LeCroy looks to recover his swing, career

Jim Mandelaro
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

Life has changed for Matthew LeCroy in the past year.

Last July, he was a catcher for the Washington Nationals, a seventh-year major-leaguer signed to a one-year deal for $850,000. His wife and children lived with him, and he flew on charter planes to cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

These days, LeCroy is a catcher/first baseman/designated hitter for the Triple-A Red Wings and making minor-league bucks, a fraction of his 2006 salary. His family is back home in Belton, S.C. And he's making 10-hour bus trips to Indianapolis and playing in cities such as Toledo, Pawtucket and Richmond.

"Things are a lot different," he says. "But in the end, it's baseball. And I try just as hard now as I did in the majors. I'm just not getting the hits I once did."

LeCroy, 31, is enduring the most challenging season of his 10-year career. He is batting .179 with 2 home runs and 20 RBI.

Since the first week of the season, his average has fluctuated from .167 to .225.

"I know he's not hitting," Wings manager Stan Cliburn said. "I just hope there's something left in the tank. I know his desire and will are there. But he has slowed down."

LeCroy was selected by the New York Mets in the second round of the 1994 draft but went to Clemson University, where he earned All-America honors. Three years later, the Twins chose him in the first round, and he played for them from 2000 to 2005, on a team that won three straight American League Central titles.

His best season was in 2003, when he hit .287 with 17 home runs and 64 runs batted in. He hit 17 more homers in 2005. In 2004, he belted a pinch-hit, ninth-inning grand slam to beat the Toronto Blue Jays.

He became a free agent after the '05 season and signed in February 2006 with the Nationals. But the '06 season provided no fresh start.

There was the infamous game against the Houston Astros on May 25, when LeCroy allowed seven Astros to steal bases and committed two throwing errors. LeCroy was battling bone spurs in his throwing elbow but played that day because of injuries to starting catchers Wiki Gonzalez and Brian Schneider.

He was removed from the game in the middle of the seventh inning by manager Frank Robinson, who found the decision so difficult and who respected LeCroy so much that he wept in the postgame interview.

LeCroy handled it with class, telling reporters, "If my daddy was managing this team, I'm sure he would have done the same thing."

The Nationals released LeCroy on July 20. He had hit .239 with 2 home runs and 9 RBI in 39 games. They re-signed him for Triple-A New Orleans, but he broke his wrist swinging at a pitch in his first game.

"I actually played four more games after that, but it kept getting worse," he said. "An X-ray finally confirmed it was broken."

LeCroy also had elbow surgery last fall to remove bone chips, scar tissue and soft tissue from his elbow. He knew that having only 67 at-bats with the Nationals last season would hinder his chances of being picked up by a big-league club this year.

"Out of sight, out of mind," he says.

He had kept in touch with Twins general manager Terry Ryan, and when Ryan called in January, offering him a spring-training invitation and a minor-league contract, he took it.

"You go to big-league camp and know you don't have a chance," he says, "but I thought some team might have a spot, because I did have big-league experience."

No one called, and LeCroy broke camp with the Red Wings.

LeCroy is big (6-2, 225 pounds) and slow. In 469 big-league games, he has never stolen a base.

Cliburn says that despite LeCroy's offensive woes, he has been a positive force on a Wings team battling for the International League North lead.

"He keeps everyone in check," the manager says. "When you have as many young players as we do, you need a veteran presence. He brings that to the clubhouse. He brings a presence."

Cliburn also says LeCroy is one of the team's hardest workers: "He's the first one here every day and the last to leave. He's the ultimate professional."

Cliburn isn't shocked by LeCroy's offensive decline.

"It usually hits you when you're 31," the former catcher says. "I always said if I could play to 35, that would be great. But 31 was my last year. I hit a roadblock. It's the catcher, all those years of up and down."

LeCroy isn't ready to throw in the towel. "Not at all," he says. "I've actually hit the ball hard — just right at people. I know I can turn this thing around."

Down the road, LeCroy would love to be a manager. Cliburn thinks he would be an excellent manager or coach.

"I see a guy that's got a lot to offer," he says. "He's got respect and passion for the game, and he brings a smile to people's faces. It doesn't matter what he's hitting. He's an important part of this ballclub."

Matthew LeCroy

Age: 31.
Positions: Catcher, first base, designated hitter.
Hometown: Belton, S.C.
Family: Wife Holly; daughters Isabella, 2, and Maggie, 17 months.
Did you know? LeCroy played for Team USA in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.