BASEBALL / STEVE HENSON : Phoenix’s Cookson on an Upswing

Keep swinging, swinging, swinging and soon you’ll reach breathtaking heights. Every kid who’s played on a park swing set knows the sensation.

Brent Cookson plays at a park and he swings plenty. In fact, he hopes to swing himself right into another park, one called Candlestick.

Brent be nimble, Brent be quick. . . .

Cookson, 25, is the hottest hitter for the Phoenix Firebirds, the San Francisco Giants’ affiliate in the triple-A Pacific Coast League. The former Santa Paula High, Ventura College and Long Beach State outfielder has a team-high 15 home runs and 41 runs batted in, and he is batting .308 in 185 at-bats.

Since he was inserted into the lineup May 9 as the everyday left fielder, Cookson is batting .338 with nine home runs and 28 RBIs. He says his secret is simplicity.

“I just try to see the ball and hit it,” he said.

It is a philosophy that enables the right-handed hitting Cookson to use the whole field. He has shown surprising power to right field for a man only 5 feet 10, 190 pounds.

“A lot of young power hitters try to pull everything,” said Russ Langer, the Firebirds’ play-by-play announcer. “But Brent goes to the opposite field often. And he makes solid contact two or three times a game.”

Cookson’s athleticism is legendary around Santa Paula. He was an all-league player in football and soccer as well as baseball and he is able to dunk a basketball.

When he will make the jump to the Giants is another story. The left fielder, of course, is Barry Bonds, and Darren Lewis and Glenallen Hill are set in center and right.

Cookson doesn’t dwell on that, however. He just keeps swinging.

“I set some goals for myself when I first got drafted as to where I want to be at a certain point in my career,” he said. “I’m right on schedule, and I’m in a good position right now.”

It is a position he has earned. Cookson was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 15th round in 1991 out of Long Beach--where he was MVP on a College World Series team that included several future pros--but was released after only seven games because he injured a thumb. He had a total of nine minor league at-bats with the Athletics, striking out in eight.

Signed by the Giants, he hit 20 home runs splitting time between two Class-A teams in 1992, hit 17 homers in ’93 for Class-A San Jose, and last year hit .324 with 11 home runs for double-A Shreveport.

His first shot at impressing the Giants in person will come June 29 when the big-league team visits Phoenix to play an exhibition game against the Firebirds.

A September call-up is a near certainty for Cookson, but he isn’t losing sleep wondering if a promotion will come earlier.

“All I can do is put up the numbers and hope for the best,” he said.

*

Answering the age-old question, Adam West couldn’t play in Peoria. Or drive very well, either.

The St. Louis Cardinals hope that Johnson City, Tenn., will be more to his liking. West, 21, was sent to the rookie Appalachian League team Saturday.

“Johnson City was where he should have gone from extended spring training in the first place,” said Roy Silver, manager of the Class-A Peoria (Ill.) Chiefs. “He was rushed up here because of injuries. Now he’s going to pitch to people more at his level.”

The former Thousand Oaks High and Pierce College left-handed pitcher would like to forget all about his few weeks spent in Peoria, a town that’s supposed to exemplify Middle America.

For West, it was the middle of hell.

In four starts, he walked 24 and allowed 19 hits in 12 2/3 innings. Opposing batters hit .393 against him and he was 0-3 with a 12.08 earned-run average.

In his first start, he walked nine, then totaled his car driving to the stadium the following day on a rain-slicked road.

“Peoria didn’t turn out very well,” said West, whose car is still being repaired. That, of course, poses logistics problems since he is now several hundred miles away in Tennessee.

Eventually, his car will be like new. Also under repair are West’s pitching mechanics and his confidence. Silver believes they will be like new as well.

“He can regain his confidence and get his mechanics consistent,” Silver said. “I told him that for very short spurts he showed promise. He needs to stay positive. There is no reason he can’t pitch in this league next year. I hope to see him back.”

West was sent to Peoria from the Cardinals’ extended spring training camp. Last season he pitched in sleepy Chandler, Ariz., in a low rookie league after being drafted out of Pierce. Starting in front of 3,000 fans in Peoria was daunting.

“I hadn’t pitched in front of any sort of crowd since the American Legion World Series,” said West, who helped Newbury Oaks win the national championship in 1992.

*

A left-handed pitcher from the Newbury Oaks American Legion national championship team gets in a car accident his first week in Peoria.

But it’s not West. It’s Tighe Curran, formerly of Newbury Park High and Ventura College.

“It’s funny, two left-handed guys from the same place, both crashing cars,” said Silver, the team’s manager.

Curran, 20, has avoided crashing on the mound, however. He has pitched well in a setup role, posting a 1-0 record with a 2.08 ERA in 16 appearances. He has gained Silver’s confidence after getting the ball only in one-sided games early in the year.

“We’ll use him in the sixth, seventh inning of any game regardless of the score now,” Silver said.

“He has a real good changeup and has the ability to throw it when he’s behind in the count.”