BASEBALL / JOHN LYNCH : Fullmer’s Hitting Impresses ‘A’ Team

What must Brad Fullmer do to impress the South Atlantic League?

The former Montclair Prep infielder is the league’s second-leading hitter with a .324 batting average and is third in doubles with 35. Still, he can’t buy his way on to a league all-star team.

Fullmer was overlooked at the midseason all-star break, an oversight he easily accepted because it included a three-day vacation. But with a week remaining in the season, and Fullmer listed among the league’s top hitters, he was missing from the season-ending all-star team.

Must be his defense. Fullmer is a 20-year-old second-round draft pick who is playing his first full professional season. He missed the 1993 season because he signed late out of high school, and sat out last year after surgery on his right shoulder.

Finally ready to play, Fullmer was assigned by the Expos to Class-A Albany, where he started the season as a designated hitter while he completed rehabilitation on his shoulder. He then played a few weeks at first base before moving to third, where the Expos believe his future lies--once he masters the position.

“Offensively, he’s just been sensational,” said Bill Geivett, Montreal’s director of player development. “With the injury and not playing defense for so long, that’s the part of his game where he has struggled. But he has real potential as a defensive player. We’re happy with him as a complete player and think he can be impact major league player.”

That impact could come from either third or first base, Fullmer said.

“I feel real comfortable at first and I know now that I can play there,” he said. “Third is a tougher position, but I’m working on it every day.”

Defense may be work, but offense has been anything but for Fullmer. At 6 feet 1, 205 pounds, he says, he’ll be a 25-homer man in the big leagues.

He has only eight this year, but playing in the league’s most-difficult home-run park is a handicap. Seven of his homers have come on the road.

Besides, his sights are set on the league batting title. With a week to play, he trails teammate Vladimir Guerrero (.333) by nine points.

“I’ve got an outside shot and I’m going to have to get hot,” he said. “That adds some excitement. But I’m just glad to be playing. This is my first full year and I’m having a good time.”

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Another Sally League player making a strong run this season is Derek Swafford, second baseman and left-handed leadoff hitter at Augusta, Ga. The former Ventura High two-sport standout who passed up a football scholarship to sign with the Pirates in 1993 is the league’s No. 2 base stealer with 45.

Swafford is not only chasing the Augusta franchise record of 50 steals, he’s after Macon’s Andrew Jones, who leads the league with 52. Swafford might not catch Jones, the league’s top prospect, but he is confident of reaching 50.

“The franchise record was one of my goals and I think I’ll get it,” he said. “I wanted to bat .300 too, but that will come.”

After a brief run at .300 earlier this year, Swafford is batting .255. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound 20-year-old is struggling to remain consistent at the plate.

“I’ve got a long ways to go at the plate. I’m still learning how to hit,” he said.

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Jerry Willard, a World Series hero for a brief shining moment, has been released by the Seattle Mariner organization. In 85 games, the 35-year-old catcher from Hueneme High and Oxnard College was batting .268 with 16 doubles, nine home runs and 47 runs batted in at Tacoma when he was released July 29.

The highlight of Willard’s 16-year career came in Game 4 of the 1991 World Series when he singled home the winning run for the Atlanta Braves.

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Short hops: After struggling in his senior season at Oklahoma, Russell Ortiz has been the scourge of the short-season Class-A Northwest League. A reliever with the Bellingham Giants, the former Montclair Prep right-hander is 2-0 with 11 saves and an 0.56 earned-run average. In 32 1/3 innings, he has 51 strikeouts and 10 walks. . . .

Rich Aude is taking out his frustrations on Pacific Coast League pitching. The former Chatsworth High first baseman started the season with the Pirates but was sent down in early July. At triple-A Calgary, he’s batting .331. . . .

Darrell Dent, a third-round pick in the June amateur draft by the Orioles, is finding Rookie League pitchers only slightly more difficult to hit than those he faced in high school. At Montclair Prep last spring, Dent batted .281. At Sarasota, he’s hitting. 276.