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Aurilia's School Of Hard Knocks
By Henry Schulman, San Francisco Chronicle, 2/25/00, E1
Scottsdale, Ariz. -- Rich Aurilia is so mild-mannered off the field he could play Clark Kent in the next ``Superman'' movie. On the field, he can slam a helmet and tomahawk a bat after a strikeout with the best of them.
Everyday players in the majors are not supposed to get worked up like that. They accept their failures, because there are so many, and move on. In 1999, his first full season as the Giants' shortstop, Aurilia learned a lot of things like that about the game -- and about himself.
He learned that you have to prepare your body differently than a part-time player would. He learned that he certainly belonged in manager Dusty Baker's lineup every day. He learned that he is a more powerful hitter than he or anyone else predicted. And he learned that showing anger on the field can cost you with your teammates.
``You get approached by some of the veterans who've played the game for a long time, and that happened to me last year,'' Aurilia
said softly during a clubhouse interview yesterday. ``I sat down and talked to this one individual. It helped me to sit down and get this point of view from somebody who was just watching.
``I think in the the second half of last year I kind of cut that behavior down, because I made a bet with that individual that if I did something I'd owe him something.''
Not that Aurilia wants to be completely tame out there.
``I do like to get fired up sometimes because that drives me,'' he said.
The Giants would love to see more of whatever drove Aurilia last year as he finally discovered himself with the shortstop job after years of watching management run a parade of veterans at the position right past him. In 1999, there were no Shawon Dunstons, Jose Vizcainos or Rey Sanchezes to compete with. There was Aurilia, and only Aurilia.
He responded by playing in 152 games and emerging as one of baseball's most powerful shortstops. Besides hitting a career-high .281, Aurilia set a San Francisco franchise record with 22 home runs, also the most by any NL shortstop. He drove in more runs (80) than any NL shortstop, too.
Manager Dusty Baker said from the start last spring that Aurilia was the Giants' shortstop, but Aurilia needed a season like he had to prove it to himself.
``I pretty much knew coming in with the personnel we had that I was going to be the shortstop. At the same time, in my own mind, I wanted to go out and show I could do it on an everyday basis, prove I could do it,'' Aurilia said. ``That was kind of the knock on me for the previous couple of years as to why I wasn't given the job.''
Although he is established at age 28, Aurilia still has critics, especially of his defense. He committed 28 errors last year. He also read the papers over the winter and heard the fans say his 22 homers were a fluke, that he can't do it again.
``You're always going to get a collar, or a jacket, whether you deserve it or not, and usually it's negative,'' Baker said in discussing his shortstop. ``Usually it's what you can't do, not what you can do. Why not focus on what a person can do? I don't think many people around thought Richie was going to hit .280 with 20 home runs. How many RBIs did he have, 80? Not bad for a guy playing his first full year.
``Now, people can be unfair and compare him to A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) and Derek Jeter. We'll have to up his salary by $9 million or more,'' Baker cracked.
Aurilia may not be in Rodriguez's financial league, but like the Mariners star Aurilia will be playing for a nice long-term contract this season. Aurilia will help his cause if he improves his defense.
He believes that his drive to ramp up his hitting last year contributed to his bounty of errors. Thirteen of the 28, an unusually high percentage, were throwing errors.
``Last year I came into camp and I did a lot of lifting. I think my range of motion with my arm kind of suffered, and it took me a while to get myself back in shape defensively. I felt kind of bulky,'' he said. ``This year, I feel the total opposite. I cut my workouts down, stretched more and threw a lot more.
``I think at this level I've proven myself defensively, before last year. I'm confident I can get back to that level again.''