Back in Minors, Van Burkleo Preaches What He Practices

One name sticks out like a sore thumb on the list of California League hitting leaders: Ty Van Burkleo.

The Ty Van Burkleo who played at Chatsworth High and had his career wind through the minor leagues for five seasons, to Japan for five more, then through the major leagues with the Angels and Colorado Rockies is the same Ty Van Burkleo who is back in the Cal League chewing up pitchers.

Van Burkleo, 32, is the Lake Elsinore Storm’s player-coach. Van Burkleo said he wanted to get into coaching, so he approached the Angels. They had no full-time coaching positions, but they asked him to be a player-coach for the Storm.

Watch him during the hours before a Storm game and it is clear he is there to help, to pass on what he’s learned in 14 seasons of pro baseball.

Watch him once the game starts, and he leads by example. Batting third and playing in 21 of the Storm’s 22 games, Van Burkleo is hitting .358 with five home runs and 21 runs batted in.

“I’d prefer to just sit on the bench and talk about hitting,” Van Burkleo said, “but [Manager Mitch Seoane] said we can use an extra bat, so he put me in there.”

Said Seoane: “In order to develop players you have to win, and Ty helps us win. He’s really not taking any at-bats away from a prospect.”

Still, some have complained it isn’t fair for the Storm to be using a 32-year-old who hit 14 home runs in triple A a year ago against developing 21-year-old pitchers.

Van Burkleo understands, particularly when he looks across the field and sees JetHawk Manager Dave Brundage, who is a year younger and played against him for several years in triple A.

“I’d probably be grumbling too if Brundy was out there hitting when I was trying to win ballgames,” Van Burkleo said.

Van Burkleo is also to quick to point out it’s not so easy, that just because he is 10 years older than the players he faces doesn’t mean he can hit home runs at will.

“Once I saw a 90-mph fastball I realized I can’t just come up [to bat] and not concentrate,” he said. “A lot of these kids will be in the major leagues someday.”

Yeah, these kids.

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With three developers pushing plans to build a baseball stadium for a Cal League team in Ventura County, the question arises: Who will play there?

The Stockton Ports seem to be the favorite.

All five Southern Division teams can be ruled out because, by midseason, each will have a new, state-of-the-art stadium. So that leaves the Northern Division teams--the Bakersfield Blaze, Modesto A’s, San Jose Giants, Visalia Oaks and Stockton.

The stadiums at Bakersfield and San Jose recently have been renovated and club presidents Jack Patton and Harry Stavrenos insist their teams are staying put.

In Modesto, club owners Fred Anderson and Kevin McClatchy have offered to pay the first $1 million for a $7.5-million ballpark, with the city of Modesto paying the rest. The team also would pay the city an annual leasing fee of $250,000.

If the city does not accept that offer, which has been on the table since January, the club might look for a new home. But the team already has had talks with Fairfield, a city midway between Sacramento and Oakland.

Andrew Bettencourt, Visalia’s general manager, said the Oaks’ owners have been trying to work a better deal that could include a new stadium in Visalia or elsewhere, but nothing was far along enough for the team to be moved until at least 1998.

Bettencourt also said he is not informed about all negotiations taking place at higher levels, so don’t be surprised if the Oaks wind up in the Ventura race after all.

But Stockton still seems the most likely candidate.

Dan Chapman, the Ports’ general manager, said club owners are concerned about poor facilities and lagging attendance. Chapman said if there aren’t changes in both of those circumstances, the Ports would be willing to buy their way out of their lease, which runs through 2001, and move as soon as next season.

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The condition of Matt LaChappa, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes pitcher who collapsed after a heart attack in the bullpen April 6, has been upgraded to serious but stable.

LaChappa, 20, is still in a coma and on a respirator.

LaChappa’s teammates at Rancho Cucamonga have “Chap” and his uniform number, 20, embroidered on the backs of their caps in his honor.

“It will never wear off,” Rancho Cucamonga Manager Mike Basso said of the impact of LaChappa’s collapse on the team. “We’ve got a teammate who is very, very ill. There’snot a day that goes by that we don’t think about it.”