New Parent Team Fields Winners

The Padres are out, the Royals are in. So what’s it mean for the Spokane Indians?

Well, perhaps the phone rings a little earlier at their Fairgrounds office - the new parent club in Kansas City operating on Central time and all.

But with the 1995 Indians reporting for baseball Sunday morning at Seafirst Stadium, the distinctions were as hazy as the day was lucent.

There were five teachers and 19 pupils - 20 when outfielder Scott Kortmeyer hit town midway through the workout and jumped into the batting cage. The pitchers practiced covering first, the infielders took ground balls, the hitting coach talked philosophy.

“When you react to a pitcher, always react with your legs before your hands,” Tom Burgess counseled. “And react early. You don’t want to be late.”

Four blank faces stared back.

“Have I lost you?” Burgess wondered. “Question me. I want you to question me.”

The basics don’t change from one baseball organization to the next. Routine is quickly ingrained.

Instruction. Execution. Repetition. Coaches asking the sportswriter where they can find the dog track.

When the Indians terminated their player development contract with the Padres last fall, the motives were pretty obvious. One, since enjoying four championship seasons to close the ‘80s, the Indians hadn’t sniffed .500. If the porterhouse keeps coming up gristle, it’s time to find a new abattoir.

And, two, Indians co-owner George Brett is now working on his Hall of Fame speech during coffee breaks in the Royals’ front office and not between at-bats.

The happy coincidence was that George’s employer also had the most productive minor league system in all of baseball last summer - if you’re counting victories, which affiliates do.

Royals farm clubs won at a .589 clip, an aggregate 123 games over .500. Three teams had the best records in their respective leagues.

The formula is not exactly top secret.

“You do well in the minor leagues if you get good players,” said Joe Jones, a 17-year Royals man who coordinates minor league instruction. “Our scouting people have signed good, talented players for us to develop - and we have a good staff with a lot of continuity.”

Indeed, Indians manager Al Pedrique is the only new face in minor league management this year.

But it’s still a crapshoot. K.C.’s Northwest League club last year, Eugene, was 35-41.

“When you have a player development contract, it’s the same pretty much whether it’s with the Royals or whoever,” said Indians owner Bobby Brett.

“I’m just hoping that with my brother as the vice president of operations, maybe - maybe - we’ll get a little break on getting a player or keeping a good player here. And we’ll probably have a little more access, our staff, into what’s going on inside.”

Then you hear that six of K.C.’s first eight picks in the recent amateur draft are signed and bound for rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League.

Never mind. Five of those six are high school kids, the other a junior college player. The Royals have stocked Spokane with nothing but collegians and nine Gulf Coast veterans - including pitchers Modesto Villarreal and Israel Charles, who were basically third and fourth in the rotation at Fort Myers last summer.

This leaves Rice slugger Mark Quinn, at No. 11, as Spokane’s top draft pick.

Take him. Playing on the same team as Seattle’s top pick, Jose Cruz Jr., Quinn had better offensive numbers across the board except for stolen bases.

“It disturbed me a little bit I didn’t get drafted after my junior year,” said Quinn, a DH his senior year who figures to be tried at both first and third. “So I didn’t play last summer and came up with some things to work on that would ensure I’d get drafted this year.

“I had to get stronger. My mental approach to the game had to be different. I had to be ready to play day in and day out, instead of maybe coasting a day.”

Whatever the lineup, it can’t help but be better than the Indians of 1994 - or so you’d think.

Still, there is one bottom line and one bottom line only in the minors.

“I can’t speak for other organizations, but ours is more oriented to development,” said Jones. “We all want to win. When you come off the field, a win is going to make you feel better about yourself, whether you knocked home the winning run or made an error. And we not only need to develop players, but develop winning players.”

Nevertheless, if it’s a choice between leaving your ace in another inning in excess of his pitch limit, “we’ll take him out rather than throw him another 20 pitches that might help us win a ballgame,” Jones said.

Blow up a prospect’s arm on a Monday night in Spokane and you can expect that phone to ring very early the next morning.

You can contact John Blanchette by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5509.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)