Morneau turns into fixture

Twins ink him in at first base

By CHRIS UMPIERRE
Fort Myers News Press

First, he had an appendectomy in October. Then he contracted chicken pox in January. Shortly afterward, he had a wisdom tooth pulled. Two weeks ago, he got pneumonia and is still fighting it.

Outside of the aforementioned, Justin Morneau had a sensational winter.

"At least all that stuff happened in the offseason," the Minnesota Twins first baseman said. "It could be a lot worse, right? I could not be here."

The Twins are glad he is. Morneau — who reported to the Twins camp Thursday at the Lee County Sports Complex — will open the season on a major-league roster for the first time. The 23-year-old, who hit .271 with 19 home runs and 58 RBI in 74 games last year, will be Minnesota's starting first baseman.

Although he has always played well in the minors — he was hitting .356 with 10 homers and 29 RBI at Triple-A Rochester before he was promoted last season — Morneau had always come to spring training, fighting to make the Opening Day roster.

That was because Minnesota had veteran first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, who was traded last season. Morneau doesn't have to fight for a job this spring. The first-base job is his. The Twins hope it's his for the next, oh, 15 years.

"I'm looking for him to hit 30 (home runs) this year," Twins center fielder Torii Hunter said. "He's going to be the first Twin to hit 30 in the last decade. He's a great hitter, man. His approach to the game is almost like a veteran."

Thirty home runs wouldn't be a stretch. If last year's statistics are projected over a 162-game season, Morneau would have posted 42 homers and 127 RBI.

Morneau, who is regarded as one of the game's brightest young power hitters, said he felt frustrated in years past that Minnesota couldn't find a spot for him on its roster.

Many Twins fans had the same frustration. Some will cite his 2003 season when, at age 22, Morneau smashed 26 homers in Double-A, Triple-A and the majors and still wasn't an every-day starter for Minnesota.

"He had a lot of pressure with Doug Mientkiewicz here and (former Minnesota Twins first baseman) David Ortiz for one year," Hunter said. "Those are some pretty good players. Mientkiewicz is a veteran so it's tough to come in and take his job. You've got to come in and actually take it. It's tough."

Now that his spot is secured, Morneau's feeling relaxed.

"No one is coming in so there's not as much pressure," Morneau said. "The point of spring training isn't to try to fight (for a position). It's to go out there and get ready to help the team win. Sometimes you can get a little too uptight, trying too hard. When you know you have a spot, it's a little easier on your mind."

Don't expect to see Morneau, who didn't practice Thursday, playing anytime soon. Because of his offseason maladies, Morneau is out of shape and needs some time to build his stamina. He will jog and do light weights for the rest of the week.

The Twins training staff will evaluate him next week and decide if he's ready to practice.

"He looks really light colored to me," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "It looks like he hasn't been in the sun at all. It looks like he's been sick all winter. It's going to be a process to get him healthy."

When he does get healthy, Morneau is expected to make a significant splash. Gardenhire was asked Thursday about the prospect of Morneau and catcher Joe Mauer hitting back-to-back in the heart of the lineup.

"On paper, it sounds fantastic and that's kind of the way we planned it," Gardenhire said. "It sure looks like it could be some fun."

Despite his breakout rookie campaign, Morneau said he still feels a need "to prove to everyone" he can play in the majors.

"Everybody has high hopes for him," Hunter said. "Hopefully, he can go out there and show people that he's the person everybody has pumped him up to be."