THURSDAY, JULY 3, 2008
Former Pioneer Baseball Record Holder Expected to Rise Quickly
By Steven Tavares
Sports Editor
When former Cal State East Bay outfielder Archie Gilbert was accepted to the California League All-Star team last month, he awaited his limousine dressed to the nines.
Stockton Ports Hitting Coach Tim Garland teased Gilbert about his classy sports suit, clearly divergent from the typical All-Star’s simple collared dress shirts and slacks.
“You’re dressed to kill ain’t you, little Archie,” said Garland.
“I’m going to be a big leaguer one day, so I better start acting like one,” Garland recalls Gilbert saying.
During his playing days at CSUEB from 2002 to 2005, Gilbert’s career numbers would allow anyone to credibly argue he is statistically the greatest Pioneer baseball player in the university’s history.
He owns nearly every career mark, excluding home runs and batting average, where he ranks second and seventh, respectively.
Nonetheless, Gilbert went undrafted after his senior year when scouts from the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants decided to pass on selecting him.
“They said, 'he’s 21-years-old. This is probably the highest his ceiling is going to get,'” said Gilbert.
Part of the problem, Gilbert believes, is that playing Division III baseball at CSUEB had certain disadvantages that may have hampered his development.
“At a D-III school—I wouldn’t knock it—but, we don’t have the time, we don’t have the equipment, we don’t have coaches you could really relate to as a player,” said Gilbert. “We had a coach who knew a lot about hitting, but he was old school. He couldn’t really relate to the hitters. I know what he’s talking about now that I’m older, but back then he didn’t really have the time to explain how to hit.”
Gilbert signed with the Boston Red Sox organization as an undrafted free agent in 2005 but suffered an immediate setback when an inside fastball broke his pinky finger just 40 at-bats into his professional career.
The following spring, the first major disappointment in his life was handed down from the Boston front office.
“They said we have to let you go, but we think you can play somewhere,” said Gilbert. “I was like, ‘I want to play here’, and I think that was the best thing for me. That was the first time I ever saw failure like that, but I knew I wasn’t done.”
Besides the injury the preceding season, Gilbert was the victim of a numbers game within the Boston organization where a number of high-priced talent would be assured playing time over Gilbert.
“I’m glad they did it then because they could have left me to rot on the bench,” recalls Gilbert.
Three weeks later, the Chicago White Sox organization offered Gilbert a chance to play, but again he was relegated to the bench at Class A Great Falls (Mont.) and Kannapolis (N.C.).
Around this time, despite limited playing time, Gilbert said he began to apply himself to improving his game.
He met a ballplayer named Jack Gifford who introduced him to his workout partner, Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Byrnes.
“He said go to San Mateo and workout with these guys. I didn’t even know who I was going to meet until Eric Byrnes comes up to me and says, ‘Are you Archie?’”
Gilbert credits Byrnes’s workout program to his improvement as a ballplayer and said he tries to emulate the scrappy outfielder’s energetic style.
Another move was in the offing when the White Sox organization dragged its feet in offering Gilbert a new contract.
Gilbert said seven teams contacted him and Oakland offered him the best deal with a chance at increased playing time with the Stockton Ports.
Incidentally, coming back to Northern California to play in the Athletics’ organization wasn’t a dream come true for the Union City native who grew up a Giants fan and a follower of Barry Bonds.
But despite his personal feelings, he started the season on a tear, hitting .356 in April and stayed hot well into May with a 25-game hitting streak that fell just short of the California League record.
Gilbert seems to have a knack for long hitting streaks. He also holds the CSUEB record with a 36-game streak in 2004.
“I’ll tell you why, it’s because he makes contact and doesn’t strikeout a lot,” said Garland. “He puts the ball in play and because of his speed he gets some hits the average ballplayer doesn’t get. He doesn’t get deep in counts so the pitcher isn’t allowed to throw him their put-away pitches.”
Along with his selection to Class A All-Star Game where he started in leftfield and knocked in the Cal League’s only run in a 3-1 loss to the Carolina League June 24, Gilbert also hit for the cycle with a home run, triple, double and a single June 19 against High Desert.
“At the All-Star Game I just sat back and thought, ‘I used to sit the bench. I got released.’ I must have done some kind of work to get here,” said Gilbert.
Gilbert’s maturation has become evident to many around the Ports ball club, including fans, numerous members of the media and the coaching staff.
Ports Manager Darren Bush sees Gilbert as a professional ballplayer who takes his career seriously.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
