Major Task : Al Martin Is One of Three Rookies Asked to Play a Key Role for Pirates

Al Martin, the successor to left fielder Barry Bonds with the Pittsburgh Pirates, said he played only a senior season of baseball at Rowland High.

He was a teammate there of the Dodgers’ Dave Hansen but more of a football prospect, a nephew of former Raider linebacker Rod Martin.

But the Atlanta Braves selected Martin in the seventh round of the 1985 draft, influencing him to reject scholarship offers to USC and elsewhere, he said.

“I sort of wondered how and why,” Martin said of his limited baseball experience and the Braves’ interest. “But they said they were selecting me more as an athlete and project, and they felt I had major league talent.”

It has taken eight years, but Martin has come to the crossroads of that opportunity with the Pirates. He is one of three rookies, all up from triple-A Buffalo, who will attempt to plug gaping holes in the Pittsburgh lineup.

Carlos Garcia, 25, moves in at second base, replacing Gold Glove winner Jose Lind. Kevin Young, 23, takes over at first base, sending Orlando Merced back to right field and Jeff King to third base. Martin, 25, will platoon with free agent Lonnie Smith in left, succeeding Bonds, the National League’s two-time most valuable player.

Said Young, selected the American Assn.’s top prospect by Baseball America: “I think the pressure is just being in the big leagues, not who we’re replacing. But I think we all feel secure in our ability, and that we’re not just making the club because there are no other choices. I don’t want to be compared to anyone, though I know it’s going to happen.”

So does Martin, who laughed and said: “I think it will help to be platooning with Lonnie because when I get all the Barry Bonds questions I can say, ‘Hey, you have to ask both of us, not just Al Martin.’

“The thing is, with guys like Andy Van Slyke, Lonnie and Lloyd McClendon here, it takes a lot of pressure off me. I also received a call from Barry, who wished me well and said he knew I had the ability to do the job. That made me feel even better.”

Martin chose free agency after the 1991 season as a six-year minor league veteran and said he could have signed with 23 of the 26 teams.

“I chose the Pirates because Bobby Bonilla had already left and Bonds was on the way out,” he said. “The people were classy, and it seemed like the best situation for me. I’m in the place I want to be.”

Martin is coming off his best minor league season, having hit .305 with 15 triples, 20 home runs and 59 runs batted in at Buffalo. He said it should work to the advantage of each of the three rookies that they are each familiar with the others’ strengths and weaknesses and can stay on top of each other.

“No one was calling Barry Bonds the best player in the majors six years ago,” Martin said. “It’s a learning process, and I hope to reach the same level he has, to be in the same position he is, six years from now.”

In the meantime, the muscular Martin, 6 feet 2 and 220 pounds, has an outlook shaped in part by advice from his uncle, the former linebacker.

“I think what I’ve learned best from him is how to treat people,” he said. “Just because I can run faster or hit a baseball farther doesn’t make me any better than anyone else.

“I thank God every day I put the uniform on. No one has to tell me how fortunate and lucky I am. My real goal is to treat people the way I want them to treat me.”