BASEBALL 1993 : On Second Thought : A Shortstop by Trade and Third Baseman by Necessity, Damion Easley Takes Another Position for the Angels

Damion Easley, a veteran of 47 major league games but none at the position he will play this season, knows what they are saying about the Angels back home. He also knows they are probably right.

Easley figures this will be a building year, a season to make a name for himself on a team with plenty of young but unproven players. Nowhere is the Angels’ inexperience more glaring than in their infield.

At third base, there is Rene Gonzales, 30, the old man with six seasons of experience.

At shortstop, there is Gary DiSarcina, 25, who hit .247 in his rookie season in 1992.

At first base, there is J.T. Snow, 25, who batted .313 with the New York Yankees’ triple-A affiliate at Columbus, Ohio, last season.

And then there is Easley, 23, a former outfielder, shortstop and third baseman who rocketed through the Angels’ minor league system to land a starting spot at second base without a challenge.

Certainly, his credentials are impeccable. He never spent more than one season at any level in the minors and never batted lower than .254, which he hit at double-A Midland in 1991. In 47 late-season games with the Angels last year, he batted .258 with 12 runs batted in and one home run.

“I’ve got both feet in the door,” Easley said. “But there’s always something to prove.”

First, he must show he has recovered from the shin splints that sidelined him most of spring training.

It’s been pure torture for Easley, young and eager.

“It eats at you,” he said after a lengthy rehabilitation session last week.

While the Angels played the Seattle Mariners, Easley sat alone with his ice packs.

“I’m here to take a job, but I can’t take it in the training room,” he said. “I’d love to be out there right now. It’s affecting me because I didn’t have a chance to prove myself (this spring).”

The Angels don’t seem to be overly concerned--at least not yet.

“He’s been super,” Manager Buck Rodgers said. “He’s waiting for someone to let him loose. I told him, ‘Let’s get it fixed right the first time, even if it takes a little longer.’ ”

So, Easley grins and bears it. He has learned that patience is the greatest virtue an Angel can have in 1993.

“I’d like to think that (success) was all due to hard work and dedication,” he said. “But having the right frame of mind has allowed me to do it, too.”

When Gonzales broke his arm in mid-August of ‘92, the Angels asked Easley if he would move from shortstop to third base.

“I came up as a shortstop,” he said. “The wrong frame of mind would be to say, ‘I’m a shortstop.’ They wanted me to be a third baseman, so I said, ‘OK, I’ll give it a shot.’

“That’s a break for me. It wasn’t my natural position, but it’s a break to play in the major leagues. Besides, I’ve never had a natural position.”

He was an outfielder on Lakewood High’s 1987 Southern Section 4-A championship team, then moved to shortstop at Long Beach City College. He settled into that position during minor league stops at Bend, Ore.; Quad City, Iowa; Midland, Tex., and Edmonton.

“I haven’t been at one spot long enough to know what my best position is,” Easley said. “I was just getting the hang of shortstop when they asked me to move over.”

Now, he is moving again. When the Angels acquired third baseman Kelly Gruber from the Toronto Blue Jays in trade for second baseman Luis Sojo, they got damaged goods. Gruber is on the emergency 60-day disabled list after undergoing rotator-cuff surgery. When he might return is anybody’s guess.

With Sojo gone, the Angels decided to play Easley at second base and Gonzales at third.

“I’m just trying to progress as far as I can,” Easley said. “You never stop learning in this game. Hopefully, I’ll progress to the level that everybody dreams of.”

Easley is prepared to wait as long as it takes. And it might take awhile.

He knows the Angels aren’t likely to challenge in the American League West this year, and maybe not next. But he has benefited greatly from their youth movement and doesn’t particularly care about call-in shows’ negative reactions to the club’s off-season maneuvers.

“We’re not saying we’re going to win the World Series,” Easley said. “We’re building a nucleus to win two or three years down the road. And once we’re winning, we want to keep it that way.”

Over the next few seasons, Easley’s greatest contributions figure to come from a lively bat and his fleet feet. In 108 games at Edmonton last season, he batted .289 with 44 RBIs and 26 stolen bases.

If he can come close to those numbers again--and there are some who believe it’s possible--the Angels still might not rise from the depths of the American League West. Surprises happen, though.

Veteran outfielder Stan Javier might as well have been looking at Easley when he said: “As soon as (the younger players) believe they can play at his level, I think they’re going to surprise some people.”

Easley figures he has a head start.

“People know who I am,” he said. “Not that I’m a star or anything. . . . For me, this year is going to be a little easier, because at least I got to play every day last year. At least I got my foot in the door.”

If there is a course of action Easley is determined to follow in ‘93, it’s this:

“Don’t panic,” he said. “Stay in control and (success) will come.”