September 19, 2007

A's rookie Barton looks like latest magic Beane
Column by Art Spander

OAKLAND — He was the afterthought, the add-on in a trade which from a distance of nearly three years makes Billy Beane once more seem as brilliant a baseball man as he probably is, give or take a few Miguel Tejadas.

You remember the deal, depressing at the moment for those who cared more than a whit about the Oakland Athletics, Mark Mulder, All-Star pitcher, to the St. Louis Cardinals for Danny Haren, Kiko Calero, and oh, yeah, Daric Barton.

So now, Haren also is an All-Star pitcher, 2007 version, Calero has been a competent reliever, and nine days ago Barton arrived to take over first base for, what, the next decade?

"That's in the hands of the guys who run the team," said Barton, wary of making predictions, even when ready to fulfill the predictions of others, who said he was the best prospect in the A's organization.

What's invariably in Barton's hands is a bat. The man is a hitter.

There are other requirements to being a ballplayer — speed, fielding, power — but except for a pitcher nothing is as important as the ability to hit a baseball.

It's a gift. It's a necessity.

Ten days in the bigs, 33 at bats before Tuesday night, 11 hits. You can qualifythat, say the pitchers don't yet know him, say the season has reached a point where unless you're a contender, nothing matters, but you can't deny 11-for-33, a .333 average.

And you can't deny two years ago when Daric was at Stockton in the California League, Beane called him "the best pure bat in the minor leagues."

Who now is in the majors.

"A dream come true," Barton said. "I've been looking forward to it my whole life. It's what I've been working for the last few years."

He is 22, a beach boy from Southern California, Orange County, although born in Vermont. There's the obligatory goatee, if a very small one. There's that look of greatness.

There's that sense of awe.

"I grew up watching people like (Mark) Kotsay," he said of his A's teammate. "I went to a lot of Angels games when I was little. I was an A's fan, although I switched to the Mariners when Ken Griffey was there."

Barton had mentioned maybe going to Cal State Fullerton out of Marina High in Huntington Beach from which he graduated in 2003, but he is a ballplayer not a student. If Daric were taken in any of the top five rounds, he was signing. When the Cardinals made him a first-rounder, pen and dotted line united quickly.

The Cards for that one year made him a catcher. They didn't have to make Barton a hitter.

"I remember," said Bob Geren, now the A's manager, then an A's coach, "he hit for an incredible average his first full year out of high school (.313 at Peoria, in 2004), in the Midwest League. I just remember myself playing a year out of high school, and how difficult it was to hit for that kind of average.

"We knew he was going to be a special hitter when we made the trade."

It's been said the first time you are traded in baseball it's like being thrown out of your own home. Barton didn't look at that way.

"I thought it was an honor to be in a trade with Mark Mulder, knowing how good of a pitcher he is and how highly they thought of him. And I was excited about going back to the West Coast, closer to home, playing for an American League team. There were a lot of roadblocks in St. Louis. I'm happy to be here."

The guys on the corners, the ones who play first and third, in theory are supposed to have power. Barton hit just nine home runs plus four more in the playoffs for the Sacramento River Cats before being recalled a week ago Monday. But he also had 38 doubles.

"It's not far-fetched when he gets a little stronger he'll hit 15 to 20 home runs," Geren said. "But we'd rather see somebody at his age use the whole field and get those doubles and triples."

When the trade was about to be made, one Web site writer out of St. Louis whined, "If the Cardinals deal this kid, it better be for more than some magic beans. Barton has the potential to be a future franchise player."

No magic beans, just some more magic by Billy Beane.