The Modesto Bee from Modesto, California • 43

The Modesto Bee Monday April 6 1992 F-3 Baseball tell Butterfield he make it he has Local Players in Professional Baseball The center fielder batted 251 in his first full major-league season stealing 44 bases and leading the league with 15 triples He also nit nine homers and drove in 69 runs while batting in the third spot JEFF BALL Atwater The first baseman spent last summer Florida State League batting 246 with RBIs in 117 games MILLER Beyer Twins prep player of the year began his pro Fla in the Gulf Coast League He ERA before being promoted to in the Appalachian League He was 1-1 ERA ERIC BELL Beyer Indians The left-handed pitcher trying to return to the majors after having elbow surgery three years ago was 4-0 with a 050 ERA with the Indians after being called up Sept 1 in the 1991 season His season had began with stops at Canton-Akron (Double-A) and Colorado Springs (Triple-A) Bell was 9-5 with a 289 ERA at Canton-Akron in the Eastern League before being promoted to Colorado Springs There he had 2-1 record with a 213 ERA impressive because he gave up only one home run in 25V6 innings in a high-altitude ball park known as a launching pad Atwater Pirates 284 ERA as a reliever for the Carolina NC) of the Southern League and was 2-2 1 7 games with Buffalo of the American MATT BENNETT Davis Royals Bennett a right-handed pitcher was 2-5 with a 620 ERA for the Orlando Royals of the Class A Gulf Coast League Expos who lives in Modesto during the signed a Triple-A contract with Montreal free agent last October His six-year major-league three years each with Baltimore and he split his season between the Astros team in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League games with the Astros SHAWN BOSKIE MJC Cubs He's trying to regain a spot in rotation after being demoted last year With an ailing shoulder he was 4-9 with a 523 ERA and was 2-2 with a 327 ERA with Iowa in the American Association (Triple-A) BRAD BRINK Downey Phillies Will begin the season either with Reading Pa of the Eastern League (Double-A) or with Scranton-Wilkes Barre of the International League (Triple A) Brink had rotator cuff surgery in 1990 and returned to finish with a 2-2 record and 371 ERA for Reading last season PRITCHETT Central Cath Angels second-round pick in the 1991 June draft was baseman the team chose Their first-round Perez of Florida State son of former Perez Pritchett began his pro career Northwest League He played in 70 with nine homers and 50 RBIs He will with the Angels' Quad City (Iowa) Class A League CHRIS BUTTERFIELD Modesto Chr Mets The third baseman expects to begin season in Double-A at Binghampton NY in the Eastern League He batted 225 with 3 homers and 40 RBIs for Port St Lucie in the Florida State League (Single-A) last season Stanislaus St Phillies 2 homers and 1 5 RBIs for Martinsville League Astros at Osceola in the 5 homers and 51 listened to Will Clark talk about that one time You waste 30 or 40 at-bats a year and thrown away a lot of potential base hits and a good part of your So now he must adjust to another new town always facing the threat of demotion or release if he turn things around said to one guy on my team would you do if they sent you back to St Lucie (Class Butterfield said said quit What would you I BASEBALL CARDS TOPPS SCORE DONRUSS UPPER DECK 813 Roseburg Ave InnnicTc- MOdeStO CA9BJ0 COVWCS ROSEBURG SQUARE OPEN 7 DAYS 529-0415 SHAWN Last year's Bee career in Fort Meyers was 3-3 with a 231 Elizabethton Tenn there with a 655 BLAS MINOR Was 0-0 with a Mudcats (Zebulon with a 575 ERA in Association last year CARL NICHOLS Lankford's uncle offseasons Nichols after becoming a career includes Houston Last year and their Tucson He batted 196 in 20 CHRIS The Angels' the second first pick was Eduardo Cincinnati great Tony at Boise Id in the games batting 267 begin the season team in the Midwest PAT RUTH Batted 268 with Va in the Appalachian STEVE Was No career at Long Beach summer at San Jose a 2-1 record and problems walking out 21 Projected KEN HUCKABEE Manteca Dodgers The catcher began his pro career in Great Falls Mont in the Pioneer Rookie League last summer batting 258 with 3 homers and 57 RBI By JEFF JARDINE Bee staff writer Had Chris Butterfield listened to everyone who said he play baseball he be heading to Binghampton NY this summer To play baseball Butterfield a 24-year-old former Modesto Christian High player is in the New York minor-league camp in Port St Lucie Fla awaiting assignment to the Eastern League Butterfield is one of 14 professional players with roots some deeper than others in the Modesto area His climb through the minors has paralleled the series of tests he encountered at the high school and college levels He left Downey High after the third quarter of his junior season because he want to sit the bench just having any he said So he went to Modesto Christian where he became the Southern most valuable player in 1985 he said was the Southern League MVP but I Modesto MVP That bothered