Edmonds Helps Scramble Angel Lineup : Baseball: Rookie’s hot hitting forces the team to find a way to keep him playing.

Early in the season, he was the reason the Angels decided to leave J.T. Snow in Vancouver when first baseman Eduardo Perez was out of action for 10 days with a sore wrist.

“Why would I call up a guy who’s hitting .300 against minor league pitching when I’ve got a guy who’s hitting .370 against major league pitching?” was then Manager Buck Rodgers’ response to questions about Snow.

Now, he’s the reason the team is willing to trade Dwight Smith for a pitcher.

For a rookie whose role was supposed to combine pinch-hitting with an occasional start in the outfield when somebody needed a rest, Jim Edmonds has had a considerable impact on the Angels’ day-to-day lineup.

First base. Left field. Even center field. It has reached the point where Manager Marcel Lachemann has to find a spot for him somewhere. OK, maybe Edmonds won’t be the first player to hit .400 since Ted Williams, but there have been far too many line drives shooting off his bat during the first third of the season to call it a fluke.

Edmonds, who has hit safely in 22 of the 24 games he has started, has seven hits in his last 18 at-bats and his season average is .344. His average has not been below .333 this season.

Lachemann said Edmonds’ offensive surge did not play a role in Friday’s decision to send Perez to the minors and recall Snow, but he admits that Edmonds’ defensive skills and hot bat give him a great deal of flexibility when it comes to making out a lineup card.

Friday night, Edmonds started in left field and hit his first home run in Anaheim Stadium and second of the year, a towering shot to left-center in the fourth inning that followed Chili Davis’ bases-empty homer and landed in almost the exact same spot.

In the fourth inning, he fired a strike to catcher Chris Turner to catch Milwaukee’s B.J. Surhoff trying to score. And in the fifth inning, he lined a single to center that scored Chad Curtis with the Angels’ third run. He finished the game at first base after Smith pinch-hit for Perez in the eighth inning.

“The off day was really good for me,” Edmonds said, “I’m the type of player who needs a day off once in awhile. It’s not that I’m playing every day or anything, but I just need to get away from swinging the bat, to forget bad habits and sort of start over.”

Edmonds has 17 RBIs in 93 at-bats this season, which means he has driven in one run every 5 1/2 at-bats. Only Davis, Tim Salmon and Bo Jackson--designated RBI guys with salaries to match--are more efficient at pushing across runs.

“Somebody asked me why I hadn’t hit many home runs, but I usually don’t get going until the summer,” Edmonds said. “I hit nine homers last year (at Vancouver) and 14 (at Midland and Vancouver) the year before, and both years I only had one before June 1.

“I’m pretty happy with the consistency I’ve shown so far. My goal is to be an everyday player and I’m just going to keep working toward that goal.”

It’s an objective that is clearly within his reach. For the time being, he’ll platoon in left with Jackson, but for how long?

“I don’t know,” Lachemann said, “but he’s done pretty well against left-handers when he has had the chance.”

Pretty well? In 12 at-bats against left-handed pitchers, Edmonds has five hits, a .417 average.