Angels Hope Young Arms Can Lift Team to New Heights

Ramon Ortiz would slide up to Brian Cooper in the outfield during batting practice and joke, using half Spanish, half English: “Grandes Ligas, this season.”

Cooper would laugh and reply, “Sure, I’ll meet you there.”

That each was a pitcher for Erie, the Angels’ double-A affiliate, made it funny. The idea that they would be in the Grandes Ligas--major leagues--this season was something to talk about whimsically.

In the Angels’ minor league system, though, be careful what you joke about.

Ortiz and Cooper both made their major league debuts in the last month, both beating the Chicago White Sox. If you’re a pitcher in the Angel system, “be prepared” better be your motto.

Pitching is the strength of the team’s farm system, though the word “strength” is tempered by the fact that Baseball America did not list one player in the Angel system among its Top 100 Prospects of 1999.

The core group of players developed in the early 1990s--Tim Salmon, Jim Edmonds, Garret Anderson, etc.--were mostly position players and have yet to produce a division champion. The pitching has been slapped together.

So when the Angels sank--with weights attached--in the West Division this season, it was a good time to see who was down on the farm. They have dipped into their pitching pool and have come up somewhat refreshed.

Ortiz, Cooper and reliever Juan Alvarez were rapid deliveries to Anaheim. Each started the year at Erie.

Jarrod Washburn, who had some major league experience, is getting a closer look. Seth Etherton and Matt Wise are near enough to merit watching next spring.

“I guess, right now, the pitching is in good shape,” General Manager Bill Bavasi said. “The guys you’re seeing now, Cooper, Washburn, Ortiz, and in the not-too-distant future, Etherton and Wise, have a chance to make some noise.

“Pitching is our strong suit, but you can never have too much.”

Which is why the Angels back-loaded that group by taking pitchers . . . big pitchers . . . with their first seven draft picks in June. The smallest of them is 6 feet 3. The leanest is 190 pounds. Six of the seven have signed, including John Lackey, the team’s No. 1 pick in the second round.

“If there was anything we wanted to add, it was pitching,” Bavasi said.

And the other positions? Well, the MVP for triple-A Edmonton this season was first baseman Brooks Kieschnick. He was on loan from Tampa Bay.

ARMS RACE

The Erie Sea Wolves rolled to the Eastern League’s Southern Division title, then lost to Harrisburg in the first round of the playoffs. Losing a large chunk of the starting rotation can have that effect.

Ortiz, Cooper, Etherton were promoted, as was Alvarez, the team’s top left-handed reliever. All left after July, with Ortiz, Cooper and Alvarez later reaching Anaheim.

Second baseman Trent Durrington, who was the league leader in stolen bases, also was moved along, skipping triple-A and going straight to the Angels.

When the Angels’ season soured, Ortiz, Cooper, Alvarez and Durrington were brought up.

Ortiz, who has a 95-mph fastball and a wicked slider, is considered the future No. 1 starter by team officials. Cooper made an impressive debut last week.

Etherton, the team’s top draft pick in 1998, may be the next to show his moxie. He went 10-10 at Erie and struck out 153. His four starts in Edmonton were not so impressive--he gave up seven home runs in 21 1/3 innings--but he is expected to get a look next spring.

Wise and Mark Harriger, a promising 24-year-old right-hander, underscore the Angels’ problem of getting quality starting pitchers to the major leagues. Wise went 8-5 at Erie, but his season was cut short because of bone chips in his right elbow. Harriger made six starts for Erie, then needed elbow surgery.

“You can’t get it all done in one or two outings at the end of September,” Bavasi said. “We were able to bring up a couple of these guys before September so we can maximize the time we have left in the season to aid their development.”

Alvarez has slipped in almost unnoticed. He was an impressive left-hander out of the bullpen at Erie and Edmonton.

“I like the look in his eye when I hand him the baseball,” said Joe Maddon, the Angels’ interim manager. “It indicates confidence. He has the tools to get left-handed hitters out in this league, right-handers too. But I like the way he walks out to the mound. You can tell a lot about his makeup from that.”

PLAYING THE FIELD

No one on the Edmonton team can touch Kieschnick’s numbers--73 RBIs in 77 games. The Angels, though, can’t touch him either. He belongs to Tampa Bay.

Bavasi points out that the organization’s top young power hitter is Troy Glaus, who leads the Angels with 27 home runs. Glaus played only 109 minor league games before being called up a year ago.

That’s the glass-is-half-full view. The other side of that is the Angel system, at least in the near future, doesn’t appear ready to produce an every-day player.

Angel officials would like Durrington to be the answer at second base. Randy Velarde was traded in July and Justin Baughman, once the team’s future at the position, is still recovering from a severely broken leg.

Durrington was impressive at Erie, where he had a .379 on-base percentage. He has been less-than patient at the plate with the Angels.

Chuck Abbott, a second-round pick in 1996, was considered a possible heir to Gary DiSarcina at shortstop. He hit .239, struck out 139 times and made 29 errors at Erie.

Mike Colangelo made a rapid rise, going from Erie to Edmonton, then to the Angels. But he tore a ligament in his left thumb in his first major league game. Besides, with Edmonds, Salmon, Anderson and Darin Erstad around, how many outfielders do the Angels need?

One or more could be traded, which could make room for Norm Hutchins, who has been close. He still strikes out too much to fill the leadoff spot. He hit .250 with 127 strikeouts for Edmonton this season--numbers more like Gary Pettis’ than Rickey Henderson’s.

The Angels traded Velarde and pitcher Omar Olivares to Oakland for three players, including outfielder Nathan Haynes.

Haynes hit .327 and had 10 stolen bases in 26 games with Class A Lake Elsinore after the trade.

“He was an important part of that deal,” Bavasi said. “He has shown that he can adapt to the leadoff role, which is not always the easiest thing to do.”

Haynes, though, is a few years off, like many of the Angels’ promising position players: catcher Jason Dewey, infielder Carlos Gastelum and outfielder Elpidio Guzman.

“Right now, you are probably going to see these pitchers, followed by some real impressive everyday players,” Bavasi said. “We should have some pretty good kids over a three- or four-year period.”