|
|
 |
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Inside Baseball
Updated: Tuesday March 27, 2001 12:54 PM For the Royals, it will be one Carlos (Beltran) or the other (Febles) By Stephen Cannella "I don't think we have a prototypical leadoff hitter," Muser said last Thursday. "Right now, Febles looks like the most likely to develop that way." That's a switch from Muser's opinion at the beginning of camp, when he indicated that Beltran, the American League Rookie of the Year in 1999, would replace the traded Johnny Damon at the top of the Royals' order.
Febles, who regularly hit leadoff in the minors and has done so most of this spring, is better suited to the role. He walks more, strikes out less and has a better career on-base percentage (.344 to .327) than Beltran. Further, Febles has taken to the job, hitting .327 and reaching base in 12 of 15 games through Sunday. "This has been my goal," he says. "I always expected I'd be a leadoff hitter in the major leagues." Beltran primarily batted first his rookie year, hitting .302 in the leadoff spot. While he could still get the job again if Febles falters, he says he would be happy to hit second. After a hideous second big league season in which he batted .247 with only seven home runs, spent two months on the disabled list with a bruised right knee and was suspended by the Royals for 18 days for refusing a rehab assignment, he'll have his hands full proving he's not the next Bob Hamelin, even without the pressure of hitting leadoff. "Last year was not good," Beltran says, "but I learned that I have to work hard every day, that I can't get down if I get in a slump." For the first time Beltran spent the winter working out daily with a personal trainer. Joined by Royals lefthander Jose Rosado and former major leaguer Carlos Baerga during the sessions near his home in Puerto Rico, Beltran concentrated on outfield and hitting drills and a weight room regimen. "I used to go to the gym, but it was easy to be lazy, because I was by myself," Beltran says. "[The trainer] made me work hard. I can feel the difference." The Royals can see a difference too. Febles, Beltran's teammate in the minors for four years, says he has never seen the other Carlos in better shape, and Beltran has been Kansas City's best hitter this spring (.340 with four homers). He has also shown improvement in his weakest area: hitting breaking pitches. He's no longer so preoccupied with them that he lets hittable fastballs go by. "Carlos is also more open to things we'd like him to work on," says Muser. "He's also talking more baseball with other players and starting to earn more respect from his teammates." All of them realize that wherever they hit, the Carloses could make or break the lineup. "If they don't have good years, then [first baseman Mike] Sweeney and [leftfielder Mark] Quinn and I can't have good years," says rightfielder Jermaine Dye, who led K.C. with 33 homers and drove in 118 runs last season. "That's a lot of pressure on them." Issue date: April 2, 2001
For more Inside Baseball see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, March 28. Click here to subscribe to SI.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
