Cabrera will be a good influence

At 32, Orlando Cabrera is hardly a grizzled veteran, but next to his fellow infielders this season, the Angels shortstop looks like Old Man Baseball.

Cabrera’s new double-play partner, second baseman Howie Kendrick, is 23, with 72 games of big league experience. The first base candidates -- Casey Kotchman (23) and Kendry Morales (23) -- have a combined 171 games of big league experience. Third baseman Chone Figgins is 29 but has only 3 1/2 years of major league service and has played only 182 games at third.

“His experience, his talent, the way he gets after it, make him a leader out there,” Manager Mike Scioscia said of Cabrera. “With the youth of our infield, we certainly need the influence he can bring.”

The shortstop is considered the captain of most big league infields, and Cabrera takes those responsibilities seriously, but he doesn’t feel burdened by having to shepherd such a young flock.

“It’s a lot of pressure for me, because I have to keep up with those guys,” Cabrera said. “These kids are hungry. They want to win. They want to show the rest of the world they can do it every day. I’m just going to try to keep them focused and let them play the game.”

Among Cabrera’s responsibilities will be to help infielders with positioning, make sure they know the signs and alert them of things they might not notice.

“He understands the subtleties of pinching a runner at second, of positioning himself on a relay to stop a guy from taking an extra base, of playing hitters, of communicating with pitchers,” Scioscia said. “All those things are important.”

So is counseling young players and offering encouragement. The Angels, who committed an American League-high 122 errors last season, must improve defensively this season, and having the proper mental approach would be a good start.

“Orlando’s big thing is, don’t try to make any great plays, just catch the ball,” Figgins said. “When you have someone that good telling you that, you start to see what he does so well, which is catch the ball. Make the routine plays, and the spectacular plays will happen.”

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Scioscia has been pleased this spring with Ervin Santana’s efforts to tighten up his slider. His breaking pitch looked more like a curve last season, and it had a tendency to hang at times. He wants the pitch to have more bite.

“It had a lot of depth and was big last season,” Scioscia said. “That pitch can be effective, but what you really want to do with a slider -- his arm slot is more of a slider than a curve -- is to throw it hard in the zone and either get it down or under a bat. The pitch he was throwing rolled at times and hung a little bit.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com