Angels May Have Real Catch in Rookie Molina

They were teenage teammates in a Mickey Mantle League in Puerto Rico. Ivan Rodriguez was a catcher and third baseman, young Bengie Molina an outfielder.

Now, still friends and neighbors in their homeland, they are holding a weekend reunion behind the plate at Edison Field.

Rodriguez, of course, is the Texas Ranger catcher, baseball’s all-around best, the American League’s reigning most valuable player.

Molina is the 25-year-old Angel rookie who is coming off seven minor league seasons and quietly seems to be filling one of the club’s pivotal trouble spots--but with an eye on Rodriguez and his exalted status among the game’s catchers.

“Pudge, of course, is the best, in a class by himself,” Molina was saying, “but I’m so optimistic, so positive about myself, that with hard work I think I can get to that point.”

For now, it is enough that Molina has plugged a gap in the way that Adam Kennedy has plugged the second base hole.

Although it is too early to determine whether the Angel offense can overcome the team’s problematic and star-crossed pitching, the man who is most often catching the pitchers has been one of the most positive developments for an organization suddenly besieged again by a history of misfortune, as illustrated this week by the sidelining of Kent Mercker, Ken Hill and Gary DiSarcina.

“Bengie has absolutely stepped up and done the things we thought he could do,” said Manager Mike Scioscia, a former catcher delivering praise from Caesar. “The only question was his durability and stamina, but he definitely has the ability to lead a pitching staff to a championship. He’s provided a bigger piece to the puzzle, given us a higher level of confidence.”

No other position has proved more troubling to an organization that has never developed a true standout catcher.

Buck Rodgers and Bob Boone, who had the longest tenures at the position, came from other organizations. Even Molina was something of an afterthought, plagued by injures during a minor league career in which he only once appeared in more than 65 games.

He was recalled last August in a long and lost season only because there was no one else. Todd Greene’s shoulder wasn’t going to allow him to catch regularly, Matt Walbeck seemed better suited to the backup role he had always filled, and the Angels had already gone through Steve Decker, Charlie O’Brien and Bret Hemphill.

Molina batted .257 in 31 games, impressed Angel pitchers with his soft hands and strong arm, and returned to Puerto Rico determined to build up his leg strength, aware that a change in Angel administrations might lead to the acquisition of a proven major league catcher.

“I was kind of afraid they would get someone else, but all I could do was prepare myself to show them in spring training that they didn’t need to do that,” Molina said.

The result: Molina is catching two games to Walbeck’s one, is batting a solid .280 in what is not his or Scioscia’s immediate focus, has tended to shut down the opposition’s running game by throwing out 10 of 21 base stealers, and is being allowed to call his own pitches within a preset plan, which is not to say Scioscia hasn’t bit into him at times.

“I think that’s normal for a young catcher and I don’t mind at all,” Molina said. “I take it in a positive way, that it can only make me better. It’s an honor, a real plus for me, to be able to catch and develop under a manager who was a great catcher himself and who allows me to develop my own feel for the game.”

The relationship between pitcher and catcher is critical. In Atlanta, where Javier Lopez is considered among the game’s best catchers, Greg Maddux has long preferred Eddie Perez. Communication is essential, and often an intangible, but in Molina’s case, pitching coach Bud Black said:

“His personality leads to easy conversation. He listens to his pitchers, but he has his own opinion, and that’s great. He’s also becoming more assertive and willing to ask questions. A lot of young players don’t like you to know they may not have all the answers, but Bengie has enough self-assurance that he wants another opinion.”

Molina’s self-assurance is such that he never gave up on himself during that long and, at times, frustrating minor league tenure. He had basically given up on the game, though, when he wasn’t drafted--Puerto Rican players are governed by the annual June draft of amateur players--having been led to believe he would be one of the top selections after his high school graduation in 1992.

A disappointed Molina tied his spikes to a light pole and prepared to move on--”I figured that nobody wanted me and that I wasn’t going to play anymore”--but his brother, Jose, who is now in the Chicago Cubs’ farm system, attracted the attention of scouts, and Bengie benefited from the fallout. He was ultimately signed as a free agent by then-Angel scout Ray Poitevant after a tryout in borrowed spikes, receiving a token $1,500.

“I wanted to play so badly that I would have signed for $1,” Molina said. “I just needed the opportunity.”

Poitevant and scout George Ortiz handed Molina a catcher’s mitt and pointed him behind the plate. Molina was smart enough to realize the tools of ignorance might hasten his advancement.

“I had never caught before, but I loved the idea,” he said. “People told me that catchers were always in demand. I was just looking for a chance. The money and position didn’t matter.”

It has been a slow, painstaking advancement, but now Molina is following in the footsteps of buddy Rodriguez. Time will tell if he is gaining on the vaunted Texas catcher.