The Midland Masher

By CHRIS FOSTER

May 27, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

MIDLAND, Texas —

Troy Glaus’ swing was sweet and vicious. The ball seemed to float over the 398-foot sign atop the 20-foot center-field fence at Midland’s Christensen Stadium. Then it disappeared into the Texas night.

A monstrous home run from the minor leagues’ top home run hitter--he had 19 through Monday--but not a person in the press box raised an eyebrow.

“You should have seen the one he hit onto the Loop,” said Ted Battles, retired sports editor of the Midland Reporter Telegram, as he pointed to the highway beyond the left-field fence.

“How ‘bout the time he hit the lights,” said official scorer Bobby Dunn, motioning to the 120-foot light pole in left field.

Glaus hit the lights?

Naturally.

Why shouldn’t there be a little Hollywood on these dusty Texas plains, especially with this guy here to play the lead. Glaus, after all, is 6 feet 5, 225 pounds, with good looks and a straightforward personality, and he hits baseballs a long, long way. It’s almost typecasting.

Heck, after hitting the lights, even his teammates started calling him “Hobbs,” as in Roy Hobbs, the fictional character in “The Natural.”

Glaus is a mere mortal, even if pitchers around the double-A Texas League aren’t quite convinced. Every home run he hits lands in Anaheim, where Angel officials are eagerly watching their first-round pick--third overall--from last June.

They waited a year for this, as contract negotiations cost Glaus the summer and the Angels $2.25 million. No one, at this point, feels cheated.

A year ago, Glaus was playing at UCLA. A year from now, who knows?

“As far as the ins and outs of playing, I felt I was ready to play [professionally],” Glaus said. “I didn’t know how playing every day would treat me or how I would handle it. It’s the same game, it really is. The only difference is we swing wood bats instead of aluminum ones.”

That change has affected many former college players. Their fly balls, which once cleared fences, are caught on warning tracks. But Glaus, 21, has suffered no such power failure.

He has a .707 slugging percentage and has driven in 51 runs. Such hitting already has caused speculation about the future of some current Angel players. There is talk about how soon Glaus will be moved up to triple-A Vancouver or even--dare one say?--the Angels.

Next year? Next month?

“The people doing the talking aren’t the ones making the decisions,” Glaus said. “It’s nice to get publicity, but I have to stand back and take it in that light. All I can do is put up numbers and try to convince the Angels that I need to move up.”

Said Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi: “We don’t make those decisions, the players make those decisions. He seems to be making one.”

Glaus began the season with a 12-game hitting streak. He had seven home runs in his first six games and is currently batting .315.

His fielding hasn’t been as inspiring. Glaus, mainly a shortstop at UCLA, is adjusting to third base.

In a game May 11, he charged a chopper and rifled a perfect throw to first base. The next day, he threw away a ball on a play not nearly as difficult. He has 11 errors.

“A lot of people can make spectacular plays, but if you mess up the normal play, it doesn’t matter how great the spectacular one is,” Glaus said.

Such wisdom is due, in part, to former Angel third baseman Doug DeCinces, who represented Glaus in last summer’s negotiations. At UCLA, Glaus played with Tim DeCinces, now a catcher in the Baltimore organization.

Doug DeCinces has been Glaus’ mentor, almost a guru really. Glaus called DeCinces on the golf course one day to ask advice. Think Glaus was having a tough day? DeCinces was looking for his ball in the rough at the time. Still, he took the time to continue Glaus’ education on the day-in, day-out grind.

“If you start getting too low, and you start beating yourself up, then it’s just going to get you lower,” Glaus said. “You want the highs as high as possible and keep them going as long as possible. The game doesn’t allow you to get hot for the whole season.”

Glaus seems to be challenging that theory.

His fast start followed a spring training with the Angels in which he hit .423 with four home runs and 11 RBIs. It was a chance for Glaus to measure himself against major league players. He left impressed and left an impression.

Said Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina: “He must be a man among boys right now.”

Glaus played in Venezuela last winter, making up for the playing time he lost last summer. He battled stomach ailments--caused, he said, by the food--as much as the pitchers.

He lost 25 pounds and hit .233 with two home runs.

“Troy is not a surprise, but last year at this time he was at the College World Series,” Bavasi said. “I think to jump from that to [Arizona] instructional league to pro ball in Venezuela to double A is fast.”

In Venezuela, Glaus also saw how quickly the fall can be. In his first game, he faced pitcher Todd Van Poppel, the Oakland A’s first-round pick in 1990. Van Poppel--now with triple-A Oklahoma City--signed out of high school and was compared to Nolan Ryan, but has bounced around baseball.

Glaus lined a single off him in his first at-bat.

The difference between the two was Glaus’ college baseball education.

The San Diego Padres picked Glaus as the 37th player overall after his senior year at Carlsbad High. Glaus, though, decided he wasn’t ready and went to UCLA.

“I was 17 years old and had never been away from home,” Glaus said. “If I had signed, who knows where I would be right now. I might be on the same track, or I may have become another statistic, one of those guys who didn’t make it.”

At UCLA, Glaus had the defining moment in his career. It wasn’t when he hit a ball. It was when a ball hit him. As a sophomore, he was knocked out after being hit in the head by a pitch from Arizona State’s Ryan Bradley.

The incident began a feud between the Bruins and the Sun Devils, and Bradley hit Glaus again the next time they faced each other.

“That kid never got Troy out again,” UCLA Coach Gary Adams said. “Troy just changed after that. It was like he went from a colt to a stallion. Nobody could get him out.”

Glaus set the Pacific 10 Conference record with 62 home runs in his career. He also broke Mark McGwire’s single-season record with 34 as a junior in 1997.

“After I got hit, I definitely appreciated what was going on out there more,” Glaus said. “A little thing like that could end your career pretty quick. Also, I was expected to come out and produce. I had to be that much tougher to overcome the fear, and there was some fear.”

The only ones afraid these days are Texas League pitchers.

“I’m surprised no one has pinned his ears back yet,” Bavasi said. “We’ll watch when the first adversity strikes, his first slump. We’ll watch how he handles it.”

There have been those off days, such as when Glaus struck out four times two weeks ago. The next day, he had three hits, including a home run.

Still, Glaus had only one home run--No. 19--on Midland’s recent 12-day trip. Call it a slump.

But, then, even Roy Hobbs had to fight through adversity, meandering for years before getting to the major leagues. That, Glaus said, will not be his reality.

“The ‘Hobbs’ stuff is all in good fun,” Glaus said. “But I don’t want to take that long to get there.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Big-Time Numbers

A look at how Troy Glaus has fared for Midland in the double-A Texas League this season: *--*

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG SLG% OB% 49 184 51 58 11 2 19 51 39 40 .315 .707 .438

*--*

WHERE HE RANKS AMONG LEAGUE LEADERS

Average: 16th

Home runs: 1st

Runs batted in: 1st

On-base percentage: 3rd

Slugging percentage: 1st