Katzaroff Cannot Get Game Out of His System

The lure of the game keeps tugging at Rob Katzaroff. He has been an Expo, a Met, a Giant and now an Angel in five minor league seasons.

But like many who have bounced around the minors, Katzaroff wonders when, and sometimes if, he’ll get the call from the big club.

You know, something like:

“Hey, Katzaroff, pack your bags, we need you up here pronto.”

The call hasn’t come, but Katzaroff hasn’t quit, hasn’t stopped chasing down line drives to the left-center field gap, hasn’t backed off when the count is 0 and 2.

When the Giants released him with two weeks left in spring training, Katzaroff knew it wasn’t the end of the line. He knew the Giants had their reasons, but he didn’t agree with them.

Katzaroff, a standout at Los Alamitos and UCLA, also knew another team would call, a team in need of a sure-handed center fielder, a speedy, solid leadoff hitter. The Angels, who desperately needed help at their new Class A affiliate at Lake Elsinore, eventually phoned.

And so Katzaroff is still plugging away, hoping to turn his dream of playing in the majors into reality. He knows it’s a long shot. He knows the Angels already have a talented, young center fielder named Chad Curtis. Katzaroff simply wants to keep playing, hoping he’ll keep climbing within the organization. And if it doesn’t happen here, maybe it will elsewhere.

“It’s not so much how I do (on the field),” said Katzaroff, who advanced to triple A for the Giants last season. “It’s got to do with somebody in the organization liking me enough to move me up. Somebody who knows how I play, scouts every game I play, sees me all the time and gets back to the organization.”

That’s the grim reality facing a 25-year-old starting over again in Class A ball.

“I have to play hard every day and play my game,” Katzaroff said. “I enjoy the game of baseball and I enjoy playing well. The politics of moving up is out of my control.”

So, he concentrates on smacking the ball around California League ballparks. He tries to get on base any way he can, tries to steal a base when he can.

He’s batting .299 with five runs batted in and seven stolen bases in 17 games for Lake Elsinore. Those aren’t bad numbers, but they’re also probably not good enough to rate a promotion to double-A Midland just yet.

Katzaroff isn’t dwelling on such things, though.

“Love of the game is why I’m still playing this year,” he said. “It’s been frustrating after being turned down when you know you should have been moved up. But the politics of baseball gets you moved up.

“Once I get on the field and the first pitch is thrown, I forget about all that. When I go home that’s when it gets hard for me. When I’m home that’s when I think about it.”

Last season, Katzaroff played well enough to earn a promotion to triple-A Phoenix and it was difficult for him not to think about making the majors. When it didn’t happen, when the Giants released him this spring, he chalked it up to bad management.

“They (the Giants) made a lot of mistakes,” he said. “I felt I could have helped them in the big leagues. I’m here and they’ve got what they have. I wasn’t their player. I wasn’t one of their guys. I was expendable in their minds.”

Montreal drafted Katzaroff after he graduated from UCLA in 1990. The Expos then traded him to the New York Mets, who later sent him to San Francisco for Kevin Bass in October, 1992. He spent part of last season at double-A Shreveport, then was moved to triple-A Phoenix.

His release came as a shock. But the Angels, hoping to bolster their foundering Class-A team, called and now he’s a member of the Lake Elsinore Storm. The club’s 5-28 record is not something to cherish, but Katzaroff is happy to be playing again.

“I like playing here,” he said. “The fans have been real supportive. They keep coming out to see us even though we’ve been losing. Hopefully, we’ll reward their patience by winning some games.

“I saw this as a chance to continue playing. I go into each game thinking I’m going to be a big league player.”

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Katzaroff and J.T. Snow, a first baseman for the Angels’ triple-A affiliate at Vancouver, were better known as football players as high school teammates at Los Alamitos.

Katzaroff was a wide receiver and Snow a quarterback. In 1985, Katzaroff caught 93 passes from Snow, an Orange County record. Katzaroff maintains ties with Snow and said better days are ahead for his boyhood friend.

“He was stuck in the minors (in the Yankees’ organization), then he got traded to the right team and had a big start in the majors with the Angels,” Katzaroff said. “He’ll eventually get another opportunity. He’ll be back up there. J.T. is a tough character. He’ll land on his feet.”

Snow, batting .322 with a team-leading six home runs and 27 RBIs, could be recalled to the Angels if Eduardo Perez’s injured wrist forces him to be placed on the disabled list.