Angels Go Through Growing Pains

Maybe they succumbed to the pressure of having to immediately produce for a pennant-contending team, or the expectations of a more enlightened and demanding fan base that, thanks to the Internet, knows much more about top prospects today but tends to believe minor league success guarantees big-league stardom.

Maybe, as with first baseman Casey Kotchman, the effects of mononucleosis were too much to overcome, or maybe, just maybe, Kotchman, third baseman Dallas McPherson and catcher Jeff Mathis simply weren’t ready.

No matter the reasons for their struggles in their first extended stint as big league starters, the Angels and their fans are left to ponder: Does a shaky first act mean the entire play will flop?

Not necessarily, say Angels veterans who have walked similar paths.

“I had some success after I first got called up” in June of 1996 “and then, after teams had seen me a few times, I got it handed to me. I remember getting literally eaten alive,” Angels outfielder Darin Erstad said, referring to a four-for-46 slump that got him demoted to triple-A Vancouver that year.

“Every player is going to scuffle. It’s part of the process, and you have to learn to deal with adversity. Those guys are here for a reason -- they’re great players -- but how you handle it mentally determines how you come out of it.”

In Erstad’s case, the top pick in the 1995 draft returned to the minors, “took a deep breath, ironed some things out, came back here, watched for a month, and saw how guys handled themselves,” he said. By 1997, Erstad was an Angels regular, and he has been a starter ever since. If not for his early struggles, Erstad wonders how long he would have lasted.

“That was one of the most valuable experiences of my career, to bounce back from that,” Erstad said. “As crazy as it sounds, failure is one of the best teachers. You can fail in the minor leagues, but until you fail here, with the fans and the media and all the attention ... you just have to go through it.”

How Kotchman, Mathis and McPherson respond could determine whether they’ll have productive major league careers.

Kotchman, touted as a potential middle-of-the-order bat and Gold Glove defender, was batting .152 with one home run and six runs batted in before going on the disabled list because of a viral syndrome on May 9.

Mathis, the heir apparent to catcher Bengie Molina, was hitting .103 with one homer and two RBIs and struggling defensively when he was demoted to triple-A Salt Lake on May 3. And McPherson, considered a worthy replacement for Troy Glaus after hitting 40 minor-league homers in 2004, missed most of 2005 because of injuries and was struggling to regain his stroke at Salt Lake (.235, 49 strikeouts in 102 at-bats) before being recalled last week.

“These guys are very talented, but when you’re young, you might try to do too much, and that’s when things come harder,” said Angels pitcher Kelvin Escobar, who was optioned to triple A during his second season (1998) in Toronto before gaining a foothold in the big leagues. “You have to let your abilities play for you.”

That’s not easy when you’re replacing productive and popular big league veterans on a team with World Series aspirations.

It wasn’t always this way. In the 1990s, a stream of young players such as Gary DiSarcina, Tim Salmon, Jim Edmonds, Troy Percival and Garret Anderson arrived with little fanfare, and all of them excelled, with only a few minor glitches.

“There’s no doubt that when I came up the team was in a rebuilding phase and they were committed to giving a whole host of young players an opportunity,” said Salmon, now a 37-year-old designated hitter. “Now, we’ve got that next good crop of young minor league talent, but they’re being brought up in a situation that’s different.

“This team is expected to go places, and it’s a little different than when we came up. They threw us out there and said, ‘Get your feet wet, learn how to play this game and try to let that talent that you showed in the minor leagues show up here.’ These young guys don’t necessarily have that luxury to the extent we did, so it’s tougher.”

Mathis is beginning to rebound at Salt Lake, with a .317 average, 10-game hitting streak and consistent play on defense, and McPherson has three hits in eight at-bats since striking out three times in his first game back last Tuesday.

Kotchman, because of his illness, is a little more of a mystery, but he did bat .278 with seven homers and 22 RBIs in 126 at-bats last season, “and young guys like that don’t just lose their skills,” General Manager Bill Stoneman said. “I’m not ready to give up on him.”

The proliferation of websites devoted to minor leaguers, agents comparing top picks to big league stars in an effort to drive up signing bonuses and minor leaguers constantly mentioned in trade rumors have fueled the hype, adding to the pressure and expectations.

Fans sometimes forget that the final jump, from triple A to the big leagues, “is a big one,” Stoneman said.

“This is the best of the best,” he said. “In triple A, you’ll face some journeymen, some soon-to-be major leaguers, but you’re not going to have proven stars there. They wouldn’t be at triple A.”

Stoneman hasn’t lost confidence in Kotchman, Mathis and McPherson, nor has he lost faith in his philosophy of clearing spots for deserving minor leaguers -- he let proven players go to create jobs for Francisco Rodriguez, Ervin Santana and Chone Figgins, and those moves paid dividends.

“All of us who have been major league players have struggled, usually when we first broke through,” Stoneman said. “I think they’re going to be better for it.”

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Times staff writer Ben Bolch contributed to this report.