat of returning to Class A loomed, but quicker than you can say “Port St. Lucie,” Saunders turned things around. Since that rough start, the second baseman has hit at a near .300 clip to raise his average to .247 with 11 doubles and 25 RBIs.

“I was hitting the ball at everyone and got robbed quite a few times, but I had confidence I would snap out of it,” said Saunders, a 1988 Esperanza graduate. “It was just a matter of time.”

When Saunders was drafted on the third round in 1988, many figured he would advance quickly through the minor leagues. But after getting promoted from rookie league Sarasota to Class-A Little Falls, N.Y., after only two weeks, his career stalled.

He spent the 1989 season at Class-A Columbia, S.C., and the 1990 and ’91 seasons at Class-A Port St. Lucie, Fla. He hit only .225 in 1990 and .235 in an injury-plagued 1991.

“After seeing how tough it is, I realized I wasn’t going to go that quickly,” Saunders, 22, said. “It’s tough for a position player, especially an infielder. It’s not like being a top pitcher or catcher--you don’t move that fast.

“I thought I’d move faster, but the bat stopped on me. I wasn’t hitting the ball the way I should and can. But it’s all coming around now.”

Moving on: Former Cal State Fullerton pitcher James Popoff, who set a New York-Penn League single-game record by striking out 19 against the Batavia Clippers June 29, was promoted from the New York Mets’ short-season, Class-A team at Pittsfield, Mass., to the Columbia, S.C., Mets, a higher Class-A team in the South Atlantic League, Tuesday.

Popoff, who helped the Titans reach the College World Series championship game in June, made only four starts at Pittsfield, going 2-2 with a 1.91 earned-run average and 41 strikeouts.