MINOR LEAGUE NOTEBOOK / MARTIN BECK : Reunion Beneficial for Ex-Trojans

It seems all Bret Boone and Jim Campanis needed was to get back together.

Boone and Campanis, former teammates at USC, were reunited midway through this season on the Seattle Mariners’ Class-A team in Hampton, Va., the Peninsula Pilots, and, apparently, the reunion has re-energized both players.

Since Boone joined the Pilots after the Mariners drafted him in the fifth round of the draft in June, Campanis has raised his average from below .200 to .260. After starting slowly, Boone’s average is .278.

“It’s a good professional relationship in that we can help each other,” Campanis said. “He’ll say something to me about something and I’ll say something to him. . . . It’s a good situation. I hope I’m on his team next year or he’s on mine, however it works out.”

For a week earlier this month, the pair was virtually unstoppable, matching numbers worthy of the Carolina League’s offensive player of the week. Boone, a second baseman, batted over .500 for the week of Aug. 13-19, going four for four with two home runs in a game at Salem, Va.

But those statistics paled when compared with the week of Campanis, who catches and was named the player of the week. In seven games, he had nine hits, seven of which were home runs, and 15 runs batted in. And on Aug. 12, the day before that week, Campanis also hit a home run, giving him eight in eight games.

Campanis said he hasn’t had such a streak since the NCAA regionals in 1988, the year Boone followed him in the USC lineup. At the regionals in Fresno, Campanis hit two home runs in three consecutive games but the Trojans lost two games on the final day and Fresno State advanced to the College World Series.

In 1988, Campanis, in his final season at USC, batted .392 with 23 home runs and 93 RBIs, and Boone, in his first season as a Trojan, hit .326 with eight home runs with 53 RBIs. Campanis was drafted by the Mariners in the third round after that season and since the separation, neither player has hit as well.

In two more seasons at USC, Boone never hit better than he did as a freshman. Campanis hit .255 with 11 homers last year at Class-A San Bernardino in his first season of professional baseball.

In June of this season, Campanis was hitting .171 for the Pilots, but within a week of Boone’s arrival, Campanis said, he was hitting better.

They have helped each other by remembering the things that made them successful during their time together at USC. They also called another former USC teammate, Dave Latter, a pitcher with the Athletics’ team in Madison, Wis., for advice that Campanis said was helpful.

The relationship goes beyond their USC connection. Campanis said he has known Boone since Campanis was 14. Boone, the son of Royals catcher Bob Boone, went to El Dorado High School; Campanis, whose father, Jim Sr., played catcher in the majors for six years and whose grandfather, Al, was the Dodgers’ general manager, went to Valencia.

Up a notch: Dave Staton, a Tustin High School graduate and former Orange Coast and Cal State Fullerton player, is continuing to live up to his billing as one of the Padres’ top minor league prospects.

Staton, who won the Northwest League triple crown last season with a .362 average, 17 home runs and 72 runs batted in while playing for Spokane, batted .287 with 19 homers and 62 RBIs for Riverside in the California League this season before being promoted to double-A Wichita in mid-July.

For Wichita, Staton, now moved from third base to his natural position, first base, is batting .336 with 5 home runs and 25 RBIs.

Forgetable start: In his major league debut Tuesday against the Royals, Twins pitcher Paul Abbott allowed six hits, five walks and seven earned runs in three-plus innings and the Royals prevailed, 8-7. After the game, Twin outfielder Dan Gladden told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he is frustrated by the decision of Minnesota Twins management to promote Abbott, who had a 5-14 record with triple-A Portland, when other minor league pitchers have better records.

“I’m probably stepping out of bounds by saying this, but it’s frustrating. I was a guy who had to earn everything I got, knock on doors to get a job. I roomed with guys who had 10-10 records in triple A and never even got called up for a cup of coffee. And then you see this,” Gladden said.

Abbott, 22, was recalled Aug. 18 from Portland to make two starts in place of Kevin Tapani, who is on the 15-day disabled list.

Gladden said former University of Minnesota pitcher Denny Neagle, who has a combined record of 19-3 at Class-A Visalia and double-A Orlando, would have been a more logical choice to replace Tapani.

“It’s frustrating to see a guy with 19 wins down in double A and see him not get called up,” Gladden said. “It’s not fair to the rest of the guys on the team to have to take the field with somebody pitching who may not belong here. If we go out on the field with a guy we knew had won 19 games, it would be different.”