MARK TEAHEN
MAKING STRIDES IN DEVELOPMENT
Long-time Minor Leaguer Chris Truby was signed as sort of a Hollywood stand-in, taking the third-base role until the rising young star was ready for The Show. The plot took an unexpected twist when Truby suffered bone chips in his left wrist.
So it was Teahen who opened the season at third and, except for 18 early games lost because of a back strain, he's been there ever since.
"I went into Spring Training hoping I could prove I was ready right away," Teahen said. "I didn't totally buy into the idea of just going to Triple-A for a while and hanging there for a couple of months while someone else played in the big leagues. I felt like I was ready and I could help the team win right away.
"So, really in the offseason, I tried to prepare myself to be ready for Opening Day. When it was official and they told me, 'You're our starting third baseman,' it takes you back a little bit because it's been the dream all along."
The dream hasn't turned into a nightmare. The 23-year-old rookie is batting .249 with three homers, three triples, 19 doubles and 31 RBIs. Nothing spectacular, but he's been steady and has reached base safely in 19 of his last 22 games. He's also hitting .351 (13-for-37) with runners in scoring position and two outs.
A left-handed batter, Teahen eventually will hike his production numbers as he learns to turn on a pitch more consistently, the Royals believe. He grew up as a skinny high school shortstop who consistently lined the ball into left field. Now that he's 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, he's ready for a higher torque as a corner infielder.
"That's going to be a gradual progression," Royals general manager Allard Baird said. "When I scouted him, he hit everything to left field. And now you're starting to see him put the ball in left-center and center field and occasionally pull the ball to right-center field".
"We knew it was going to take time, but good hitters always have the ability to drive the ball the other way. He can do that. Usually, you have to teach hitters to that. He's in a pretty good company of guys, like Rod Carew, that could never pull the ball to begin with. The easy thing is to pull the ball; the hard thing is to go the other way."
Teahen is working in that direction.
"I'm not trying in a game to pull the ball. In early work, I'm trying to get my mechanics right hitting-wise so I can be free enough to take an inside pitch and drive it to right field," he said.
Case in point: In Friday night's game against the Oakland A's, Teahen drilled a double into right field. Then he raced home on a ground single, well ahead of the throw from short left field. That brings up another Teahen trait.
While he likely will not develop into a prolific base-stealer, Teahen shows unexpected speed for a big guy. He's 4-for-5 in steal attempts.
"I move OK, I guess," he said. "Growing up, I was always the leadoff hitter on my team and I always bunted and everything else. In high school, I was just over 6-feet and skinny as a rail, and played shortstop so it was my game, more or less, to use that speed."
Teammate Mike Sweeney noted that Teahen gets down to first base quickly.
"I think he surprises the umpires a lot of times because, on a routine ground ball to short, he sometimes beats it out and they're not expecting him to," Sweeney said.
At third base, Teahen has committed 16 errors but manager Buddy Bell, a former Gold Glove third baseman, certainly is not discouraged.
"He's got a few things to work on. Typical of any young player, they don't trust their instincts, and he's going through that a little bit and it affects his range at times," Bell said. "He's got exceptional range, an exceptional arm, he's not afraid of the ball and he's got good hands. That's a pretty good combination."
From Yucaipa, Calif., Teahen was one of three baseball-playing sons raised by Mike and Marty Teahen, both schoolteachers. He was a good scholar, team captain and named shyest guy in his class.
His brothers, Matt and Mick, also were ballplayers. Matt played in independent leagues and Mick is still in college ball. Mark, though, was the guy who advanced furthest from their backyard Wiffle Ball games.
"It's definitely neat to watch him play," Matt said. "I remember in Spring Training, they were playing the Mariners with Ichiro [Suzuki] and [Richie]Sexson and [Adrian] Beltre. And then Mark goes running out to third and it's kind of like, 'What's this kid doing out there?'" Well, now we know.
Special to Canadian Baseball News – 8 August 2005
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