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Sunday, March 09, 2003

By Robert Dvorchak, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

BRADENTON, Fla. -- It may not rank up there with death and taxes as the things in life that are certain, but early in spring, everybody knows that pitchers are ahead of the hitters. At least, on the surface.

	The eyes are sometimes the best tool a batting coach can have. New batting coach Gerald Perry keeps a watchful eye on Brian Giles in the cage. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette photos)

"It's not that the pitchers are ahead of the hitters," Matt Stairs said. "In these early games, you're seeing a different pitcher every at-bat. You could see a team's No. 1 starter and the next time you're up, you're batting against a prospect from [Class] AA. You can't make adjustments that way."

In his first game with the Pirates, Stairs looked as if he were locked in when he singled and doubled in two at-bats. But just as pitchers experiment with changeups or trying out new grips, hitters use spring training as a time for trying out new things that could pay off during the regular season. And why not? The games don't count. The averages don't, either.

The numbers that matter

"What hitters do is work on things down here," said Stairs, a left-handed hitter signed to put more jolt in the Pirates' offense. "I had three things I wanted to do this spring. I wanted to lose weight, and I did that. I wanted to get myself in great shape, and I've done that. Now I'm working on hitting the ball with authority to left field. PNC Park is a great park to go the other way."

Another thing that the good hitters work on? Seeing as many pitches as they can.

"I'm a patient hitter," Stairs said. "I see an average of three to five pitches per at-bat. The more pitches you see, the better chance you have of getting hits."

Reggie Sanders, another acquisition who appeared in his first game as a Pirates player this week, also is a firm believer in looking over pitches. For him, an optimum at-bat in an exhibition game is to work the count and then make solid contact.

"It enables you to recognize what the guy is throwing. Hitting a baseball is all about timing," said Sanders, who connected for a home run in his first game and has shown early examples of his power.

But he has shrugged off the early homers.

"The important thing is to be ready for the season. I'm not looking to peak too soon," Sanders said.

Take two, hit to right

There's an inherent paradox about hitting -- the bat is round, the ball is round, but you have to hit it square. It is said to be the toughest thing in sports.

Brian Giles: "It's all about the work, note the stats."

There's also a misconception about what hitters do in batting practice. The bulk of batting practice is devoted to the finesse game, or in baseball parlance, situational hitting.

A coach will stand behind the cage and call out a situation -- man on second, no outs, for example -- and the hitter is supposed to put the ball on the ground to the right side to advance the runner, just as he would in a game.

Pirates Manager Lloyd McClendon, a hitting coach under Gene Lamont before he took over, doesn't get too excited when he sees offensive outbursts in spring games. Nor does he get too disappointed if the hits aren't there. It's more important for batters to recognize what pitches are coming, staying on top of the ball and hitting to the opposite field.

"It should help your timing. You should see the ball a lot better," McClendon said. " Traditionally, for a hitter, you want that ball to travel. Even if you get jammed, it really helps your timing [to go the other way]. You're looking at the ball, letting it travel. As the season progresses, your timing starts to click for you and you end up hitting the breaking ball a lot better."

Of course, that's for the veteran hitters with guaranteed roster spots.

Younger players who are swinging for jobs approach each at-bat as a way to impress the boss.

"The younger kids who think they may have a chance to make the club are a little more aggressive," McClendon said.

Hitting coach Gerald Perry knows the first two or three weeks of spring training are for hitters to scrape off the rust and find a groove. Early spring has its share of "funky swings," as Perry says, but that's mainly because hitters are trying out new things or focusing on techniques like driving the ball to the opposite field.

	Reggie Sanders: "The important thing is to be ready for the season."

"I don't want them to worry about results right now. The things they're working on right now will pay off later," Perry said.

Perry also is a big stickler on recognition of the strike zone. Nothing drives him crazier than seeing a hitter swing at something off the plate, even in batting practice.

On the first day of live batting practice, a veteran hitter moaned that Kris Benson had broken his bat.

"He didn't break your bat. You did," Perry said in a calm, but firm, admonition. "Why'd you swing at that pitch? It wasn't a strike."

Regaining the eye

Even Randall Simon has been laying off pitches. Simon didn't come across the water to walk, as he is fond of saying; he came from his native Curacao to swing. But Simon, a notorious first-ball hitter, has been working counts and looking at more pitches. Just don't get used to seeing Simon keep the bat on the shoulder.

"I'll hit those pitches during the regular season. Right now, I'm concentrating on keeping my shoulder in, recognizing the different pitches, hitting the ball the other way," Simon said.

The one thing all hitters agree on is that recognizing a fastball from a slider, uncoiling the swing and making good contact -- all within a microsecond -- is not like flipping on a switch. It's a skill that is lost about two weeks after a season ends and has to be learned anew each spring.

"These guys are throwing 95 mph with sink, and it's something you haven't seen in four months. No matter how hard you work in the off-season, and what you do to get yourself into shape, there's no way to simulate that," Jason Kendall said.

"With where things are now, if a pitcher makes a good pitch, chances are it'll go his way down here. But during the season, you're in a better position to do something with it. As long as you see the pitches and make good contact, you know you did something that you can carry over to the next day. It's more of a feeling. The idea is to be ready on March 31."

There's also the effect of adrenaline. Adrenaline can help a hitter win a matchup on pure will, but it's not flowing yet, at least not in established hitters.

Some of the best hitters have misleading numbers in the spring. It's historically been the case for Brian Giles, who spent time recently doctoring two new bats with their first coating of pine tar.

"I never hit in spring. It's hard to get the adrenaline going when it doesn't mean anything," Giles said.

"We're down here to get ourselves in playing shape, so I'm not concerned with numbers. When the bell rings, I'll be ready to go.

"Right now, the timing's off just because of the speed. It looks like every guy is throwing 100 mph."

Beware: Spring stats do lie

Fans will remember the name of Mark Johnson, perhaps the best spring training hitter. But for all the numbers he put up in Florida, Johnson never came close to hitting so well when the regular season started.

A utility player such as Rob Mackowiak takes an all-or-nothing approach to plate every time he appears in a spring game.

"I don't have the luxury on working on things. I want to get a hit every time up," Mackowiak said.

For Adam Hyzdu, every at-bat could be his final one with the Pirates. It's a safe bet to say Hyzdu will have good spring numbers.

"Spring training kind of tricks you sometimes," Hyzdu said. "A lot of times you get hits down here and you assume you know what you're doing at the plate. Always remember, pride will bring a man low, but a humble spirit brings a man honor. That applies to hitting, too."