MINOR LEAGUE NOTEBOOK / MIKE DiGIOVANNA : Cron Is Closer to Realizing a Dream

Chris Cron grew up a few miles from Anaheim Stadium, and every time he drove by the place, he would envision himself playing there. But for five minor league seasons, the Big A must have seemed eons away.

The former El Dorado High School and Rancho Santiago College infielder spent five long years at the Class-A level in the Atlanta Brave and Angel organizations without even a taste of double-A ball.

“When I first started, I said I’d hang ‘em up if I didn’t make it after four years,” said Cron, who was released by the Braves after hitting .208 at Durham in 1986. “That’s come and gone.”

But Cron hasn’t. He has stuck with baseball, and his perseverance has paid off. The first baseman signed as a free agent with the Angels in 1987 and, after two Class-A seasons, was finally promoted to the Angels’ double-A team at Midland, Tex., where he hit .301 with 22 home runs and 103 RBIs in 1989.

He spent the entire 1990 season at triple-A Edmonton, batting .287 with 17 homers and 75 RBIs, and he’s having another fine season in 1991 after a slow start. Cron was batting .239 in mid-May until a two-week, 20-for-51 streak raised his average to .287.

He’s now hitting .271 with eight homers and 38 RBIs and has been playing first base regularly, despite the presence of Lee Stevens, who played 21 games at first for the Angels last season but is in the outfield at Edmonton.

Cron, 27, might be playing in Canada, but Anaheim Stadium no longer seems so far away.

“The dream is getting closer,” Cron said.

It would be a lot closer if Wally Joyner, the Angels’ first baseman, was a little further away. Joyner is eligible to become a free agent after this season, and Cron hopes he tests the market.

“I need to get to the big leagues somehow and if he’s here, there isn’t that opening,” Cron said. “Stevens might still get promoted ahead of me, but there’s also 26 other teams I could play for.”

If he does make the big leagues, Cron will know his decision to stay in the game was a good one.

“Five years in Class-A makes you appreciate what you’ve worked for now,” he said. “I stayed because I love the game so much. My wife has stuck by me through thick and thin, so I’ve got to give her a lot of credit.”

Former Cal State Fullerton pitcher Huck Flenor doesn’t seem to have the stuff of which great short relievers are made.

A finesse pitcher and starter in college, the left-hander has an average fastball, a good curve and changeup, but he doesn’t possess that great split-fingered fastball or slider, the kinds of out pitches many major league closers rely on.

But Flenor, modest repertoire and all, has done extremely well in his new short-relief role for the Toronto Blue Jays’ Class-A team at Myrtle Beach, S.C.

In 20 appearances, Flenor is 4-0 with a 0.50 earned-run average and four saves. He has struck out 52, walked only 18 and allowed 22 hits in 35 2/3 innings.

“I didn’t expect to be a closer, but who knows, maybe that’s the way I can make it,” said Flenor, who went 8-1 with a 3.80 ERA for the Titans in 1990. “There’s always a need for left-handed relievers.”

When Flenor arrived at St. Catherines last season, the team had an abundance of starters, so he spent most of the season pitching long relief. He began 1991 in that role but was quickly moved to short relief.

“I don’t have overpowering stuff, but I throw a little harder now because I don’t have to last as long,” Flenor said. “I like the competition of closing, coming in with the game on the line.”

He wears a Bakersfield Dodgers uniform, but Rex Peters, former Cal State Fullerton and Orange Coast College first baseman, is not really playing for the Bakersfield Dodgers.

He’s playing for every other organization, hoping to catch the eye of a scout or coach from a team that might be interested in him after this season, his third in the minor leagues.

Peters, who at 25 is the oldest player on his team, doesn’t see many career advancement opportunities with the Dodgers. Two highly regarded first-base prospects--Eric Karros at triple-A Albuquerque and Brian Traxler at double-A San Antonio--are ahead of him.

And the only reason Peters is playing first base at Bakersfield this season is that Mike Busch, a former fourth-round draft pick from Iowa State, has had back problems.

But Peters, who is eligible for the minor league draft after the season, hopes others have taken note of his California League-leading .328 average. He hasn’t homered this season, but Peters does have 10 doubles, three triples and 38 RBIs in 52 games.

“I’m just trying to showcase my skills, because I know with Karros, Traxler and Busch, there’s going to be a logjam at first base,” Peters said. “Hopefully, I’ll put up some good numbers, someone else will see that and take a chance on me. I’m in the wrong organization at the wrong time.”

After batting only .190 in April, former Westminster High School standout Ryan Klesko went on a 19-for-48 tear during the first half of May and is now batting .289 with six home runs and 29 RBIs for Greenville, S.C., the Atlanta Braves’ double-A team.

In consecutive games against Chattanooga last month, the 19-year-old first baseman, considered one of the Braves’ top minor league prospects, just missed batting for the cycle, collecting a double, triple and home run one night and a single, double and triple the next.

“The first couple of weeks of the season I was too anxious,” Klesko told Baseball America. “I was trying to jack everything out of the park. In double-A, the pitchers are not going to give that to you.

“Everything is starting to go good now. I’ve been working on hitting the ball to left field more than usual, and I haven’t been trying to pull everything.”