|
|
|
|
|
|
Vina Leads Off Season With Big Plans As New Cardinals Second Baseman:
From Top Of The Order, He Wants Grit To Filter Down Lineup
Mike Eisenbath of the Post-Dispatch
March 5, 2000
JUPITER, FLA. - Fernando Vina always has been the little guy with big goals. But none of them has been as big as the one he's working on now.
Vina, a former All-Star whom the Cardinals acquired in an offseason trade with Milwaukee, wants to be known as the top second baseman in the major leagues. He doesn't think he's that far off. But ...
The major leagues are filled with star-quality players at second base. Cleveland's Roberto Alomar is an eight-time Gold Glove winner who has a career batting average of .304. Mets second baseman Edgardo Alfonso is coming off his best all-around season, with a .304 average, 108 RBIs and only five errors.
Pokey Reese won the National League Gold Glove over Alfonso and combined a .285 batting average with 38 steals for the Cincinnati Reds. And the Reds considered him so valuable they refused to include him in a trade for Ken Griffey Jr.
And there are plenty of other strong second basemen -- Craig Biggio of Houston, Jeff Kent at San Francisco and Eric Young of the Cubs.
But Vina, who hit .311 in 1998 before an injury limited him to 37 games last season, has premier range. And he is without peer when it comes to turning the double play. "If he's not the best, then he's pretty close," Cardinals coach Jose Oquendo said.
Try rattling a table-setter
The Cardinals made one of the biggest steals of the offseason when they sent pitcher Juan Acevedo and two still-unnamed minor-leaguers to the Brewers for Vina. He's strong defensively - he matches Alomar's career .983 fielding percentage - and he is a splendid leadoff hitter with an infectious personality.
Vina has said he hopes to define the team's character and personality. "That's part of the role of a leadoff guy," he said. "You're the first person the other team sees, the first person everyone sees. So you want to give them a certain impression of you, and that can become what they think of the team."
Cardinals Hall of Fame outfielder Lou Brock, one of the greatest leadoff hitters in baseball history, likes Vina's planned approach.
"A good leadoff man sets the tone of the game," Brock said. "He sets the table, as I call it, and also can arrange the way the other players sit at the table. He jump-starts things, is an igniter. You usually can't rattle a leadoff guy."
That first impression people will get about the Cardinals, Vina said, will be one of hard work, aggressiveness and enthusiasm.
Manager Tony La Russa has watched Vina from the other dugout for several years with appreciation. But after seeing him daily for the past two weeks, La Russa has been greatly impressed by Vina's work ethic.
"If you watch him practice, that's exactly the way he plays," La Russa said. "He goes hard every day, in every way."
Proving himself again
Vina will turn 31 on April 16. He hopes he has a long-term contract by then. His current deal, which runs through this season, will pay him $2 million in 2000. But the Cardinals want to make sure he is fully recovered from leg problems that limited him to 37 games last year and 79 games in 1997, and that's all right with the diminutive Vina, who is 5 feet 9 and 174 pounds. It's just another time when he has to prove himself.
"I'm not one who boasts about things," he said. "I always knew I could be good enough, but I had plenty of people who never thought I could. I had to prove it to them. I had to do it. That's the way you get respect.
"It's really just something instilled in me from my parents, the way I grew up. I learned that nothing is ever given to you. My parents came here from Cuba with two suitcases and nothing else, so they couldn't afford to be lazy."
In early 1969, Olga Vina was pregnant with Fernando when she and Andres Vina finally were able to realize a dream: They immigrated to the United States. Andres Vina applied with the U.S. Embassy in 1962 and "for seven years, he worked in the sugar-cane fields for free, waiting for that day to come," Fernando said.
"Shoot for the stars"
All Vina ever has wanted has been opportunities and someone to believe in him. People seemed willing to give him a little respect when he was younger but made him earn the rest.
The Yankees drafted Vina out of Sacramento City College in 1988 - in the 51st round. A scout told him he was too small but told Vina if he got started early enough in pro ball, he might have a chance. Instead, Vina earned a baseball scholarship at Arizona State, where he won the 1990 Pacific-10 batting title, striking out only seven times in 279 at-bats.
He finally signed after the NY Mets drafted him in the ninth round that year. "I was small and not as strong as I am now," Vina said. "People questioned whether I could actually hit. Defensively, I always could do the job. That's what got me some opportunities."
After a decent 1992 season in the Class A Florida State League, the Seattle Mariners took a chance and took him from the Mets in the Rule 5 draft, meaning they had to keep him on their major-league roster all season. Vina didn't play much (45 at-bats in 24 games) before the Mariners sent him back to the Mets' minor-league system. But it showed Vina he was good enough to play at the major-league level.
On opening day 1994, Vina was in the Mets' starting shortstop. They traded him to Milwaukee the next season and he beat out Pat Listach for the regular second baseman's job. A broken ankle delayed his start in what would become a solid 1997 season.
Finally able to play an injury-free season - and with manager Phil Garner's confidence - Vina batted .311 with 45 RBIs and 22 stolen bases as he made the All-Star team in 1998.
"It started sinking in that I could be a good hitter, take the ball to all fields, get on base - I learned my role," Vina said. "Here in the big leagues, nobody knows you can do it until you've actually done it. I knew I could hit, even if other people thought I would only be a good defensive player and not much more."
He has proved to be much more. He'd like to be considered the best.
"There isn't anything lacking in what Fernando wants to be," La Russa said. "That includes what he wants to be on and off the field, as a teammate, as a winner, as a go-to guy. He wants it all, and I'd love it.
"Shoot for the stars."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
|
| |
