Waves’ Vollmer Tired of Not Measuring Out : Baseball: Major league scouts like his tools but complain about size of Pepperdine catcher.

Scott Vollmer and his cooler are almost inseparable around the Pepperdine baseball field. It’s part of his equipment, like his catcher’s mitt, mask and shin guards.

The pastas . . . the sandwiches . . . the salads. It’s a portable delicatessen. When Vollmer talks about warming up, he could be referring to a microwave.

“He brings that cooler with him every day,” Pepperdine Coach Andy Lopez said. “I never know what he’s going to pull out of it. He has all kinds of food and special drinks. It’s amazing.”

But this isn’t gluttony. This is necessity.

If there’s one knock on Vollmer--and there seems to be only one--it’s that he doesn’t fill out his chest protector.

Scouts like pitchers who throw 90 m.p.h., first basemen who hit for power and catchers who block the sun, as well as the plate. Vollmer, 6 feet 1 and 175 pounds, isn’t exactly the eclipse-type.

Not that it stopped him from being named to the All-College World Series team last season, when the Waves won the national title. Nor has it hindered him this season, during which he has led the team in runs scored and has soothed an almost entirely new pitching staff.

But try--to eat--as he might, Vollmer just doesn’t seem to weigh heavily on the minds of scouts. Eight players were drafted off last year’s Pepperdine team. Vollmer wasn’t one of them.

“Scouts are looking for these big, bulky guys to play catcher,” Vollmer said. “That bothered me a few years ago. Now, I just look to do the best I can and hope I can open some eyes.”

Vollmer, though, is no optical illusion.

He is hitting .303 with seven home runs and 30 runs batted in this season. He led the team with 53 RBIs last season and hit .313.

Yet, it’s his catching skills that make him stand out.

“You see a lot of catchers who are real lazy,” Wave pitcher Steve Duda said. “They don’t give the ump a chance to see the pitch. Scott let’s them see it’s a strike.

“He’s the best catcher in the nation because he thinks like a coach. He knows when teams are going to hit and run or bunt or steal. When he calls for a pitch outside, I don’t question it.”

Pepperdine had one of the top staffs in the nation a year ago. Led by Patrick Ahearne, Steve Montgomery and Derek Wallace, the Waves were eighth in the nation with a 3.04 earned-run average.

All three were drafted. In all the Waves lost eight pitchers from last year’s staff, yet they are third with a 2.56 ERA this season.

Vollmer is the common denominator. He’s a big reason why the Waves are 38-13 and ranked fourth in the nation by Collegiate Baseball and ninth by Baseball America.

“He’s easily the best kid I’ve coached in my 16 years as a college coach,” Lopez said. “I know that’s a really bold statement. But if you were to talk about the perfect college baseball player, you’d be talking about Scott.”

Well, you might describe someone a little bigger.

While Vollmer measures up favorably with other catchers in terms of skill, he doesn’t size up. And that seems to tip the scales with scouts.

As a senior at Irvine High, he was 155 pounds by his word, 145 according to his high school coach.

“Scott would throw someone out and all his catching gear would be turned around,” Irvine Coach Bob Flint said. “We didn’t have equipment small enough for him. It was like Charlie Brown when he gets his clothes knocked off.”

Said Vollmer: “If I miss a meal, I’ll lose three or four pounds.”

Hence, the snack pack he brings to practice each day. Vollmer also hasn’t missed a day in the weight room the four years he has been at Pepperdine.

He lifts and eats and eats and lifts. But neither the training nor the food stuffs help much. Although he’s 20 to 30 pounds heavier than he was in high school, Vollmer is hardly what you call intimidating--until he crouches behind the plate.

“We were playing in the playoffs and Scott threw this kid out in the first inning,” Flint said. “The kid got real upset and wouldn’t leave the field. Scott did it again a few innings later and the kid got mad again. After the game, their coach said it was the first time that kid had been caught stealing in his life .”

Vollmer, a three-year starter at Pepperdine, threw out 60% of base stealers as a sophomore. Last season, opponents had 39 stolen bases in 75 attempts, and have only 27 in 54 attempts this season.

It was a Vollmer defensive gem that helped get the Waves their championship rings last season as well.

The Waves were leading Cal State Fullerton, 2-0, in the second inning of the championship game. The Titans had runners on first and second with no outs and Phil Nevin, the tournament’s MVP, at the plate.

Ahearne’s pitch hit the dirt and bounced in front of Vollmer. Jeremy Carr tried to go to third, but Vollmer retrieved the ball and threw him out.

Nevin followed with a single, which would have scored Carr. Pepperdine won, 3-2.

“All Scott did was throw out the fastest runner in college baseball,” Duda said. “I played with Jeremy last summer and he said he never should have tried to take that base on Scott. It was suicide.”

At the plate, Vollmer feasted on some of the best pitching in the nation. He hit .438 with a home run, a double and two runs batted in. That and his defensive performances earned him all-tournament honors.

In the last year, Pepperdine has played in three national tournaments and Vollmer has been named to the all-tournament team in each.

In the NCAA West Regional, the talk was of Fresno State’s All-American catcher Todd Johnson. Vollmer was named all-tournament.

At the College World Series, scouts were drooling over Miami’s Charles Johnson, a first-round selection. Vollmer was named all-tournament.

At the Olive Garden tournament this season, Georgia Tech catcher Jason Varitek, a projected first-round draft pick and a U.S. Olympic team member last summer, got all the attention. Vollmer was named all-tournament.

“I keep telling people they should draft him,” Lopez said. “He’s going to make some scout look real smart. He’s made me look brilliant the last three years.”

What Vollmer doesn’t have in size, he has in game-smarts. Lopez allows him to call 90% of the pitches.

A stabilizing force? They don’t get any more stable than Vollmer. This is a guy who recently married his junior high school sweetheart. They met in the eighth grade and had been dating ever since.

“They take my children to the movies or have them over for the weekend,” said Lopez, a father of four. “So I not only trust him with pitchers, I trust him with my kids.”

But trying to make believers out of scouts has been difficult. Lopez keeps reminding scouts of Craig Grebeck, another former player of his, who also was considered too small to play pro ball.

Grebeck, who is 5-7, 148 pounds, plays for the Chicago White Sox.

“No one wanted him,” Lopez said. “Some scout finally took a chance and signed him for $500. Craig was in the the major leagues four years later. That could happen with Scott.”

Whether it does or doesn’t, Vollmer will continue on. He would like to play professional baseball but is also looking at a career as an elementary school teacher.

“If I don’t get a chance, then that’s OK,” Vollmer said. “I have my degree and a new life. I’m looking forward to new things. Maybe I’ll coach. I’m sure I’ll stay involved with baseball.”

Of course he will. It’s his nourishment.