Angels ’94 : Platoon System Is Angels’ Method to Madness Behind the Plate : Catchers: Chris Turner and Greg Myers will share time in hopes of establishing themselves at the position.

It’s not likely they will become the most heralded pair of receivers to grace Anaheim Stadium since the heyday of Henry Ellard and Flipper Anderson, but it is spring, and the Angels are looking at their platoon situation at catcher with appropriate optimism.

Chris Turner and Greg Myers. Probably not a lot of All-Star votes there, but at least there’s two of them.

Manager Buck Rodgers, who holds the American League record for most games caught by a rookie catcher (150 with the Angels in 1962), admits there are some shortcomings. Defense is high among them. But then again, Ron Tingley and John Orton combined to catch 209 games over the last two seasons for the Angels and their combined batting average was .202.

Myers hit .255 with seven home runs and 40 runs batted in 108 games last year. Turner hit .280 with a homer and 13 RBIs in 25 games after coming up from the minors on Aug. 27.

“I don’t know whether Greg or Chris could be a No. 1 catcher at this time,” Rodgers said, “but they’re both high twos, and on the verge of being No. 1s.”

Both figure to get ample chance to show what they can do, at least until Jorge Fabregas, the Angels’ first-round supplemental pick in the 1991 free-agent draft, is deemed ready to move up from triple-A Vancouver. Fabregas, 24, already is the best defensive catcher in the organization and he hit .289 at double-A Midland last year.

But for starters, Turner will catch when Mark Langston pitches--so he’ll be in the lineup opening day--and Myers will catch when Chuck Finley is on the mound. After that, Rodgers will generally put Turner in against left-handed pitchers and the two will split up the right-handers, with Turner getting about 60% of the starts.

Myers figures to see his number of starts decrease this season. It’s not a situation he’s particularly happy with, but he hopes to play his way into the majority of the innings behind the plate.

“It’s out of your hands, so there’s no point worrying about it,” he said. “Who knows how it will work out? Chris and I sure don’t. All you can do is the best you can do when he puts you in there.”

For Turner, who made his major league debut after fewer than three full seasons in the minors, this platoon thing seems like a relatively good jumping-off point.

“I’d rather be in there every day, but I’m not complaining,” he said. “All I’ve ever asked for is the chance to show what I can do, and hopefully, by next year, I’ll be in there every day.

“Right now, getting the opportunity is all I can ask for.”

The Angels, of course, would love to be in a position next winter of having to make a wrenching decision about who will be No. 1.

“These are good problems that we didn’t have three or four years ago,” Rodgers said, smiling. “We didn’t have any players then. Now, we’ve got players coming up and we have decisions to make and that’s great.

“We think Jorge is a major league catching prospect. And if he does what we think he can do in Vancouver, then some time around the first of August, he should be ready to step up.

“If we had three solid major league catchers, we could go into the winter and make decisions. We won’t keep those three catchers. One will have to go next year.”

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Barring injury, however, it will be the battle of Turner vs. Myers for most of 1994. Maybe not a clash of titans, but as good as anything Angel fans have seen since Lance Parrish in his prime.

Catching is still a new experience for Turner, who volunteered to catch after two catchers were injured when he was a senior at Western Kentucky.

“I ended up catching a game in our conference tournament and that’s when a scout from the Angels saw me,” Turner said. “They drafted me in the seventh round as a catcher, but I had only caught five games total in college.”

During the first one, he broke a finger when he slammed his hand into the bat while attempting to return the ball to the pitcher. An inauspicious debut to be sure, but not enough to discourage Turner’s enthusiasm for the position.

“It’s fun, it’s exciting,” he said. “You’re in the game on every pitch. It’s not like other positions where you might go three or four games without ever touching the ball. I love it now.”

Turner’s rocket ride through the Angels’ organization included a season with single-A Boise, a season with single-A Quad City, a jump to triple-A Vancouver last year and the leap to the big leagues last August.

He’s caught fewer than 300 games as a professional, but he’s catching on.

“It all depends on how fast you learn and how smart you are,” Rodgers said. “Some guys catch all their lives and they’re still dumb catchers. Chris is in the process of learning and picking up things. He’s a very quiet kid, but he’s a bulldog behind the plate and he does a good job with the pitchers.”

