Catcher Takes a Big Risk, but Gamble Is Paying Off

Major leaguers aren’t the only ones who gamble on free agency.

There are minor league players who also sign one-year deals and roll the dice on having an attention-getting season that might prompt another organization to give them a shot at reaching the majors.

That’s the risk Tom Wilson took this season. And it looks as if the risk will pay off.

Wilson, 26, a catcher with the Yankees’ double-A team, the Norwich (Conn.) Navigators, is having a big year. Through 70 games he was batting .295 (69 for 234), with a career-best 15 home runs and 49 runs batted in.

Since catching is considered a defensive position, a catcher who hits is a precious commodity. Should Wilson continue at his current level, he can expect some eager suitors this winter.

“As of right now, I’m really pleased with how the year has gone,” he said. “I had hoped for 15-20 home runs for whole season, so I’m ahead of expectations.

“Maturity is a factor. Some guys develop quickly and some are late bloomers. I’m a late bloomer.”

Wilson, who originally signed with the Yankees out of Fullerton College in 1991, said luck has been a factor.

Two years ago, after being promoted to the Yankees’ triple-A Columbus team, Wilson sustained a serious injury, tearing the ligaments around his left thumb. He slid all the way from triple-A to Class-A, playing a combined 67 games for three teams and averaged an anemic .186 (36 for 194).

“I was worried [about the future],” Wilson said.

One game into the 1996 season, Wilson was traded to the Indians’ triple-A Buffalo (N.Y.) team. Instead of sulking about the deal, Wilson turned it into a plus.

“Last year in Buffalo was a breath of fresh air,” Wilson said. “They gave me the freedom to explore different batting stances. I decided to go back to my basics; I stand in a crouch, like [Houston’s] Jeff Bagwell. I did it in college, with success. Too often in the pros I’d have good month or two and then tail off.”

Wilson batted .269, with six homers and 35 RBIs, in 72 games for Buffalo. At the end of the season, however, he was told the team was planning to play a younger prospect in 1997. He asked for and was granted his release.

Wilson said several teams contacted him about a job. But Norwich, for whom Wilson played 28 games in that disastrous 1995 season, offered the chance to play every day.

“Even if I was not having a hot year, this was the right decision,” Wilson said. “You have to play to be seen by other teams and scouts. I could have joined the [expansion] Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization, but they wanted me to go play in Mexico. Not to take anything away from it, but out-of-sight, out-of-mind is good way to explain what playing there would be like.”

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Former Mater Dei star Mike Hessman stumbled through a .216 season last year, his first professional season. But Hessman has rebounded nicely in 1997.

In 78 games with the single-A Macon (Ga.) Braves, Hessman is averaging .253 but has slugged a team-high 15 home runs (third best in the South Atlantic League) and is second on the team in RBIs with 54. He played well enough to be chosen for the North-South All-Star game, and was instrumental in Macon winning the first-half pennant.

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It has been a disappointing first half for the Vigilantes.

Sonoma County ran away with the first-half South Division pennant. The Vigilantes, two-time Western Baseball League champions who moved from Long Beach this season, are in last place.

No one feels worse about the situation than pitcher Paul Anderson.

Anderson, 28, was expecting a breakout season after going 12-4 with a 2.68 earned-run average in 1996. Maybe a year good enough to get back into a major league organization. He had spent six seasons in the St. Louis Cardinal system, reaching triple-A level in 1993 and 1994.

But Anderson had struggled this season before beating Sonoma County Monday night. The victory improved his record to 2-5 and his ERA to 5.09.

His worst outing was last Wednesday at Sonoma County, when he gave up eight earned runs in 5 1/3 innings of a 10-5 loss.

In 58 1/3 innings, he has given up 72 hits and 33 earned runs. He already has walked as many batters (13) as he did in all of 1996. He is tied with Mike Singleton for the club lead in home runs given up (8).

“My biggest problem has been consistency,” Anderson said. “That’s been the team’s biggest problem. We’ve either hit well or pitched well. If we can put them together I think we can be OK.

“My mission, from here on out, is to set a tone. I haven’t been throwing too bad, but the fact is we’ve been losing. I know once we start winning, the whole atmosphere around the clubhouse and field will change. Man for man, I put us up against anybody. Last year we had the problems in the first half and turned it around. So I’m not too worried.”

Acting manager and pitching coach Brad Lesley said the team has no plans to stop giving Anderson the ball.

“Last year we signed Paul in the middle of the first half,” Lesley said. “He threw three pitches his first game and gave up a two-run homer to be the losing pitcher. But then look what he did.

“Paul had gotten into trouble thinking of himself as a finesse pitcher instead of a power pitcher. He’s back to doing the things that got him here. He’s still my ace; I still love giving him the baseball. He’s my man. He will get it done.”

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This week in minor league baseball history:

July 10, 1972--Albuquerque’s Charlie Hough relieved twice in one inning in a game against Tacoma (Wash.). Hough was moved to right field after relieving in the eighth inning and retiring one batter, then was brought back to the mound later in the inning and retired the side with a strikeout.

July 11, 1937--Outfielder Edgar Biedleman of Easton (Md.), Eastern Shore League, was knocked unconscious when a drive off the bat of Centreville’s (Md.) Alex Pitko bounced off the fence and struck him on the head. Pitko circled the bases for a home run.

July 11, 1989--The equipment of Quad City of the Midwest League was seized by the sheriff after a game in South Bend (Ind.). The seizure resulted from a dispute over a prior year’s hotel bill. The equipment was bailed out by Bill Bavasi, then the Angels’ director of minor league operations.

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TOUR of the WEST

A team-by-team Look at the Western Baseball League:

Salinas Peppers, Salinas, Calif.

Location: A 20-minute drive east of Monterey, one-hour south of San Jose

Club established: 1995

Ownership: Managing owners Pat Elster and Paul Pyers are also the Vigilantes’ president and general manager

Manager: Steve Hendricks, who played professionally as an outfielder/first baseman for seven years, including four (1987-90) in the San Diego Padres’ organization. Served as player/coach for Grays Harbor in 1995 and for Tri-City and Salinas in ’96. This marks his first season as manager.

Most famous alumni: Rick Prieto, a center fielder who is batting leadoff for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, the Padres’ team in the Class A California League. Prieto was the Western Baseball League’s 1996 player of the year, when he led the league in runs (83), hits (123), triples (10) and stolen base percentage (.968) Home stadium: Salinas Municipal Stadium, built in 1949; capacity 3,300

Salinas baseball history: The Salinas Spurs were a co-op team in the California League from 1989-92. Before that, the city hosted California League teams for the Seattle Mariners (1984-87), Chicago Cubs (1982-83), Angels (1973-80), Cleveland Indians (1965) and New York Mets (1963-64). Buck Rodgers, former Angel manager and current head of the Vigilantes, made his managerial debut with Salinas in 1975.

Salinas’ fame: This agricultural area was the birthplace of author John Steinbeck (1902-68), whose works included “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940; Pulitzer Prize), “Of Mice and Men” and “Cannery Row.” He received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1962.

Next play Vigilantes: Wednesday-Saturday, at Salinas; Sunday-Tuesday, at Mission Viejo

Source: Salinas Peppers