One Hall of a player
It’s hard to find Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Bill Hall.
He’s up early, hitting in the batting cage. Then, he’s working on catching towering pop flies in the wind. Later, he’s practicing his technique of breaking from first base for steals.
Fresh off signing a $24 million, four-year contract last month, the franchise’s largest ever for a position player, Hall is out to prove himself again. And he’s making a position change to boot.
“My role has already sunk in. I know what I need to do to help this team win,” Hall said. “I still don’t think the contract thing has sunk in yet.”
The biggest thing Hall has done with his money so far is make good on a promise to his mother, Vergie, who was in the crowd when he hit a game-ending homer on Mother’s Day last year with a pink bat.
The catch? He made the promise when he was 5.
“I told her I was going to be a major league baseball player and I was going to build her a house,” he said. “I’m working on the second part of it.”
Hall, praised for his versatility as he made his way up through the organization, played mostly shortstop, third base and second base for Milwaukee the past three seasons. But his offensive breakthrough came last year as one of only five players in the majors with 35 doubles and 35 homers. The others were all big-name, big-money All-Stars: Carlos Beltran, Carlos Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano.
Hall, the only player on that list who hasn’t been an All-Star yet, has plenty of work cut out for him this spring because all three of Milwaukee’s outfielders are changing positions this year.
The Brewers plan to move Geoff Jenkins from right field back to left, where he played most of his career. The team’s longest-tenured player, Jenkins is in the last guaranteed year of his contract and hopes to play full-time rather than platoon with Kevin Mench or others.
Corey Hart will be in Jenkins’ old spot in right, and manager Ned Yost said Hart will get 400-500 at-bats while playing nearly every day.
The group is getting as much work defensively as possible in the spring.
“Billy’s going to need to play, Corey’s going to need to play,” Yost said. “The good thing about playing down here is it’s very difficult to play the outfield here. It’s a very high sky, and the ball carries with the wind.”
All three have struggled with the conditions so far, but Hall feels as though he’s got the most trying situation.
“Those guys have been out there for years,” Hall said. “Jenkins played left pretty much his whole career, so he’s probably going to feel natural there.
“It’s going to be a long spring training. I’m just trying to make my mistakes down here.”
Mariners drop a pair
While Ray Durham stayed home with the flu, Kevin Frandsen showed why the San Francisco Giants might not miss their oft-injured second baseman much this season.
Frandsen homered off Seattle starter Jeff Weaver and drove in three runs, leading the Giants to a 5-4 victory over a Mariners split squad on Sunday in Scottsdale, Ariz.
•The Arizona Diamondbacks turned a triple play and beat the Mariners 6-4 in a split-squad game at Tucscon, Ariz.
Around the league
Kansas City Royals second baseman Mark Grudzielanek will have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee today and is expected to be out at least a month. … Oakland Athletics shortstop Bobby Crosby faced live pitching for the first time this spring and showed no lingering effects from the back injury that sidelined him for the final two months last season.