BASEBALL / STEVE HENSON : Rookie Is Handling Spotlight

Hit .330 with substantial power for the Angels any year but this one and a rookie would be inundated by crippling media attention. Witness J.T. Snow, who wilted under the spotlight after getting off to a hot start in 1993.

It took Snow two years to right himself--he’s batting .323 and is an integral part of the team’s astonishing rise to playing at a .600 clip.

Following Snow in the batting order is rookie Garret Anderson, a former Kennedy High outfielder who is off to a tremendous start. The difference is that Anderson simply blends into a powerful lineup that includes six players batting over .290 and leads the majors in runs scored.

He is lying low, taking his success in stride, content to be contributing to perhaps the strongest Angel team ever.

“I’m on a big roll now, but this game can humble you in a hurry,” said Anderson, who has been the starting left fielder since being recalled from Vancouver on June 7.

Going into Saturday’s game at Milwaukee, Anderson was batting .342 with 12 doubles, eight home runs and 37 runs batted in. Only Chili Davis, at .344, had a higher batting average on the team.

Anderson’s run production should not be surprising: His 102 RBIs last season at Vancouver were 42 more than any teammate.

“I knew I could play at this level because guys I played with in the minors like Tim Salmon and Jim Edmonds were doing well here, and I did just as well as they did in the minors,” Anderson said.

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El Paso catcher Bobby Hughes took 15 stitches in the face after he was beaned by Shreveport reliever Chuck Wanke on July 20. Hughes had hit a home run in his previous at-bat.

Hughes, a former Notre Dame High standout, said he is certain the beaning was intentional, but he’s not sure why.

“I took a medium home run trot,” he said, “but nothing to warrant getting hit in the head by any means.”

The pitch hit Hughes just above his left eye. Hughes bled profusely in the batter’s box and lost consciousness, he said. After Hughes was taken to the hospital, an El Paso pitcher retaliated by hitting a Shreveport batter. But no fights erupted after either player was hit.

Hughes said he’s aware of stories of players whose careers were ended by such incidents, not so much because of the physical injuries, but the lingering fear of getting hit again.

“Of course that’s crossed my mind several times in the last four or five days,” he said. “I’m hoping that’s not the case. I’m hoping I can step back in the box and stay focused on hitting. . . . Hopefully this little incident won’t affect me at all.”

That doesn’t appear to be the case. Hughes played for the first time since the beaning Wednesday and went 2 for 4 with two RBIs to raise his batting average to .263. The opponent? Shreveport.

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Short hops: Andrew Lorraine, a left-hander from Hart High and Stanford, and John Snyder, a right-hander from Westlake High, were traded to the Chicago White Sox on Thursday as part of the deal that sent Jim Abbott to the Angels. Lorraine was 0-2 with a 10.61 earned-run average in a short stint with the Angels last season but has spent this season at triple-A Vancouver, compiling a record of 6-5 with a 3.94 ERA in 16 starts. Snyder was 8-9 with a 5.74 ERA at double-A Midland. . . .

After experiencing control problems while in Class-A Peoria, left-hander Adam West of Thousand Oaks High and Pierce College is faring much better at Johnson City, the St. Louis Cardinals’ rookie affiliate. West has a 3.91 ERA in eight games and has struck out 20 in 27 innings. . . .

Bryan Corey, a teammate of West in high school and junior college, is pitching full-time for the first time in his career with promising results. The right-hander, who has been clocked at 90 m.p.h., has six saves in 14 appearances with Jamestown of the New York-Penn League, having allowed eight hits in 13 innings with 20 strikeouts.

Contributing: Jeff Fletcher.