Catching Up With ... Tim DeCinces

Richard Dunn

Deep in the land of Hank Aaron and Southern hospitality is Tim

DeCinces, who grew up in Newport Beach as the son of a major leaguer and

has adapted so well to his calling in Mobile, Ala., some can make it

sound like he’s welcome forever.

Take Tom Nichols, the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Mobile

BayBears of the Southern League:

“Tim was a tremendous member of our club last year,” Nichols said. “He

played the game the way it’s supposed to be played; he played hard, he’s

a smart player and a team leader, and a guy we were happy to have with

us.

“As things turned out, he didn’t see a lot of playing time in the

early part of last year, but, by the end of the year, he may have been

our most productive hitter.”

DeCinces finished as the BayBears’ second-leading hitter at .271

(comparing players with over 200 at-bats), along with 11 home runs and 44

RBIs.

But, as DeCinces prepares for his sixth season in the minor leagues,

the left-handed hitting catcher, a former Corona del Mar High and UCLA

standout, has reached a perplexing crossroads in his professional

baseball career.

DeCinces enjoyed a monster second half last year at Mobile, the

double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, but he will turn 27 on April

26 and the parent club has younger catchers ahead of him, specifically

Wiki Gonzalez and the highly touted Ben Davis.

“I got my chance (to play every day at double A) and put up good

numbers,” DeCinces said. “The good news is that (the Padres) know that.

The bad news is that they’re still really loaded at catcher.”

Like anywhere, baseball is about job openings, supply and demand, and

timing.

“I don’t know where I’ll be this year. You never know going into

spring training,” said DeCinces, who will report to minor league camp

next month in Peoria, Ariz. “It will either be a return trip to Mobile or

a move to Portland (Ore.), the team’s new triple-A affiliate. We’ll see

how things shake down in spring training, but I wouldn’t mind going back

to Mobile if there was an opportunity to play every day.”

Before last season, DeCinces was acquired by the Padres in the

double-A phase of the Rule V Draft, after playing five seasons in the

Baltimore organization. The Orioles drafted DeCinces out of UCLA in June

1996 and sent him to Bluefield, W.Va., of the Appalachian Rookie League,

where he batted .297 with seven homers and 32 RBIs.

Since then, DeCinces has made stops at single-A Delmarva, Md., and

Frederick, Md., triple-A Rochester, N.Y., and double-A Bowie, Md., as

well as Mobile, while displaying good power numbers in four different

campaigns (12 or more home runs).

“As long as I feel like I’m having success and still getting an

opportunity (to play and try to fulfill a dream of playing in the

majors), there’s no reason to not keep going,” DeCinces said. “For me,

there have always been hurdles for me to overcome. I’ve never been the

No. 1 prospect, so (success) makes it that much more rewarding.”

DeCinces, who became a father for the first time when his daughter,

Delaney, was born April 22, has endured a busy offseason, working in the

business development end for Money Line Technologies, a company that

installs software with a niche in the banking industry, and finding time

to stay in shape, while he and his wife, Melissa, raise their toddler.

“The offseason experience can sure be interesting for someone in the

minor leagues,” said DeCinces, who was given three days off so his wife

could have their baby at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, rather than

unfamiliar Mobile.

Last season with the BayBears, who play at Hank Aaron Stadium,

DeCinces started slowly, mainly because he was still recovering from knee

surgery by the time spring training arrived and wasn’t fully able to show

his new employers what he could do.

“I didn’t have a good spring training,” said DeCinces, who went from a

starter at triple A in the Orioles’ organization to third-string catcher

at double A in his first year in the Padres’ system.

DeCinces, however, hasn’t given up hope of reaching the big leagues,

despite the odds against him.

“Each year you play as a professional, you mature that much more, and

the amount of adversity you face in the minor leagues makes you grow as a

player,” he said. “I’ve got that experience under my belt. And every step

up the ladder, from high school to college to pro ball to triple A, I’ve

gone farther than anyone thought. But there’s still one more step.”

DeCinces, an All-Sea View League catcher and Orange County All-Star

for the Sea Kings in 1992, grew up around major leaguers: His father,

Doug, played third base for 15 years with the Orioles, Angels and

Cardinals.

The elder DeCinces played in the 1979 World Series for Baltimore and

hit a career-high 30 home runs in his first season with the Angels in

1982.

Tim DeCinces, who batted .443 his senior year at Corona del Mar under

Coach Scott Magers, ended a three-year career at UCLA (after redshirting

his freshman year) in 1996 with 37 home runs, 166 RBIs and a .321

average. He was selected by the Orioles in the 16th round of the

free-agent draft.