me a little bit but I got over it I was never the big fish in high school When I was a freshman at Downey 1 was 5-foot-2 and weighed 90 pounds Since then grown a foot and gained 100 the big man on campus at Modesto Christian either I made tons of friends I played a lot and I had His high school coach Phil Magner said Butterfield was unusual because he maintained his fight-the-odds personality without allowing it to sour his attitude never a negative thing about Magner said has a positive approach to life in general He has an it-can-get-done-and-I-can-do-it Butterfield pitched compiling a 7-1 record and 091 earned run average and batted 460 pitched caught and played the said Magner would have put him in the infield too But he could never keep his feet still long enough to catch a ground ball I sort of laughed to myself when I heard he was playing infield for the Mets But Butterfield went to Modesto Junior College but feel he was going to get much playing time So he transferred to Merced College and broke into the starting lineup almost immediately After playing two seasons at Merced Butterfield was drafted in the 26th round by the Toronto Blue Jays He sign ready he said mature Then it was on to Pomona to play at Cal Poly where he began the season on the bench came up to play Fresno State early in the season and all of us valley guys got to start because we had relatives in the Butterfield said He had two hits and drove in a pair of runs I never came out of the lineup after Butterfield played so well his junior year that he was drafted again This time it was by the WHITAKER Atwater Giants 1 draft pick last June after an excellent State University He spend last in the California League finishing with 338 ERA He encountered some control 25 batters in innings while striking as a star of the future by the organization RAY LANKFORD DavisMJC Cardinals Third in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 1991 many in baseball believe he is destined to be a star Chris Butterfield is shown in action during spring training with Mets play in Double-A thing and five minutes go by and another one tells you another thing definitely a game of done some adjusting as of late In his first three spring training games Butterfield went 1-for-l 1 at the plate and committed six errors before going on an 8-for-17 hitting tear not worrying about he said make errors during the season never been much of a spring-training player Even in college I never played well in winter ball tell the coaches worry about Once we get the uniform on things will start to And it always The lofty goals he once set for himself have been tempered know capable of he said that happened in a couple of years So setting a goal to have fun and not throw away at-bats I used to the wooden bat My first hit was a broken-bat liner with the infield in Then I hit the slam and I was on my Or so he thought When Butterfield got to spring training the next year different instructors had different ideas like keeping his front foot on the ground It work He batted just 197 and 225 at Port St Lucie in the Florida State League the past two seasons tried to make me the kind of hitter I Butterfield said always hit for average with some power I could sacrifice drive in runs anything you The Mets wanted to develop a power hitter from within the organization especially after Strawberry left as free agent took me two seasons to realize it working for Butterfield said gone back to hitting the way I was He has the support of batting coaches Tommy McCraw and Vada Pinson both of whom agreed Butterfield was a better hitter before other instructors began making changes in his swing a hitter can hit you leave him Butterfield said first year (in training camp) they leave me alone A coach will tell me one said not going to quit until they quit on me' I've already been at the bottom of my career as far as concerned With two new expansion teams coming in you never know what will happen going to get to big leagues no doubt in my And he let anyone tell him differently Nobody Supports Workers like We Da No matter where you work or what you work on Red Wings give you the support you need Stop by my store and try on a pair today Oakland and 36 rounds later Again he said told not ready to go unless you were going to draft me in high rounds and pay me big he said have taken me in the top five and given me reasonable money have It turned out to be a wise decision He batted 380 in his senior season in 1989 hitting nine homers and leading his team with 47 RBIs The Mets chose Butterfield in the 14th round and the rest is more in the way of future than history was kind of a he said anything I thought be going to the Yankees I talked to their Even in the pros though there were those who told him he In this case they were telling him he hit a baseball with power by using a front leg lift similar to that of Kirby Puckett and Darryl Strawberry As it turned out he hit without it What perplexes him is 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