Fantasy League

A year ago, Cameron Flading was a key figure in the Angel clubhouse. His role may not have been quite on a par with closer Troy Percival, but Percival couldn’t pitch without him.

Someone had to do the laundry.

From ring-around-the-collar to ringing up batters, it has been a tremendous leap for Flading. One that involves more than a little faith.

A clubhouse attendant and batboy last season, Flading is now a pitcher in the Angel organization. True, he’s in Butte, Mont., with miles to go before he sees the Angel clubhouse again--at least as a player. But it’s the opportunity of his lifetime.

“I always dreamed about this,” said Flading, 20. “It’s the dream of every kid. Every time you put on that Little League uniform, you thought about it. I’ve been watching those guys on TV all my life.”

Almost all the players he sees these days will never get air time, himself included. Very few who sign ever reach the major leagues. Flading, though, already has beaten some odds.

He graduated in 1996 from Katella High in Anaheim, where he rarely pitched. He made a few unremarkable appearances on the mound for Orange Coast College and Santa Ana College the last two years.

Yet he’s playing professional baseball, and it is doubtful scouts ever saw Flading pitch. If they did, they certainly weren’t impressed.

Of course, Percival was impressed . . . as was Mike James . . . and Chuck Finley . . . and former Angel pitching coach Marcel Lachemann. In fact, several Angel players and a few coaches noticed the big arm Flading displayed when playing catch.

That, it seems, was enough.

“He was out there playing catch . . . and we got to take a look at him,” said Lachemann, now the Angels’ minor league field coordinator. “He is a big strong kid with a decent arm. It’s not a great one, but he could get better.

“Obviously, we told him not to be unrealistic. We did this, in part, because he was in the Angel family. He didn’t get a bunch of money to play. But we told him to make his mind up to be dedicated. This was not a whim type of thing.”

Nor is Flading treating it as such.

“The third game, they called down to the bullpen and had me get ready because I was going in the next inning,” Flading said. “I got done with my warmups and went to the dugout. I thought, ‘Wow, I have to be at my best now.’ I was stressed out walking out to the mound. Then I busted a guy inside and I calmed down.”

Flading had a 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout.

Flading threw one pitch July 8 and had to leave the game when his arm felt numb, but he has returned to the bullpen and has pitched one inning in each of two appearances recently. He has no decisions in nine appearances this season and an 8.00 earned-run average.

“It scared me,” Flading said of the numbness in his arm. “I was there when Mike James got hurt [and subsequently needed reconstructive elbow surgery] and I thought it was the same thing.”

Much of what Flading has learned has come from his two years as Angel clubhouse attendant. He was hired after high school and it proved to be excellent on-the-job training . . . if you’re looking to become a valet.

He washed uniforms, cleaned shoes and did any other chores that came up. Sometimes that meant getting to the stadium at 7 a.m. for an afternoon game.

“The shoes were important,” Flading said. “There were guys who would get upset if the shoes weren’t ready.”

He even occasionally accompanied the team on a trip, and the stories he could tell . . .

“Oh, man, I don’t think I’m allowed to remember a couple things,” Flading said.

What he can recall clearly is a conversation he had with Percival after they had played catch.

“He said, ‘What are you doing working here? Shouldn’t you be out playing ball somewhere?’ ” Flading said. “That really gave me a confidence boost.”

It turned out that others were watching too.

“He would go out and throw and the players would tell us about his arm,” Lachemann said. “[Former Angel coach] Bob Clear noticed him, we all did.”

The Angels told Flading after last year’s draft that they were going to give him a chance in spring training. He impressed them enough to get an assignment to Butte, a rookie league team.

“The clubhouse has been the starting point for more people than you think,” Lachemann said. “It gives a kid a chance to see what the game is like inside. You know what to expect. From the outside, the game looks glamorous. These kids see the nuts and bolts of it.”

Lachemann pointed out that his brother, Rene, started as a clubhouse attendant with the Dodgers in the late 1950s, working alongside Jim Lefebvre and Jim Merritt. All three made it to the major leagues. There was also Steve Garvey, who was a batboy for the Dodgers.

“I loved working around the clubhouse,” Flading said. “Those guys really took care of me. Maybe I’ll be back in September. Right now, I’d rather be in Butte.”

No one is touting Flading as a prospect. Even Flading can recognize the difference.

Frank Rodriguez, a 17-year-old pitcher who got a $900,000 signing bonus from the Angels, is a prospect. Flading is his teammate in Butte.

“[Flading] is somewhat green, but he really has a sound delivery,” Lachemann said. “He’s getting 87-88 mph on his fastball and he might be able to get a little more out of it. He has good poise, probably from being around the game. It’s a little bit of a gamble and will be interesting to see how it works out.”

Getting this far is an accomplishment in itself.

Flading played first base as a junior at Katella but was far from a star.

“He weighed maybe 120 pounds as a freshman, but he just kept growing,” Katella Coach Tim McMenamin said. “He worked his butt off in the weight room and he hit .370 as a senior.”

But his pitching growth remained stunted.

“He had a pretty good fastball, but he was all over the place,” McMenamin said. “His control scared me.”

Flading did throw a three-hitter in a tournament game for his only victory after Little League. He played at Orange Coast in 1997 and pitched in nine games. He struck out eight but also walked eight.

After a couple of games at Santa Ana College the next season, he decided to sit out a year.

“I’ve always known I had a good arm,” Flading said. “But I needed more work than the colleges were able to give me.”

He’s getting it now.

“We want to see how his arm holds up under day-to-day rigors,” Lachemann said. “On the other side, he has a fresh arm. It hasn’t been used too much.”

Flading has given up eight runs in nine innings at Butte. He looks at this as his first step.

“Right now, I’m pretty raw,” Flading said. “They are working with me to develop a changeup. This is a lot different than Anaheim.”

Sure, he doesn’t have to do laundry.

“Chad Spangler is the clubhouse attendant here,” Flading said. “I take care of him. I know what he’s going through.”