Growing Up Takes On Urgency For This Prospect

Even here in the low minors, Opening Night can be about the anticipation of a fresh start. No, it’s not likely the annually retooled roster of the Spokane Indians is ever anticipated as eagerly as the balloon stomp, corn-chip spelling bee and other innovations in the ever-evolving genre of between-innings amusements.

That’s just baseball in the ‘90s. It’s not that the game is irrelevant not yet. Maybe when every box seat gets wired for Nintendo.

That would be our loss.

We’d miss the Opening Night nonsense of a five-assist putout on swinging strikeout the Tribe having spiritedly tossed the ball around the horn before realizing catcher Jeremy Hill hadn’t handled strike three.

We wouldn’t notice the relief pitcher with the very real name of Francis Scott Key III and wonder, when he’s getting squeezed by the home-plate ump, if he hollers, “O, say, can you see?”

We’d neglect the ample and promising entertainment the Indians provided Tuesday night in a 7-4 Northwest League victory over the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, the newest and surely the biggest mouthful in the minor leagues.

And we wouldn’t bother to note that Opening Nights aren’t just about fresh starts, but restarts.

We turned up one Tuesday in Doug Blosser, who has pinballed his way through three seasons of Class A ball only to land back in Spokane with a mandate to “grow up and accept my responsibilities.”

A self-inflicted mandate, we might add.

Two years ago, the Kansas City Royals saw enough pop in Blosser’s bat to make him a third-round draft choice out of high school. It’s still there. The sturdy first baseman had a double, a single and two runs in Spokane’s victory.

But you might figure the 20-year-old Blosser would be slapping out hits in Wilmingon or Wichita Falls or somewhere higher up the Royals’ ladder than Spokane by now. Blosser had it figured that way, anyway.

There was the promising start in rookie ball seven dingers and 33 RBIs in 50 games. There was the encouraging stop in the instructional league that fall.

And then there was, well, the big head.

“I went home maybe with a little too much confidence,” admitted Blosser, a native of Sarasota, Fla. “I didn’t work as hard as I should have in the offseason. And last year was pretty much a waste, to be honest.”

Last year, Blosser spent more time at the baggage carousel than in the batting cage. Assigned to Lansing in the Midwest League out of spring training, he struggled through a couple months before being sidelined by a broken wrist. Reassigned to Spokane for his rehabilitation, he again showed some power - three homers in 16 games - before being sent home for what club officials called a transgression of team rules. Finally, he moped through a final month back in rookie league in Florida.

“My attitude was very poor, to be honest,” he said. “It started when I got hurt. I’d just started to hit the ball pretty well when I broke my wrist, and after doing all my rehab in Lansing, the day I was cleared to play, they sent me here. I was upset about that.

“I didn’t handle it well. If I’d been older, maybe I’d have handled it better. I guess I’m glad I’m young. Better that it happen when I’m 20 than when I’m 24.”

Greg Blosser is older. Doug’s brother is almost 26, once a first-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox who got his cups of coffee - 22 games worth - in 1993 and 1994 and is now hanging on to his big-league dream in the farm system of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

“He got ahold of me after the end of the season and told me I needed to grow up and just play the game,” Blosser recalled. “He’s one of those guys who’s been through everything and we’ve had some good conversations. Some loud ones, too. Yelling and carrying on - you know, brother stuff.”

Brother’s phone calls kept Blosser’s spirits up in Lansing this spring, when he was lucky to get 10 at bats a week, and when he was sent back to Spokane. Mostly a designated hitter in high school, Blosser understands he must improve drastically on defense if he’s to have any future in baseball - “and just have a better work ethic,” he said. “I was kind of lazy when I started out.”

If nothing else, the low minors are made for moments of truth.

“I think every player gets to a point in their career where there’s a ‘Y’ in the road and you ask yourself what you have to do to survive,” said Indians manager Jeff Garber. “Hopefully, those guys will respond by coming out here and working hard and answering the challenge. For them, the challenge may be a little more urgent.”

Urgency. Anticipation. Take your pick. It’s a virtual buffet on Opening Night.

, DataTimes MEMO: Contact John Blanchette at 459-5577, ext. 5509.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review