Swing Shift : Actions at Plate Speak Louder Than Words for Buena Park Third Baseman Pohle

There aren’t many things Richie Pohle likes to talk about, including himself. But put a bat in his hands and you’ll find out a lot about Buena Park’s third baseman.

Pohle, a 5-foot-9, 165-pound senior and two-time All-Freeway League selection, possesses one of the county’s finest hitting strokes.

Last season, he batted .432 with four homers and 26 runs batted in. This season, through the Coyotes’ first 10 games, Pohle has 15 hits in 33 at-bats (.455), including three doubles and three triples, has scored 12 runs and driven in seven.

Although not exceptionally swift, Pohle has stolen nine bases in nine attempts--including two against La Quinta catcher Gerald Laird, who has one of the best arms around.

“He doesn’t have a real weakness at the plate,” Buena Park Coach Russ McHale said. “But he goes about practice like a person who wants to make himself better day after day.

“He has a combination of gifts--tremendous bat speed, a great eye, and is very disciplined. The key is, he has gone out and worked at it. He is not the kind of kid who just plays four to five months, but has played year round for seven to nine years.”

But getting Pohle, 17, to open up is like, well, trying to sneak a fastball down the middle.

Float the idea he might be the best hitter on his team, and Pohle accompanies a soft smile with a shake of his head. “Not really. I don’t think like that,” he said. “I’d hope to be the best hitter, but we have some other very good ones like Cesar [Carrillo] and Ernie [Jaime].”

It does no good to ask if he’s the key to Buena Park getting back into the playoffs after missing them last year. “I think we are a better team this year,” Pohle said. “We’ve played more as a team, and everyone gets along better.”

Stay with him long enough and he allows a little information to slip past. For instance, that hitting stroke has been with him since age 5. That’s when his father, Richie Sr., who once played in the San Diego Padres organization and has scouted for the Braves, Dodgers and Royals, taught his son to hit. He also made the natural right-handed Pohle swing from the left side.

“I never changed my stance. It would be bad luck,” Pohle said.

Baseball is the only game Pohle has ever wanted to play. And hitting has been his favorite part, but he said he realizes there is more to the game.

“In the beginning my fielding wasn’t that great because I’d mainly work on my hitting,” he said. “But I do want to be a more well-rounded player.

“When I first came here, I started at second base, but as a sophomore I was moved to third. I like it better.”

McHale said Pohle has worked to make himself a respectable defender but doesn’t want him to stop there.

“He can be as good as any third baseman I’ve coached, but he needs to put equal energy in both defense and offense,” McHale said.

“We think he can continue playing in college, and he could also be drafted. We know there has been interest in him. But fielding is not something he has always worked at.”

Pohle has good power, but his home runs have fallen off since midway through last season, when pitchers stopped throwing him the ball on the inner part of the plate. They would rather limit him to singles and doubles by making him lunge for the ball.

It’s a strategy Pohle is trying to fight.

“I’m trying to spray the ball around the park this year, hit it everywhere,” he said. “I’ve been getting a lot of curveballs away from me, so I’ve been trying to hit to left field more. But if I do everything correctly, I usually pull the ball.”

If Pohle won’t say how good he is, there are others who will say it for him.

“We try not let him win the game,” Troy Coach Dane Illertsen said. “You know Richie hits the ball hard every time up, so you want to try and get him to hit his normal line drive at somebody.

“He has real good hand-eye coordination. You pitch him low or high, and that’s where his bat goes. He’s only fooled when he tries to do too much, but his mistakes are few and far between. I think he and [Sonora’s Jeremy] Weinberg are the best two players in league.”

Just remember, you didn’t hear it from Pohle.

Then again, he didn’t have to say it.