GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE BASEBALL PREVIEW : Perez Pitches to End His Junior Jinx

Santiago pitcher Louie Perez was trying to explain what went wrong last season. But the words did not exactly flow.

“This is not easy,” Perez said as he gestured with his hands. “It’s hard to talk about.”

Perez shook his head a couple times as if he were looking for someone to blame. But eventually the pitcher who dominated the Garden Grove League as a sophomore admitted he had only himself to blame for his sub-par junior season.

“I was real frustrated because my pitches weren’t there,” Perez said. “I let a lot of things get to me. The papers, everything. But I’m over that. I can’t think about last year.”

By most pitchers’ standards, last year wasn’t that bad. Perez went 4-4 with a 2.12 ERA. But because of a sore left shoulder he hurt during the off-season, Perez only finished two games.

Mostly, he was a five-inning pitcher. Perez’s velocity dropped from the middle to upper 80s to the upper 70s and his mind drifted.

He only had 35 strikeouts in 45 1/3 innings. He walked 26.

“I wasn’t relaxing myself and feeling the game of baseball,” Perez said. “I was just lost mentally. My full attention wasn’t toward the batter. I just wanted out of last year.”

Perez said he couldn’t stop thinking about how impressive he was his sophomore season (6-2 with a 2.02 ERA), including two league shutouts.

“I let the media get to me,” he said. “I started reading about myself and how good everybody said I was. Then I went out there and tried to work too hard. I tried to play someone else’s game.”

La Quinta Coach Dave Demarest said he saw it too.

“I think everybody was expecting so much out of him,” Demarest said. “I just think he tried to do too much last season.”

Perez started that routine before the season started, during winter vacation.

“I hadn’t thrown in awhile and then I came back and starting throwing too hard,” Perez said. “From then on, I’d feel real sore.”

Perez, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound right-hander, decided to break his routine this off-season by overworking himself in the weight room instead of on the mound. Virtually, the only object Perez has thrown since last year is a football. He was the starting quarterback on Santiago’s football team and he had a pain-free season.

And now that it’s March?

“I’ve been throwing for a week and I’ve been feeling real good,” Perez said. “I think I’m fully recovered. My arm feels better now than it did two years ago. It’s like it came back to me again.”

Uh-oh.

“If he’s healthy, he’s got the potential to be the best in the county,” Demarest said.

Myron Pines, who coached Perez for two years before moving on to Garden Grove this year as an assistant, said a healthy Perez is a scary sight.

“Louie is capable of beating people by himself,” Pines said. “As a sophomore, he overmatched the hitters. He throws at a three-quarters angle and he has some movement. He’s really tough on right-handed hitters because his ball tails down and in.”

But Perez said he will have more than a fastball this year.

“I have a lot better curveball,” Perez said. “I will try to outsmart the batter and mix it up.”

But he won’t exactly turn into a junk-ball pitcher.

“I still feel like I want to be the dominator,” Perez said. “That’s my style. But I also realize after a while that if you always throw the same thing, they’ll eventually catch up to you.”

Perez should know. He has caught up with enough fastballs himself. Even with his mound miseries, Perez still managed to hit .323 with four home runs and 14 RBIs.

“I love to hit,” he said. “I feel like I can really help the team at the plate. It makes me feel good to get a big RBI.”

But no matter how well he hits or plays first base, Perez realizes his future is on the mound. However, that future might be not very bright if he has a repeat of last year.

“This is pretty much it if I want to play baseball at a good college,” Perez said. “If it doesn’t work out, I’ll probably play at a junior college. I love the game so much.”