And having a former catcher as a manager doesn’t hurt.

“I map out situations and have him answer my questions, rather than just tell him you should have thrown a curve here or fastball there,” Rodgers said. “I want him to go through the process so the next time he remembers the process and then the call will take care of itself.”

Rodgers has been impressed by Turner’s abilities at the plate as well as his progress behind it. Turner hit .455 with runners in scoring position last season.

“He’s a good clutch hitter and for a young kid, that’s something,” Rodgers said. “He’s not afraid to drive in runs. In fact, he’s better than some of our regulars at that.”

Indeed, the Turner-Myers duel might feature wood as the weapon of choice.

Myers, a left-handed hitter who was acquired in a trade with Toronto in July of 1992, has been in a platoon situation since he came up with the Blue Jays in 1989. When Toronto decided to make Pat Borders the full-time starter, Myers became expendable.

His best season before last year was 1991, when he played in 107 games and hit .262 with eight homers and 36 RBIs.

“And Myers has been hitting the ball this spring as well as he ever has,” Rodgers said.

Myers says he didn’t get a start against a left-handed pitcher during his four seasons with Toronto.

“I’ve never been allowed to hit against left-handed pitchers in the majors, so it’s pretty hard to prove you’re capable of being an everyday player,” he said. “It’s a little frustrating.”

Rodgers, however, will not be writing names on his lineup card in strict accordance to the lefty-righty gospel. Myers, he says, was successful in limited action against left-handers last season--he hit .375 with three doubles in 24 at-bats--and Rodgers puts a great deal of emphasis on the handling of pitchers and battery chemistry.

“I want to see how things go,” Rodgers said. “To me, the pitcher-catcher game is a very important part of the game.”

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Both Turner and Myers have to hope that the catcher-baserunner relationship doesn’t weigh too heavily on Rodgers’ decisions, or Fabregas might be called up sooner rather than later.

Myers threw out only 23 of 90 would-be base stealers last season. Turner caught only one of 24.

“I would say that 90% of the time, it’s not the catcher’s fault,” Langston said. “It’s our responsibility to make sure those guys don’t get too good of a lead or too good of a jump.

“Actually, I think both Greg and Chris are throwing pretty well now.”

Last season, Turner suffered from a sore shoulder and Myers felt like he suffered from circumstances beyond his control.

“Really, the catcher can only do so much,” Myers said. “I thought I threw the ball pretty well last year, way better than my numbers showed, anyway. The other night there was a double steal and they got such a good jump, I didn’t even throw the ball. There’s two stolen bases against me right there and you can’t really say that’s my fault.

“There’s so many things that go into it, it’s a little frustrating that it’s a number that’s hung on the catcher.”

Turner believes his performance against baserunners was merely a slump caused by a myriad of factors that can all be overcome with good health, hard work and a reversal of fortune.

“My arm started bothering me in spring training and I don’t think I ever had the kind of arm strength that I had the year before,” he said. “I was in a year-long slump and it was really a little bit of everything.

“If I got off a great throw, the guy just happened to have a really good jump. Or if we had a chance, then I didn’t make a very good throw. I’m not worrying about it, though. I’ve been on a shoulder program to relieve the biceps tendinitis that was bothering me. I’ve been lifting and I feel good.”

Rodgers--we did mention he was a catcher, didn’t we?--says his pitchers are mostly at fault for the base-stealing barrage against the Angels.

“As long as this doesn’t become a head problem, then I’m not worried about it,” he said. “The pitchers just haven’t done a very good job of holding guys on.”

And so Tuesday in Minnesota, the battle-not-so-royal will begin to rage, with Fabregas waiting to take on the victor.

“There’s always going to be players pushing you, no matter where you are,” Myers said. “There will always be good young players coming up. All you can do is your best.”

Turner, 25, is convinced his best will be enough.

“I hope to put them into a spot where they have to make a decision between a good young player with potential and a good young player who’s already proven he can do it,” he said.

At 27, Myers has already thrown a few coins in that wishing well.