Angels’ Arias Hopes to Do His Dad Proud

It was a trip around the bases that Raul Arias, riding inside his son’s cap, must have really enjoyed.

George Arias, the Angels’ rookie third baseman carries a picture of his father, a former Mexican League player who died of cancer when George was 11 years old, in his hat. And in the first inning Thursday night, George and his dad took a trot after his drive to center cleared the fence for a three-run homer.

“As I got to the dugout, I took a glimpse up and dedicated that one to him,” Arias said.

Arias, who turned 24 last month, is in the big leagues after just three seasons in the minors, making the jump from double-A Midland, so there’s little doubt he has already made his father very proud. And every night during the national anthem, Arias looks into his cap to revive his sense of purpose and renew his courage to carry on.

Arias admits that his struggles at the plate lately had started to get him down. He had played a dozen games without driving in a run since his first major league RBI on opening day and his batting average had sunk to .216.

While Arias was applying generous doses of self-imposed pressure, the Angels weren’t exactly scrambling to make contingency plans for third base.

“His offense doesn’t have my attention,” General Manager Bill Bavasi said.

How could it? It’s so much fun to watch the guy work with leather that his skill with wood is bound to be overshadowed. Just ask the Blue Jays.

Wednesday night, Arias’ made diving stops on two balls that seemed destined to shoot down the line and end up in the box score as doubles. Both times he bounded to his feet and fired a missile to first and both at-bats ended up having the same impact as feeble popups.

Thursday night, he made another laser throw after fielding a slow roller by Sandy Martinez in the third inning.

“It was great that he hit his first homer tonight,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “He’s got power and he’ll get his home runs, but right now his job is to play third base. The way our team sets up, with all the left-handed starters, if he plays third base the way he can and has been and everyone else does their job, it’ll be a real nice fit.

“Anything he does with his bat will be a plus.”

Arias was beginning to wonder how long his major league experience would last until Lachemann called him into his office earlier this week in Seattle and to tell him just that.

“He told me to relax and keep up the strong defense and that meant a lot to me,” Arias said, “It took away some of the doubts and it also meant this was a man I could talk to, a man I can come to if I have a problem.”

Arias said he was glad to have that first homer behind him.

The Angels retrieved the ball and presented it to Arias, who says it will have a special place in his trophy case.

Dad, residing in his special place between head and halo, would surely approve.