Rangers’ Silva Takes Lost Season in Stride, Almost

Ted Silva has become one of the top pitching prospects in the Texas Rangers’ minor league system by winning 30 games in the last two seasons.

Silva was eager to start spring training and determined to be in top shape.

But Silva, an 18-game winner for the 1995 Cal State Fullerton team that won the College World Series, injured his left foot running the steps at Titan Stadium three weeks before spring training started.

“It was a freak accident,” Silva said. “I missed a step, and my foot hit the front of it. All my weight came down on it.”

Silva didn’t think the injury was serious at first, but he was still limping when he joined the Rangers. “They sent me home the next day,” Silva said. “It was a ruptured Achilles’ tendon, and I had to have surgery.”

It also meant that Silva would miss the entire season.

“It was frustrating,” Silva said. “I had been on a roll, and I was excited about spring training and being able to have another good season.”

Silva was 13-10 last season for double-A Tulsa. His victory total was the fourth best in the Texas League and tied for second best in the Ranger farm system. He won five in a row during one stretch and finished the year with a 4.09 earned-run average.

In 1996, Silva was the Rangers’ minor league pitcher of the year. He was 10-2 at Charlotte, then 7-2 when he moved to Tulsa. His earned-run average was under three with each team.

Silva hopes the injury won’t be a setback to his career.

“I’m trying to see the big picture,” Silva said. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to go to one of the winter leagues and won’t have to go the entire year without pitching. I guess the good thing is that it was my left foot, and not the right foot I push off with, and it wasn’t anything with my arm or shoulder.”

Silva had hoped to pitch this season for triple-A Oklahoma City.

“I felt I was real close to that,” Silva said. “I thought I had proved over the last two seasons that I deserved it. The frustrating thing for me now is to see the guys I played with and against moving up, and I’m not.”

Silva doesn’t have to use a foot brace any longer, but is having therapy. “I hope I’ll be able to start running again in early July,” he said. “I’ve been trying to throw a couple of times a week.”

In the meantime, Silva is watching a lot of major league baseball on television and trying to pick up any tips he can. “I watch every Greg Maddux game I can,” Silva said.

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Another player on the 1995 Fullerton team, catcher Brian Loyd, had some bad luck last season when his right arm was broken when he was hit by a pitch. He missed two months.

Then he was hit in the shoulder by a pitch during spring training and had to miss 2 1/2 weeks.

Loyd, however, is back, and playing well this season for Rancho Cucamonga, the San Diego Padres’ team in the Class A California League.

Loyd believes losing some weight and playing in a winter league in Australia helped him.

“I played last year at 217 pounds, but I didn’t feel right at that weight,” Loyd said. “I’m down to 195, and I’m just trying to stay healthy and keep improving.”

Loyd played three months in an Australian league that allows four American players on each team.

“I needed the at-bats and the innings behind the plate after missing a big part of the season last year,” Loyd said. “It was interesting. It’s an aluminum-bat league, but the four import players use wooden bats.

“I went over there with the mind-set of having some things I wanted to work on, and I did that. I wanted to get more comfortable behind the plate and more comfortable with my swing. I think I did.”

Loyd is batting .348 through 39 games for Rancho Cucamonga.

Loyd is happy to be playing so close to his home in Yorba Linda after being in Clinton, Iowa, the last two seasons.

“It’s about a 30-minute drive from my house,” Loyd said. “That’s been nice.”

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Outfielder Jeremy Giambi, who also played on the 1995 Titan team, is batting .369 after 49 games with the Kansas City Royals’ triple-A team in Omaha. Giambi has four home runs and 18 runs batted in.

Giambi hit .326 in 31 games for Class A Lansing last season, then moved up quickly to double-A Wichita. He hit .321 in 74 games in Wichita and was assigned to Omaha for the start of this season.

“I made a lot of progress last season, and I’ve got a lot of confidence in my swing right now,” Giambi said.

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Lake Elsinore catcher Steve Hagins has been chosen California League batter of the week. He was 13 for 33 (.394) in eight games with five doubles, two home runs, 13 runs batted in and eight runs scored. Hagins, who played for University High and San Diego State, was drafted in the 31st round last year by the Angels. He played last season for the Angels’ rookie league team in Butte, Mont.