He’s Making the Most of Every Development

For an 18-year-old high school senior with lots of friends, Junior Garcia faced a tough decision last weekend. He could join his buddies and attend a junior college baseball game or take his 10-year-old sister to watch “The Lizzie McGuire Movie.”

Garcia didn’t hesitate.

“I have to look out for my sister,” he said. “I don’t want her to go through any negative stuff.”

Garcia, a four-year starting pitcher at Lake Balboa Birmingham High, could write an essay on what it’s like to be recognized as a childhood star, then suddenly plummet and become the bad boy.

As a 12-year-old, he was the Danny Almonte of his era in Little League. He was 5 feet 11 and threw the ball harder and hit it farther than most. He seemed capable of leading Woodland Hills to the 1997 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

But he was removed from the team during the playoffs after opposing parents alleged he didn’t live within Woodland Hills’ boundaries. It was an ugly, highly publicized feud that inspired parents to search through garbage for incriminating evidence at the Garcia home in Van Nuys. The family also had an apartment in Canoga Park.

It finally ended with a judge refusing to let him back in the playoffs.

“It brought me anger,” Garcia said. “It got to the point [baseball] wasn’t fun.”

Garcia went from a reputation as a Little League phenom to a Little League punk.

When he entered high school, those who knew of him only from reading about him in the newspaper were surprised to find a mature, well-mannered, respectful teenager. And his good boy image has gotten only stronger.

“If I needed a baby-sitter, he’d be the first one I’d call,” pitching coach Scott Drootin said.

Said Coach Rick Weber: “If someone makes an error, he’s the first one picking them up.”

Garcia has won 26 games as a pitcher in high school, and this season has been his best despite a strange phenomenon.

Usually, pitchers throw harder each year of high school. This season, Garcia lost 5 mph on his fastball after he switched to a sidearm delivery because of pain in his back. But it has made him a more effective right-hander because of the increased ball movement. He’s 7-3 with a 1.76 earned-run average.

“I was real surprised,” he said. “I thought losing velocity on my fastball would affect me, but the movement has been incredible. I thought people would sit on my fastball. It’s all ground balls and fly balls.

“I think it’s all mental. Last year, I was hard-headed. I was stubborn and wanted to blow it by people.

“This year, I’m hitting my spots, throwing junk for strikes, being smarter and growing

up.”

Garcia, who is 6 feet 2, 180 pounds and was born in Mexico, hasn’t changed much physically since his Little League days. He has a goatee and continues to look older than he is. He had a mustache when he was 11, which fueled rumors about his age.

“It was funny,” he said. “It helped me with the girls in the snack bar. They thought I was older. I knew the truth. To this day, they make fun of me in the dugout about my age.”

Garcia insists he’s the same person today that he was as a 12-year-old, except people around Birmingham have seen him up close.

“It’s the same old me, but people see me as the good me not the bad me,” he said.

He misses those times from Little League when everyone knew he was the player to fear most.

“Those were crazy times,” he said. “I wish I could go back.”

Soon, he’ll graduate, then go off to college. He wants to become a teacher and coach. He loves algebra, speaks Spanish and English and has enjoyed his high school years.

“I’ve met a lot of great people,” he said.

He’s the ace on a Birmingham team that’s in third place behind Chatsworth, which is favored to win the City title, and El Camino Real in the West Valley League. He didn’t get to go to Williamsport, but a trip to the section finals at Dodger Stadium would suit him fine.

“Dodger Stadium over Williamsport, that’s no consolation,” he said.

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Ed Gunny, baseball coach at Woodland Hills Taft for three seasons, won’t be returning to the position next season but will remain a teacher at the school.

He said he has been removed because of parent complaints and his failure to attract the school’s top athletes to his program. Principal Myra Fullerton said the reason is because she hasn’t seen enough improvement in the program. Taft is 5-17 this season.

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There are still people who can’t believe Jason Gluson is 10-0 with a 2.26 earned-run average for North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake because his fastball hardly looks fast. But he has the Wolverines (15-5, 6-3) tied for first place in the Mission League with three games to play.

“He throws strikes to get ahead, then pitches that have the appearance of strikes,” Coach Tim Cunningham said. “He has command of the strike zone.”

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In his first season of varsity baseball, sophomore third baseman Cody Decker of Santa Monica is batting .514 with 12 home runs. He’s 5-11, 210 pounds and has lost 25 pounds since he was a freshman.

Better eating habits and increased strength have helped him become a big home-run threat.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.