With On-the-Job Training, Lofton’s a Steal : Baseball: Cleveland’s rookie center fielder leads the American League in stolen bases, although he’s still learning the fundamentals.

ANAHEIM —  In 1989, Kenny Lofton finished the season with 67 steals.

For the University of Arizona basketball team.

Three years later, the rookie center fielder already has 23 steals for the Cleveland Indians this season. That puts him one stolen base ahead of Rickey Henderson in the American League and one stolen base behind Montreal’s Marquis Grissom for the major league lead.

And he’s only learning.

“Everybody wants to compare him to Rickey Henderson,” said Cleveland first base coach Dave Nelson. “But he’s in the infantile stages of Rickey Henderson.”

Lofton, who turns 25 today, spent his college days playing for a basketball team that for long stretches was ranked No. 1 in the nation.

He played baseball for part of one season, appearing in only five college games. As a professional, he played only 358 minor league games before making the majors.

Now, he is starting in center field and leading off for the Indians.

“He hasn’t played very much, but his baseball sense and instincts are very good,” said Nelson, who stole 51 bases for Texas in 1972 and is teaching Lofton the subtleties of stealing. “He’s not doing this on sheer speed.”

Friday night against the Angels, Lofton led off with an infield hit. Five pitches into the game, he stood on third base, after getting a huge jump on Chuck Finley to steal second, then taking third on Glenallen Hill’s foul pop to first. Carlos Baerga, the third batter, drove him in with a sacrifice fly.

He has yet to be thrown out by a catcher--”It’s going to happen,” Nelson says--and has been caught stealing only once in 24 attempts, when he was picked off first base and caught in a rundown.

“The thing he’s got going now,” Nelson said, “is he feels pretty invincible.”

On April 26, Lofton put on a good exhibition of fearlessness, stealing home with Milwaukee’s Jaime Navarro on the mound. It was the first such steal by a Cleveland player since Toby Harrah did it in 1981.

Cleveland had lost three games in a row when Lofton led off the second game of a doubleheader with a walk, then reached third on a couple of infield grounders.

With Mark Whiten at the plate and no bunt on, and Whiten dangerously oblivious to his intent, Lofton took off. He scored, giving the Indians a 1-0 lead and a jolt of excitement in a game they won, 3-1.

“The pitcher on the mound had a slow windup,” Lofton said. “I got the sign, and I stole home.”

Cleveland, which acquired Lofton and infielder Dave Rohde from Houston in December for pitcher Willie Blair and catcher Eddie Taubensee, has gotten more than it expected.

Though mentioned as a rookie of the year prospect, Lofton arrived with a reputation as an impatient hitter.

“Almost everybody said he had a tendency to swing at too many bad pitches and strike out too much, not giving the pitcher a chance to walk him or get deep in the count,” Manager Mike Hargrove said. “He has been patient.”

Lofton, a left-handed hitter, is batting .260. One of his good qualities is that he plays to his strengths. Of his 44 hits, 14 are bunt singles, and plenty more have come off infield grounders he has beaten out at first.

Lofton is still learning in the outfield, too, where he was needed to make up for Alex Cole’s deficiencies. Lofton doesn’t always make the plays smoothly, but with his speed, he makes most of them. He has three errors.

“You see him becoming more and more comfortable every day in the outfield,” Hargrove said.

His baseball career well under way, Lofton no longer cares to talk about basketball, particularly the disappointment of his final game, when Nevada Las Vegas upset the No. 1-ranked Wildcats in a regional semifinal game of the 1989 NCAA tournament in Denver.

With Arizona leading by two points and the final 10 seconds ticking away, Lofton was guarding UNLV’s Anderson Hunt. As Hunt started to drive, they bumped, and Lofton fell to the floor, attempting to take a charge. But there was no whistle, and Hunt calmly spotted up and made a three-pointer at the buzzer for a 68-67 upset.

“Basketball is history,” Lofton said.

Lofton is remembered for much more at Arizona than that one play, however.

“He used to do some things athletically that we haven’t seen done here since,” said Tony McAndrews, an Arizona assistant coach. “He’d be guarding his man, playing defense, and his man would attempt to throw a pass and Kenny would jump up and catch it in his hand. He has great anticipation, great speed.”

He was also known for his dunks, one of which television analyst Dick Vitale rated as one of the five-best of the college season.

Something else that set Lofton apart was his approach to work, even something as mundane as running wind sprints.

“He was always one of the first ones, first because of his speed, and second because he always wanted to finish first,” McAndrews said. “Some guys who are fast don’t always win all the sprints. He had the physical and mental qualities to finish first.”

After Arizona’s basketball team lost in the Final Four in 1988, his junior year, Lofton joined the baseball team.

“I started playing because I missed baseball, basically,” he said.

Lofton started learning then and hasn’t stopped. When he got to the minors after signing with Houston in 1988, he knew he was behind.

“Everything they were saying to me about the game, I just tried to learn as much as I could, basically listen and learn,” Lofton said.

The listening and learning has continued under Nelson, who was hired in part because Hargrove was batting for the Rangers on Aug. 30, 1974, when Nelson tied a major league record by stealing second, third and home in the same inning.

Nelson is keeping the Indians moving on the basepaths--they’ve already stolen 54--and Lofton is a special student.

“One thing he does have is excellent learning ability,” Nelson said. “He retains what he’s learned, and what you say to him.

“The thing he’s not able to do right now is be able to recognize a pitcher when he uses a different set-up. Little things, like seeing how his shoulder is different when he’s going to throw to first than when he’s going to the plate.”

Nelson keeps up a running commentary whenever Lofton is on first. Nothing so basic as, say, “Go!” but more a constant analysis of the game.

Sometimes he’ll see a pitcher tip his pickoff move.

“I’m saying, ‘Hey, he’s coming over, he’s coming over,”’ Nelson said. “Then I’ll say, ‘Now, do you see that?’

“The only help I give him is to tell him what the key is. And we’ll discuss after each pitch, say, ‘This is not a good time to go, they might try to pitch out.’ ”

Nelson sees a lot to like in Lofton, and he’s a demanding teacher.

“The only thing I don’t like about him is his headfirst slide,” Nelson said. “Doing that adds wear and tear. When guys like Henderson and Lofton dive headfirst, they generate so much force it’s like jumping out of a car at 20 miles an hour.”

There it is again. . . . “Guys like Henderson and Lofton. . . . “

Lofton is still getting used to seeing his name next to Henderson’s among the American League leaders.

“It’s kind of amazing, I guess,” Lofton said.

Nelson agrees.

“He’s got a great first step, great acceleration,” Nelson said. “He’s going to get better. Now, whether he’ll do the things Rickey Henderson has done, nobody knows.”