KIDDIE CORNER

Baseball is filled with sad tales of highly touted prospects who didn’t amount to much in the big leagues.

Gary Scott was supposed to be the next Ron Santo when the Chicago Cubs gave him the third base job in 1991. He hit .165 in 31 games that season and .156 in 36 games in 1992 before fading into the minor leagues.

Outfielder Clint Hurdle was the ninth pick in the 1975 draft and made the cover of Sports Illustrated as a youngster but spent his career bouncing between triple A and the major leagues, batting .259 with 32 home runs and 193 runs batted in in 515 big league games over 10 seasons.

Then there are the budding superstars who stumble out of the blocks but quickly find their stride. First baseman Bill Buckner was demoted to triple-A Spokane after batting .191 in his first 28 games for the Dodgers in 1970 but rebounded to have a very fruitful career--save for one infamous ground ball through his legs--batting .289 over 22 seasons.

There was a kid center fielder in New York who was billed as the next Joe DiMaggio but struggled with a .267 average and 13 homers as a rookie in 1951. Same guy finished with a career .298 average and 536 homers in 18 years and is now in the Hall of Fame. His name: Mickey Mantle.

Which way will Troy Glaus go? Will this 6-foot-5, 225-pound hulk of a 22-year-old recover from his awful 1998 half-season, when he hit .218 with one homer and 51 strikeouts in 48 games, and become the phenom the Angels expect? Or will he succumb to the pressure and become the next Gary Scott?

It will take a year or two, probably more, for a definitive answer, but the first clues will come beginning next week, when Glaus, who some think has the potential to hit 30-35 home runs a year, opens the season as the Angels’ undisputed third baseman.

“It was a humbling experience for him last year, and that’s good,” Angel batting instructor Rod Carew said of Glaus, who hit 35 homers in 109 minor league games in 1998 after being picked third in the 1997 draft.

“It makes you take a second look at yourself. You think, ‘Maybe I’m not as good as I think I am. Maybe I need to work a little harder.’ These kids shouldn’t get too comfortable. It’s good for them to look over their shoulder a bit.”

For a week in late March, Glaus looked over his shoulder and saw Dave Hollins gaining fast. Hollins had two homers and six RBIs in an exhibition game, his throwing arm looked good after last summer’s rotator-cuff surgery, his strained hamstring no longer was bothering him and he seemed poised to reclaim the third base job Glaus appeared to have won with a torrid spring.

Then Hollins disappeared. He was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday, leaving Glaus alone, both at the hot corner and on the hot seat.

“It definitely eases some of the stress,” Glaus said. “I can just concentrate on playing and not all the other stuff. I’m excited. I’ve been given an opportunity to start, and that’s what everyone wants.”

Glaus had the same opportunity after a July 30 call-up last summer and flopped. After driving a double to right field for his first big league hit in his first game, Glaus got into this terrible habit of overswinging and trying to pull everything.

With a six-for-43 slump, his average plummeted from .318 to .197 in mid-August, and he never recovered. Glaus seemed to out-think himself at times, letting a fastball down the middle of the plate go by and flailing away at a slider in the dirt. He seemed overwhelmed by all the advice he was getting.

Glaus, to his credit, remained steady in the field, giving the Angels a comfort they never felt with the erratic-throwing Hollins. But he was just another offensive void on a team that was in dire need of some punch in the pennant race, batting .176 in September.

“I think he was trying to do too much because he was so highly touted,” Carew said. “He overdid it, got himself into a rut, had some mental breakdowns and couldn’t rebound.”

Until October. That’s when the healing began; when Carew and third base coach Larry Bowa gave Glaus what amounted to a crash course on big league baseball during a two-week instructional league session in Arizona.

Carew and Bowa worked with Glaus on the mental approach to hitting, what pitches to look for and when, and Carew showed Glaus how to shorten his swing and use the whole field.

“We went back to basics--taking the right approach, getting the right pitch to hit, and then having enough confidence to do it,” Glaus said. “They gave me something to build on.”

Glaus also hit the weight room harder than he ever had, and the extra strength, along with a more effective approach, was evident this spring.

Glaus has been driving extra-base hits, including a home run, to the opposite field, and he was much more effective on two-strike counts, simply trying to put the ball in play. He hit .117 with two strikes last season but had several two-strike hits this spring.

Entering tonight’s Freeway Series game against the Dodgers in Edison Field, Glaus is batting .385 with three homers and a team-high 18 RBIs, and he has more walks (six) than strikeouts (five).

“We think Troy has made some real adjustments in his swing,” Manager Terry Collins said. “He’ll go through some tough times, but we think he’s going to produce some runs too.”

How Glaus responds to those tough times will determine just how far he has come since last season.

“Very few guys come to the big leagues and light it up,” said Angel first baseman Mo Vaughn, who was demoted to triple-A Pawtucket after struggling in his first month and a half with the Red Sox in 1992.

“Getting humbled is part of the process. You have to understand that you get better in this game over time. There’s a lot of pressure to come up and play great, but that takes years, and that’s how Troy has to think.”

****

Troy Glaus

SPRING STATS

AVG: 385

HR: 3

RBI: 18

DODGERS AT ANGELS at Edison Field, 7 tonight, Ch. 52

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Troy Glaus Facts

The Tarzana native was selected by the Angels in the first round (third overall) of the free-agent draft in 1997. He was originally selected by San Diego in 1994 (second round) but did not sign:

* Height: 6 feet 5.

* Weight: 225 pounds.

* College: UCLA.

* Olympics: Was a member of the 1996 U.S. team.

* Last year: In 48 games with the Angels, batted .218 with 36 hits, nine doubles, one home run and 23 RBIs.