These Two Get a Future Shock

Didn’t you used to be . . .

Justin Baughman? Trent Durrington?

Not long ago, and at separate times, they were the Angels’ second basemen of the future. Baughman and Durrington were competing for the second-base job in spring when the Angels acquired 24-year-old Adam Kennedy from St. Louis.

Baughman, 25, seemed to fill the Angels’ needs after being called up in 1998. His speed was evident and he hit .255 in 63 games. But that winter, he suffered a broken leg while playing in the Mexican League and missed all of last season.

Now he is hitting .228 with double-A Erie as of Saturday.

The 24-year-old Durrington, who is from Australia, also had Angel officials drooling over his speed. That, though, was tempered by the hole in his swing. Durrington made the jump from Erie to Anaheim last season, but hit .180 in 43 games, striking out 28 times in 122 at-bats.

He is hitting .222 and his 16 strikeouts tie him for the team lead with triple-A Edmonton as of Saturday.

Pitcher John Lackey’s future seems to be brighter. He is ranked the organization’s 15th-best prospect by Baseball America magazine, but his stock is rising.

Lackey went 3-2 with a 2.08 earned-run average with Class-A Cedar Rapids, then was promoted to Class-A Lake Elsinore. He went 7 2/3 innings, giving up three runs, in his first start, which he lost. But he struck out nine and walked one.