Napoli gets extra swings so he can find his groove

While the Angels were beating the Chicago Cubs, 3-2, in an exhibition Sunday, catcher Mike Napoli remained in camp to get 15 or so at-bats shuttling between triple-A and double-A games.

“He’s a guy whose swing doesn’t feel the same every day,” batting instructor Mickey Hatcher said. “I want him to find something mechanically he can be consistent with, a hand slot he feels comfortable with, so he can simplify his swing, trust it and repeat it. When he starts thinking about mechanics, he really goes bad.”

That was evident last season, when Napoli, after his May 4 recall from triple-A, hit .286 with 11 home runs and 27 runs batted in before the All-Star Game and .164 with five homers and 15 RBIs after it.

“I guess I hit a tail-spin, and it got out of hand,” said Napoli, who is batting .407 in 11 games this spring. “I had a game plan, they found my holes, and I went through a pretty rough slump. I’m going to learn from that.”

The biggest lessons?

“Don’t waste at-bats, make adjustments, don’t get away from the things I do, like use the whole field,” Napoli said. “Be disciplined, go up there with a plan, know what the pitchers are trying to do to me, and instead of worrying about struggling, that I’ve got to do this or that, just have fun.”

Though he finished with a .228 average in 2006, Napoli, who lost 15 pounds over the winter, still had a .360 on-base percentage, thanks to his 51 walks in 268 at-bats.

“He’s not going to be a .300 hitter,” Hatcher said, “but if we get the walks and the home runs out of him, he’s going to be great.”

Tightening up

Ervin Santana, who has been working this spring to tighten up his slider, threw 6 1/3 superb innings Sunday, giving up one run and four hits, striking out four and walking one, his only blemish a grooved 2-and-0 fastball that Cliff Floyd belted for a solo home run in the fifth.

“The slider is getting better,” Santana said. “There’s a later break, so the hitters think it’s a fastball. I’m more confident with it.”

Kendry Morales capped a three-run seventh with a two-run homer off Cubs reliever Kerry Wood, and reliever Justin Speier, after walking Floyd with the bases loaded in the eighth, got out of the jam by getting Daryle Ward to bounce into a 3-6-1, inning-ending double play.

Second baseman Howie Kendrick, who missed three games because of a tight left groin, made two outstanding plays, charging and bare-handing Ronny Cedeno’s fourth-inning grounder and throwing to first for the out and knocking down Matt Murton’s one-hop smash in the fifth to start a 4-6-3 double play.

Pitching in

Kelvim Escobar’s aborted start Saturday -- he left in the third inning because of a lower-back strain -- has forced Angels Manager Mike Scioscia to alter pitching plans for the final week of spring.

Escobar, originally scheduled to start the Freeway Series opener against the Dodgers on Thursday night, will remain in Arizona to start a minor league game that day, with a target of 90 pitches.

Hector Carrasco will start Thursday, with Santana and Joe Saunders following in the Freeway Series rotation. Dustin Moseley, the likely No. 5 starter, will pitch in a minor league game in Arizona on Sunday’s off day.

Rehabilitating right-handers Jered Weaver (shoulder tightness) and Bartolo Colon (rotator-cuff tear) will start minor league games Tuesday, with Weaver throwing 45 pitches and Colon 30. Barring setbacks, the two will pitch again Sunday.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com