Paquette Isn’t Settling for His Video Image

A year ago, Craig Paquette was as close to becoming a fixture at third base as a rookie can be. In fact, when you’re talking about Oakland, he was as close to becoming a fixture at third base as anyone can be.

He made his major league debut June 1, drove in 19 runs during his first 20 games and ended up starting at third for 104 of the A’s last 117 games, the seventh most games in a single season by an Oakland third baseman. Ever.

A year ago today, Paquette was embarking on a seven-game hitting streak and about to tie a televised game with a ninth-inning homer, igniting an A’s comeback victory. He was a prime-time hero.

These days, however, he only stars in major league video games. You can start him at third base if you choose to manage Oakland on at least one major home game system.

That’s little compensation for the former Rancho Alamitos High and Golden West College standout who thought he was in the big leagues to stay.

“I think Craig was a little in shock when he was sent down here after spring training,” said Casey Parsons, manager of the Tacoma Tigers, Oakland’s triple-A affiliate. “He thought he would be the guy and I’m sure he was very disappointed. But I think he came to understand the situation and it was only a short time before he adjusted his outlook. Really, his attitude has been great since then.”

The “situation” was the business of baseball. Scott Brosius, the A’s current third baseman, had no options left. If the A’s sent him down, he would be available to be claimed by other teams.

Paquette had one option left.

Hello, Tacoma.

“There’s no doubt I was upset,” Paquette said. “I felt that the job was mine to lose, that I would have to play myself out of it. I hit .330 in the spring, so I didn’t think I did anything to lose it.

“More than that, though, I had worked so hard all during the off-season to improve the areas where they said I needed to improve. I worked three days a week with (A’s hitting instructor Jim) Lefebvre all winter in Arizona on my two-strike approach and hitting the ball the other way.

“But Brosius didn’t have any options left, so they did what they felt they had to do.”

Paquette was recalled by the A’s last month when Brosius was injured, but he struggled, hitting just .140 in 49 at-bats before Brosius came off the disabled list.

“Last year, it seemed like every time I came up in the first couple of months there were two guys on base,” Paquette said. “This season, more than half the time, there was no one on. I just wasn’t as aggressive.”

Parsons, who spent much of his professional playing career bouncing between triple-A and the big leagues with the Mariners, White Sox, Cardinals, Indians and Royals, knows what Paquette is going through.

“You have to make adjustments both ways,” he said. “Down here, Craig is a guy who is going to be pitched around. Up there, he’s going to see a lot more strikes.

“He started a little slow, but he’s one of our best defensive players and is in the top two or three of all the offensive categories even though he has a lot fewer at-bats because of the time he was up with Oakland.

“I think his attitude is really super now.”

Paquette, 25, now seems to understand the baseball cliche about not worrying about things you can’t control.

“If you don’t play hard, you won’t play anywhere,” he said. “And if you’re good enough to play in the big leagues, there will be a spot for you sooner or later. There are teams out there who could use me.

“Everybody who ever got to the big leagues wanted to stay, but if you get down about it, you’re only hurting yourself.”

If there is anything holding Paquette back, it’s a little loop in his swing that makes it harder for him to get around on outside pitches.

“I was popping up a lot when I tried to go the other way,” he said. “But I think we’ve almost got that completely straightened out because now I get into streaks where I’m hitting the ball better from the middle of the plate to the outside better than from the middle in.”

The folks who designed that video-game software must have left the loop out of the loop.

“A few guys on the team have that game,” Paquette said. “They say I’m the best hitter on the team.”

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Storm watchers: The Lake Elsinore Storm set a California League record July 2 when 7,608 fans jammed into the Lake Elsinore Diamond, the ballpark of the Angels’ new Class A affiliate.

The record probably won’t last too long. The Diamond Club restaurant, in the left field corner, opened last week and it seats an additional 150 fans on its terraces.

“The record is a testament to the fans in the Lake Elsinore area,” General Manager Kevin Haughian said. “We had high expectations for our first season, but the response has been overwhelming.

“Most of the other largest crowds involved some sort of playoff game or an appearance of a great player like Fernando Valenzuela or Rickey Henderson. The fact we did it on the Saturday of Independence Day Weekend is very satisfying.”

Spectators were attracted by a postgame fireworks show, but the Storm has solid fan support without pyrotechnics. Lake Elsinore is averaging more than 4,900 fans per game and is among the top 20 in attendance in the minor leagues.