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He comes to town June 22-24.
April 30, 2007
Piazza still adjusting to non-catching role
By Jerry Crasnick
ESPN.com
The Oakland Athletics' staff is doing just fine with Jason Kendall behind the dish, but longtime catcher Mike Piazza wants the pitchers to know he's available for counsel -- on all sorts of matters.
Recently, Piazza has been racking his brain for a theme song to suit Oakland closer Huston Street. With a smorgasbord of goosebump-inducing options available, he is baffled why so many closers take the lazy route and recycle AC/DC's "Hells Bells" and Metallica's "Enter Sandman."
After considerable thought, Piazza settles on "Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains as an appropriate choice for Street.
"That's a great song that I think everybody kind of knows," Piazza says. "It could be an original closer anthem."
Catch Piazza on a different day, and he might be in a mood to discuss politics, global climate change or his distaste for professional sports franchises that use an adjective as a mascot. He can't understand, for the life of him, why Minnesota's National Hockey League team thought it was a good idea to refer to itself as the "Wild."
It's amazing how much time a man can spend watching the world go by once he sheds the burden of foul tips, home-plate collisions, reading scouting reports, and donning and removing a chest protector and shin guards several times a game. While old habits are hard to break, the new role suits Piazza well.
Now, if only he can still hit ...
The Athletics spent $8.5 million in an effort to find out, signing Piazza to a one-year deal to be their new designated hitter. The investment was a reward for a fine 2006 season in which Piazza hit 22 homers in 399 at-bats for San Diego and posted a .500 slugging percentage for the first time since 2002.
The signing, naturally, generated a slew of references to Frank Thomas, who hit 39 homers and drove in 114 runs for Oakland last season and parlayed his resurgence into a two-year, $18 million contract with Toronto.
The Thomas comparisons seem unfair to Piazza's new teammates, who look at his 421 career homers and Cooperstown credentials and insist he doesn't have to prove himself to anybody.
"He's going to put up his numbers and help us win ballgames, and that's all we want," said first baseman/outfielder Nick Swisher. "We don't want 60 bombs out of him. We want him to get his knocks when we need it and be that guy who stands in the on-deck circle and makes teams say, 'Oh man, I'm a little nervous about pitching to this guy right now.' "
The early reviews have been mixed. Piazza tore it up in spring training and put together a nine-game hitting streak out of the gate. He's been focused at the plate and patient in waiting for his pitch, and third baseman Eric Chavez has seen enough glimpses to expect a productive season from him.
"You kind of hear his hands are slowing down and he's getting old, but his hands still look quick," Chavez said. "Everybody has their holes. If your hands are healthy and the ball is jumping off your bat, you have a chance to do some damage."
Lately, not so much. Piazza is hitting .274, but he has only one home run and a .368 slugging percentage in 95 at-bats. Two scouts who watched him play in Baltimore last week predict similar stats for him -- 20-25 homers, about 75 RBIs and a batting average in the .260-.270 range. We're talking more Mike Sweeney-caliber production than numbers in the David Ortiz-Travis Hafner-Jim Thome neighborhood.
"He still has quality raw power and can do damage on mistakes, but if pitchers execute, he has lost enough bat speed to where he will not be a factor," said one AL scout.
The Athletics, as a unit, are off to their typically underwhelming offensive start. Over the past three years, they've ranked 22nd, 26th and 22nd in the major leagues in runs scored after one month, only to gradually climb the ladder and finish more respectably.
This season they're outdoing themselves for April weirdness. The A's rank 13th in the AL in runs and last in OPS even though they scored 16 runs in a win over Seattle and beat Tampa Bay 12-4 on Saturday.
You don't have to look too hard for an explanation. Mark Kotsay and Milton Bradley are on the disabled list, and Shannon Stewart is still rounding into form after years of trouble with plantar fasciitis. Bobby Crosby started slowly in spring training while recovering from back problems, and Piazza is in a new league adjusting to a different role.
With 1,629 career games caught, Piazza is tied with Jim Hegan for 19th on baseball's career list. He's one spot behind Rick Dempsey, and two behind Yogi Berra.
The A's thought the transition to DH would allow him to stay fresh, but Piazza is learning the job entails more than simply taking his swings and retiring to the clubhouse to raid the fridge, watch The Weather Channel and exchange text messages with his agent.
"I've always believed the mind controls the body," Piazza said. "When you're out there trying to get four or five good quality at-bats per game off very good pitching, it's still grueling."
Piazza was taxed enough recently to ask manager Bob Geren for a day off in Texas.
While Piazza was often criticized for his problems throwing out runners, he never received enough credit for the pride and time he invested in working with pitchers and calling a good game. He still speaks proudly of having caught two no-hitters -- by Ramon Martinez and Hideo Nomo -- and concedes to missing the daily interaction with a staff.
"If you don't hit or you're not productive in the lineup, you can't say, 'Well, at least I called a good game or made a good play or blocked a ball with the tying run on third,' " Piazza said. "You don't have the satisfaction of contributing to a win from a defensive perspective as a catcher."
Things might change now that the A's have sent Adam Melhuse to Triple-A and named Piazza the backup to Kendall. Regardless of what transpires, Piazza has found the Oakland clubhouse is an invigorating place to be. The Athletics have zero pretensions, and no formal hierarchy or preconceived notions about how veterans and rookies should act.
"Everybody does their job and plays the game right," Piazza said. "And when you come in the clubhouse, there's no, 'This guy is the captain,' or 'this guy runs that.' There's no pecking order, and it's refreshing in a way. It's a very carefree environment."
Piazza's teammates are adjusting to his quick wit and penchant for tossing out non-sequiturs in his role as resident social observer. During one recent game Piazza told them, "Be alert. We need more 'lerts.' "
His fellow Athletics, unaware that Piazza was referring to a play on words he once saw on a T-shirt, gave him the raised-eyebrow treatment.
"He's a little out there sometimes," Crosby said. "But he fits right in, for sure."
Until they administer the IQ tests.
"He's smarter than the rest of us," Swisher said. "He's a lot smarter than me, I can tell you that."
Now 38, Piazza talks about being at a good, comfortable place in his life. He's secure enough with his accomplishments in the game to respond to a question about 500 homers with a shrug and a casual, "We'll see."
Piazza is married to former "Baywatch" star Alicia Rickter, and they have a four-month-old daughter, Nicoletta Veronica. He'd love to dress her up in a little Athletics uniform and bring her in for the father-son/daughter game, but his teammates are so youthful, he doesn't know if they have enough offspring to field a roster.
"It's impossible for me to get on the rookies because they outnumber me like 6-1," Piazza says. "They're surrounding me."
After 17 seasons, Piazza is canny enough to play zone. If a man hangs around the game long enough, he figures out a way.
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May 27, 2007 -- Mike Piazza just recently regained full range of motion after spraining his right shoulder early this month. He is due back early next month and when he returns, the A’s are seriously contemplating asking him to catch several times a week.