Pitching In

It has taken awhile, but Mike Smith’s two Vigilante hats are beginning to fit.

This spring, Smith agreed to be the team’s pitching coach while remaining on the roster. He was 10-4 and named the Western Baseball League’s pitcher of the year last season, so Smith expected to have a positive effect on the revamped Vigilante staff.

What Smith could not predict was how coaching would affect his pitching. In trying to make sure others got enough attention, Smith struggled with his game.

He gave up five runs and seven hits in the season opener against Chico. He lost two of his next three decisions.

“When I first started, I felt I was spending a lot of time in bullpen [with others], and not refining my own mechanics,” Smith said. “I think it played a big role in my slow start. Buck Rodgers said after my second start my form wasn’t the same as last year.”

But since June 18, Smith has rediscovered his old habits. He is 3-0 in his last four games. Last week he shut out Pacific, and has not given up a home run in his last 33 1/3 innings. He has reduced his earned-run average from 6.91 to 4.58.

“When we got to Chico on our first road trip, Buck said we would start from scratch,” Smith said. “He watched me throw in the bullpen and changed some things; I was standing straight up when I released ball and that came from throwing batting practice at Biola.”

That’s another hat Smith wears. He became pitching coach at Biola University two years ago. Before that he was Brethren Christian’s coach for three years.

Smith, who became Vigilante pitching coach after Brad Lesley resigned, wants to continue coaching at the professional level. At 28, after four seasons of independent league baseball, he knows there may not be any more interest by major league organizations.

“After last year I still had the dream of hooking up with the majors,” Smith said. “I talked to scouts, went to some tryouts in the off-season. Buck helped get an offer from Texas, but it wasn’t guaranteed--I would be one of 10 guys fighting for six bullpen jobs--and I couldn’t afford to leave my job.

“That’s why I took the player-coach job this year. I’ve learned so much from Buck the last two years, I feel ready to be successful in the coaching ranks. That’s my dream now, to be a coach rather than a player in organized ball.”

Smith added that he also had to adapt to being the team’s No. 1 starter.

“Last year Paul Anderson was the ace and I didn’t have that pressure,” Smith said. “ ‘Ace’ is one of those terms that gets put on people. No matter where you are in the rotation, if you pitch well the team does well. I do try to be the leader of staff, and hopefully the younger guys do look to me, see the success I’ve had the last two years and hope something rubs off. But I like the term ‘leader’ more than ‘ace.’ ”

After an 11-13 start, the Vigilantes have won nine of their last 17 games since June 18 to out pressure on second-place Sonoma County in the South Division. (Chico already has clinched the first-half pennant.)

But even if Mission Viejo ends the first half on Sunday in third place, Smith believes the team has matured enough to make a run at the playoffs.

“I feel the team jelled on the last road trip, even though we didn’t play that well when we came back home,” Smith said.

“We can make a playoff push. If Chico happens to win the second half, then we just have to have the second-best overall record. But we can win the second half. In 1996 [when the team played in Long Beach] we started the second half 10-1, and that momentum carried us the second half and the championship.”