MINOR LEAGUE NOTEBOOK / MIKE DiGIOVANNA : Martin’s Move to the Mound Helps Him Catch on in the Pros

All Gregg Martin wanted to do at the time was help out his college’s short-handed pitching staff. Little did he know that he would be greatly enhancing his prospects in professional baseball, too.

Martin played catcher at Edison High School, Golden West College and Northwestern University, but midway through his senior season (1989) at Northwestern, the Wildcats were in dire need of some strong pitching arms.

Martin, a good defensive catcher but not an explosive hitter, volunteered to move to the other end of the battery, and it wound up recharging his baseball career.

The right-hander went 7-2 with two shutouts and eight saves during the second half of the 1989 season. Martin, who had never been drafted, was picked on the 21st round by the Toronto Blue Jays and is now one of the South Atlantic League’s top relievers with a 1-1 record, 1.29 earned-run average and 22 saves for Class-A Myrtle Beach, S.C.

“We were hurting for pitching, and I decided the last month and a half of the season to give it a try,” Martin said. “I had thrown batting practice before but had never pitched in high school or junior college. Catching is usually the quickest route to the big leagues, but I don’t think I would have been drafted that high as a catcher. So the move to the mound paid off.”

Martin, 25, may seem a little old for Class-A ball, but he is actually at Myrtle Beach on a rehabilitation assignment. Martin spent his first pro season at St. Catharines, a short-season A team, and split 1990 between Myrtle Beach and Dunedin, Fla., a higher Class-A team.

After a 16-save 1990 season, Martin got off to a fast start at Dunedin in 1991 with seven saves and a 1.10 ERA in the first month and a half. But a torn rotator cuff in his throwing arm and subsequent surgery knocked him out for the season.

He worked himself into shape through the fall and winter and spent April in the Blue Jays’ extended spring training camp. The team then sent him back to Myrtle Beach, where Martin was expecting to stay for a month, but one month has turned into three, and Martin fears that three could turn into four.

“I’m waiting to see if I’m moved somewhere, because I’ve already pitched a whole year here and was in a high-A league last year,” Martin said. “Dunedin has two good closers, but I can’t get much better here. I’d like to get a shot at (double-A) Knoxville.”

Martin, a 6-foot-1, 200-pounder, relies primarily on two pitches, a fastball and curve, and he believes the Blue Jays wanted to make sure his fastball was up to par before promoting him. Though he has lost some velocity--he’s down to about 87 m.p.h. from his pre-surgery 90 m.p.h.--Martin feels as strong physically as he did before the operation.

“I haven’t heard a word, and I’m a little worried I’ve been here so long,” Martin said. “But the Toronto organization is jammed with good pitchers, so there’s not a lot of movement. I’ll just wait and see what happens in the last month.”

Who’s on first? Lee Stevens and his .195 average have been a flop at first base for the Angels. Alvin Davis played some at first for the Angels, and now he is playing in Japan.

Gary Gaetti’s transition from third to first has not exactly been smooth, and there was even talk of the Angels acquiring first baseman Nick Esasky, who hasn’t played in the major leagues for two years because of health reasons.

Don Barbara watches the Angels’ first-base foibles from afar--triple-A Edmonton, to be exact--and hopes that someday soon he can solve the Angels’ problems at the position.

Although he doesn’t have great power or speed, Barbara, a former Cal State Long Beach first baseman, is having the kind of season that may warrant a shot at the big leagues. The 6-2, 215-pound left-hander is batting .297 with four homers, 21 doubles and 52 runs batted in for the Angels’ triple-A affiliate.

“There’s been no talk at all about who’s going where--it’s all quiet on the home front,” said Barbara, who attended Canyon High School in 1983-84 before moving to Northern California. “My folks in Long Beach have heard my name and (outfielder) Tim Salmon’s name a lot on the radio, but nothing has been said to me. I’m aware of what’s going on in Anaheim, but it’s not like I hope this guy or that guy does bad. I have to do my job here, and that’s all I can worry about.”

Barbara, 23, who played at San Mateo College two years (1987-88) and helped Long Beach reach the College World Series in 1989, has risen rapidly through the Angels’ organization. He spent 1990 at Class-A Palm Springs, where he batted .291.

He was batting .288 at Class-A Quad City in 1991 and was on his way to the Midwest League All-Star game when the Angels called and sent him to double-A Midland. Barbara hit .362 with 10 home runs and 40 RBIs in 63 games and has spent the entire 1992 season at Edmonton.

Not bad for a guy who was not drafted until after his senior season in college, when the Angels picked him on the 24th round.

“There were 26 teams through high school and college that didn’t want to take a chance on me, and I feel I’m showing them now,” Barbara said. “That’s a big incentive, but I’m not done yet.”

First things first: Chicago Cubs’ Mark Grace, a former Tustin High standout, is considered one of the best defensive first basemen in baseball, but he’s not the only Orange County player shining at the position.

Los Alamitos’ J.T. Snow (playing at Columbus, Ohio) was recently named the best defensive first baseman in the triple-A International League by Baseball America magazine. Cypress’ Jason Friedman (Lynchburg, Va.) was named top defensive first baseman in the Carolina League, and Servite’s Mike Robertson (Sarasota, Fla.) earned similar honors in the Florida State League.

All three are having solid offensive seasons as well--Snow is batting .320 with 11 homers and 58 RBIs, Friedman is hitting .283 with 14 homers and 66 RBIs and Robertson is batting .255 with 10 homers and 57 RBIs.

They are hardly the county’s only hot first-base prospects, though. Cal State Fullerton’s Dave Staton, at triple-A Las Vegas, is batting .294 with 18 homers and 71 RBIs; Westminster High’s Ryan Klesko, at triple-A Richmond, Va., is hitting .259 with 11 homers and 38 RBIs; and Orange Coast’s Rod McCall, at Class-A Columbus, Ga., is batting .226 with 15 homers and 66 RBIs.