Outstanding in their field

Sporting News, The, August 11, 1997 by David Falkner

When Dwight Evans was a Gold Glove right fielder for the Red Sox in the 1970s and '80s, he developed an exercise to teach himself to throw more accurately, particularly when he had to pivot making his throw out of the corner. The exercise consisted of laying out a line of balls in a row on an empty field, then moving over them, one by one, in slow motion. With one foot coming forward, he picked up a ball, stepped back, slowly pivoted and made a thrust off the rear foot, and then threw -- still in tai chi time -- toward the infield.

Evans, of course, was one of the notorious "students" of his craft. But his strange-looking exercise emphasized the importance of right field as one of the game's "skill" positions. Shortstop, second base, center field, catcher -- positions that define a team's strength up the middle -- are flashier. But right field, in surprising ways, is the knight's move on the chessboard -- straight ahead and to the side, or to the side and straight ahead, subtle and sometimes unpredictable.

The right fielder has the longest throw on the field, to third base, and if the right fielder is righthanded, he also has the most intricate throw: the pivot or spin move from the line going back toward the corner. Classic right fielders have cannons: Evans, Roberto Clemente, Carl Furillo. They can keep runners from taking extra bases, or, if they are alert enough, pick them off rounding a base. If he dares playing shallow or charges hard enough, a right fielder occasionally can take a line drive and convert it into a routine out at first. Most of all, a good right fielder can be an intimidator, able to turn innings and even games around with aggressive and inspired play.

What's happening today in the art of playing the position? I recently caught up with two young right fielders, Alex Ochoa of the Mets and Michael Tucker of the Braves, and asked them -- and their coaches and managers -- about their position and how they fit into their team's plans for the second half of the season. Their answers underscored the importance of position play in right -- at a time when some of the game's observers suggest there may be more pawns than knights roaming the chessboard in right.

Ochoa is a "classic" right fielder. He is fast, has a powerful arm and possesses good instincts off the bat. Still, at 25, Ochoa remains a star-in-waiting. He has not yet lived up to the great expectations that followed him from Baltimore in the Bobby Bonilla trade. He is struggling at the plate this year -- his average has been in the .220s -- and dividing his playing time with Carl Everett and Butch Huskey. Manager Bobby Valentine insists the right field rotation is not performance-driven but is meant to allow each player to be fresh, to get adequate playing time and to play within a system meant to focus on team goals rather than individual ones. This has been tough for Ochoa.

"It's an adjustment because I've been used to playing every day," Ochoa says. "Every time I went out there I left I had to do something special to stay in the lineup. Now, all I can do is just try to help the best I can."

Ochoa came up as a center fielder in the Orioles' organization but was switched to right because of his strong arm. He was tutored by Reid Nichols, a former Red Sox outfielder, who soon taught him Evans' old tai chi routine. "He learned it from Dwight," Ochoa says. "He'd put the balls down, and we were supposed to go and get them and pivot throw, or just throw to first, things like that. You learn that and you get quicker and more accurate."

Ochoa also learned how to cut down the angle of a ball, how to "come around" the ball if it was hit in the gap so he would have forward motion going into his throw; he learned how to spin from the corner, to throw low to give his cutoff man a chance. He learned all the moves -- but he has not played enough. "He has great dedication," says Mookie Wilson, a former Met who is now the team's outfield coach. "He's just beginning to learn his position and to learn about himself as a ballplayer."

Although Ochoa is part of a threesome in right and the Mets consider the spot filled, the position's potential as an instrument of intimidation obviously remains unfulfilled.

Michael Tucker went from the Royals to Atlanta in late March with no celebrity searchlights crisscrossing the sky over Turner Field. If anything, there were lowered expectations because he was replacing superstar David Justice. From the start, Tucker was ticketed as a role player, maybe part of a Braves outfield troika that also would include Andruw Jones and Ryan Klesko.

He has been a role player, but not in the way anyone expected. When Kenny Lofton was out, and Jones took over in center, Tucker became the everyday right fielder. "He has been a complete surprise," manager Bobby Cox says. "I didn't realize he was that good. He has speed and range and can catch the ball and he makes the play down the line as good as anyone in the game. He's going to be there for a while."