Russell to move up in the order

VERO BEACH, FLA. —  Andre Ethier batted 26 points higher than Russell Martin last season, but Martin will bat higher than Ethier this year.

In the lineup, anyway.

Martin will bat sixth, Dodgers Manager Grady Little said Monday, leaving Ethier to bat either seventh or eighth despite his team-leading .308 batting average as a rookie last season.

Ethier also had a higher on-base percentage and slugging percentage than Martin, who hit .282 with 10 home runs, 65 runs batted in and 10 stolen bases as a rookie while batting eighth.

“We want Russell hitting more often than he would batting eighth,” Little said. “He moves the ball around and he moves it with authority. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this kid hit 15 to 20 home runs.”

Little had already established that Rafael Furcal, Juan Pierre, Nomar Garciaparra, Jeff Kent and Luis Gonzalez would be the first five in the batting order. With Martin sixth, that leaves third baseman Wilson Betemit and Ethier to bat ahead of the pitcher in some order. “We haven’t made a decision on how we’ll go there,” Little said.

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Left-handed pitcher Matt White has almost no chance of making the opening-day roster. He is 0-2 with a 16.76 earned-run average in seven major league appearances.

White, however, could become the wealthiest player in the clubhouse, quite a distinction considering Kent has made $67 million, Gonzalez has made $63 million and Garciaparra has made $61 million.

White owns a rock quarry in Massachusetts that could eventually produce more than $2 billion worth of mica schist flatstone, which is used for walks, patios, steps, walls, hearths and ponds. White’s father is operating the quarry, which is off to a modest start, producing $60,000 worth of stone last year.

A geologist, however, told White that as much as 24 million tons of the stone is on the mountainous 50-acre property, which White purchased from his aging aunt so she would have enough money to live in a nursing home.

“We had no idea the rock was there until I started clearing out a couple acres to build a house,” White said.

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Left-handed pitcher Greg Miller will become a starter as long as he remains healthy, Little said. Miller is a top prospect who missed the 2004 season because of shoulder surgery and pitched primarily in relief the last two seasons. Miller probably would begin the season in the rotation at triple-A Las Vegas.

“If I had a chance to make the [major league] team as a reliever, that’s definitely something I’d be interested in,” Miller said. “But if they want me to get some starts under my belt in the minor leagues, that’s fine too.”

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Although the tender left calf that closer Takashi Saito came into camp with has not restricted him from participating in drills, he won’t pitch in the first several Grapefruit League games because the Dodgers want to be cautious.

“We don’t want him running over to cover first base or something that first week,” Little said.

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Former Dodgers pitcher Clem Labine had brain surgery at a Vero Beach (Fla.) hospital to investigate a mass in his head. Labine, the Dodgers closer throughout the 1950s, was hospitalized Feb. 13 because of pneumonia and has been in a coma for more than a week.

steve.henson@latimes.com