Getting Their Props in Arizona Desert

The airplanes would be a difference.

Pitcher Chris Bootcheck, one of the Angels’ two first-round picks in the June draft, looked sharp. He whipped pitches by batters and gave up weak grounders. He thoroughly dominated, giving up two hits in three innings of work.

Later this week, such a pitching demonstration at Shea Stadium, where jets roar overhead, would bring ooohs and aaahs, as the center of the baseball universe is in New York for the World Series.

Where Bootcheck is, by comparison, is Pluto. Prop planes buzz Mesa’s Gene Autry Park while he works.

“It’s easy to play under the lights in New York this week,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia told the 40 players the team sent to Arizona. “But when it’s 100 degrees out here and you’re getting beat 9-0, that’s when we’re going to learn what kind of players we have.”

That is why Bootcheck and others are playing in the Arizona Instructional League, where teams send their top prospects each fall. Of the 40 players the Angels sent to Mesa, 23 were selected in the last two drafts, considered by some experts to be two of the organization’s better drafts.

Pitcher Joe Torres, the team’s first pick in June, and Bootcheck, a first-round compensation pick, are here. So is pitcher John Lackey, the Angels’ No. 1 pick in 1999.

Others include promising free agents, such as Francisco Rodriguez, an 18-year-old pitcher the Angels signed for $900,000 in 1998, and Johan Santana, a 16-year-old pitcher they signed for $700,000 in September.

“This is a whole different level,” said Bootcheck, a 21-year-old right-hander from Auburn University. “Right now, they are limiting us. We’re only allowed to throw two pitches, the fastball and changeup. Everything is back to the basics. It’s a learning process.”

You have to be able to handle the prop plane before flying jets.

“You have to start at Step 1,” said Torres, who graduated from Kissimmee (Fla.) Gateway High School in June.

Bootcheck and Torres are examples of the Angels’ draft strategy. In June, seven of their first 10 picks were pitchers. Last year, their first seven picks were pitchers, including Lackey, who advanced from Cedar Rapids, a low Class-A team, to double-A Erie last summer.

The Angels already have a core of young pitchers in the major leagues. In this area, however, gluttony is no sin.

“It is so hard to get pitchers in other ways,” Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman said. “You have to give up something in a trade and if you try to acquire them after they become major league free agents, the dollars become sometimes prohibitive.”

Torres and Bootcheck didn’t come cheap. Torres signed for $2.08 million within two weeks of the June 5 draft. Bootcheck, after drawn-out negotiations, signed for $1.8 million in September.

“It was tough taking some time off and then jumping right back into it,” said Bootcheck, who was 9-2 with a 3.76 earned-run average at Auburn last season. “I was anxious to get started and start progressing.”

Bootcheck, who is 6 feet 5 and 205 pounds, was the 20th player taken in the draft. The Angels received the pick as compensation for the Oakland Athletics signing free-agent pitcher Mike Magnante.

Bootcheck can already effectively throw four pitches: fastball, curve, changeup and cut fastball.

He gave up only two hits and struck out four in three innings Wednesday against a team of Seattle Mariner prospects.

“If you profile what you want in a major league pitcher, you’ll have Chris,” Auburn Coach Hal Baird said.

Baird said he cannot recall one game that Bo Jackson or Frank Thomas played at Auburn, but a Bootcheck moment remains etched in his mind.

“He just absolutely dominated LSU,” Baird said.

Last season, Bootcheck took a one-hit shutout through eight innings against the Tigers, who went on to win the College World Series. He gave up a run on a bloop double in the ninth inning and settled for a 7-1 victory.

“That was the first time I ever pitched that well and was disappointed after I was done,” Bootcheck said. “LSU had 23 hits the night before and we used a lot of our bullpen. I just wanted to go as long as possible and ended up going nine.”

Bootcheck was 25-10 with a 4.73 ERA in three seasons at Auburn. He had 270 strikeouts in 304 1/3 innings.

“He was a very polished college pitcher,” said Donny Rowland, the Angels’ director of scouting.

The ceiling may be even higher on Torres, who turned 18 on Sept. 3. He was the 10th player selected in the draft.

Torres, whose fastball has been clocked at 95 mph, had a so-so 4-4 record at Gateway, but he had a 0.38 ERA.

“He didn’t get a lot of run support last season,” Gateway Coach Dave Ridenour said. “He gave up one earned run in his first four starts and was 0-4. If he was going to win, he was going to have to shut the other team out.”

So, to be on the safe side, he tried not to let batters even touch the ball. Of the 165 outs he recorded last season, 128 were strikeouts.

“There was one game where he walked the first three batters,” Ridenour said. “Something just clicked and he struck out the next three.

“Joe developed quite a reputation when he was a kid. Everyone knew him. Once he got on the mound, people couldn’t forget him.”

Torres was so impressive the Angels sent him to Class-A Boise in the Northwest league, whose teams feature mostly players fresh out of college.

“We made that decision before we signed him,” Stoneman said. “So much of development of the players is mental development. You develop a guy’s confidence like you develop his curveball. We felt he was a guy who could handle it.”

He did, beyond even the Angels’ expectations.

“The first game I pitched in was, truthfully, the first time I have ever felt nervous in a game,” said Torres, who is 6-2, 175 pounds. “I looked at those guys and thought, ‘They are a little bigger than what I’m used to.’ I gave up a hit to the first batter. After that, everything went smoothly.”

Like velvet. Torres, the league’s youngest player, was 4-1 with a 2.54 ERA in 11 games, 10 of which he started. He had 52 strikeouts in 46 innings.

Torres struck out 13 batters in six innings in his last start. Baseball America named him the third-best prospect in the Northwest League, and Boise Manager Tom Kotchman, who also scouted and signed Torres, has compared him to former major leaguer John Candelaria.

“He showed us we were right,” Stoneman said. “We’re not always right, but if you’re right often enough, you’re going to be pretty good.”

How often the Angels have been right the last two years remains to be seen.

“If you have five or six players make the major league team and stick, that’s a pretty good draft,” Rowland said. “Some drafts, you get only one or two.”

The Angels, at least according to projections, may be among the upper-echelon teams when it comes to the 2000 draft.

Relief pitcher Charlie Thames, a fourth-round pick out of the University of Texas, was named the seventh-best prospect in the Northwest League. Shortstop Tom Murphy, a third-round pick, was named the 20th-best prospect in the Northwest League. Catcher Jared Abruzzo, a second-round pick out of Lakeside (Calif.) El Capitan High School, was named the fifth-best prospect in the Pioneer League.

And the club didn’t do too badly in 1999, when its draft selections were headlined by Lackey, who was a combined 15-9 with a 3.15 ERA and 167 strikeouts in 188 1/3 innings for Cedar Rapids, Lake Elsinore and Erie.

“Our last two drafts have been significant,” said Darrell Miller, the Angels’ director of player development. “Last year, it was deep in pitching. This year, it was deep in pitching, infielders and catchers. It’s an exciting time.”

Of course, potential is no guarantee.

Catcher John Orton was the club’s top prospect in 1990. He played in 140 games for the Angels from 1990-94, but is now a coach in the organization.

“I’ve gone into this with no expectations,” Bootcheck said. “If I pitch like I know I can, I know it will be a quick progress.”

Like from props to jets.