LeCroy: Power in a pinch

Matt LeCroy's ever-shifting role has taken another turn this year.

BY GORDON WITTENMYER
Pioneer Press

FORT MYERS, Fla. - It took the Twins' Matt LeCroy only four years to start setting home run records after breaking into the major leagues as one of the most promising power-hitting prospects in the game.

"It's kind of neat," he said, adding, "I'd rather it be 74."

That's the thing. His power-hitting record came as a bench player and involved only three home runs — the number of consecutive pinch-hit at-bats in which he homered last year.

That American League record (tying the major league mark) is at once a symbol of his career fortunes and misfortunes since his major league debut in 2000 and why he still is with the Twins.

"I always thought I would be a guy who can hit 30 home runs," he said. "I still feel like that. I've just got to get the at-bats to do it."

But that's not the way the Twins have his role drawn up this year. He is the backup first baseman, third catcher and right-handed/power pinch hitter going into this season, his spot on the spring roster cinched by his pinch-hitting success last year. On the other hand, the way plans for him have gone up in smoke the past few years, he might wind up with 500 at-bats.

After all, LeCroy has been in the Twins' Opening Day lineup in three of the past five seasons. He made his major league debut as the team's catcher in the 2000 opener before struggling to hit and getting sent back to Class AAA.

He opened the past two seasons as the team's designated hitter, but injuries to other players in 2003 caused him to lose at-bats that year, and a pulled rib-cage muscle he suffered during the third game of last season helped open the door for Lew Ford to establish himself.

"The toughest thing is you want to play, and I thought I had an opportunity last year but got hurt," said LeCroy, 29, "and you think, 'There went your opportunity.' "

LeCroy earned last year's shot by hitting .287 with 17 home runs in 345 at-bats in 2003. Then he got hurt and dropped to .269 and nine in 264 at-bats.

By midseason he was the team's primary power pinch hitter and its top choice as a right-handed pinch hitter.

In fact, he hit more home runs as a pinch hitter (four) than as a designated hitter (three) last season.

"You've got to have people who can come off the bench and get some big hits for you. He proved he can do that," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "If he really struggled to come off the bench last year, it would have been a lot harder for us to keep him around."

That's a far cry from LeCroy's stock five years ago, when the former supplemental first-round draft pick went to spring training after pounding pitchers at Class A Fort Myers and AAA Salt Lake for 30 homers in 452 at-bats.

"I think the biggest disappointment in my career was my first year," he said of that .174 debut in the big leagues. "I never really struggled offensively, and then I go to the big leagues and I never seemed to get it together."

He was sent to the minors after 56 games and split the next two seasons between AAA and the big leagues before sticking.

Now, after signing a $750,000 contract in his first winter of arbitration eligibility, it's a different kind of struggle. After getting three opportunities to open seasons in the starting lineup, one of the most popular players in the clubhouse faces a different kind of spring and a different challenge.

"Pinch hitting is the hardest thing to do," he said.