Fick’s Stripes Astonish and Impress Tiger Brass

Launched like one of the 50 doubles and 16 home runs he hit this year, Robert Fick’s career is officially in orbit. In one summer he went from a Class-A utility player to blasting batting practice homers in Tiger Stadium.

Fick, 23, the Midwest League most valuable player and batting champion (.341), led the West Michigan Whitecaps to a 92-39 record, the best in professional baseball.

He impressed the Detroit Tiger brass enough to be invited along with a handful of other Class-A and double-A minor leaguers to spend a six-game homestand with the major league club. Gabe Kapler, an outfielder from Taft High who batted .293 with 18 homers for Class-A Lakeland, Fla., is also with the Tigers.

“I’m really glad they did this for us, this is our reward,” Fick said. “It’s fun and the guys in the clubhouse are really cool. It’s like we’re on the team except we aren’t in the dugout during the game.”

For Fick, hammering balls in batting practice alongside Tony Clark and Travis Fryman punctuates his rise from suspect to prospect.

Despite being a fifth-round draft choice and a Cal State Northridge All-American last year, Fick was not highly regarded this spring. He batted only .248 in 43 games last year at Class-A Jamestown, N.Y., while recovering from a staph infection he picked up while trying out unsuccessfully for the U.S. Olympic team.

His manager at Jamestown, Bruce Fields, moved up to West Michigan this year along with many of the players.

“He definitely opened some eyes in the organization,” Fields said. “If you would’ve asked anyone in this organization who would lead this team in hitting, no one would’ve said Robert Fick.

“I didn’t think Robert could play. I was wrong.”

Fick cemented a starting job at first base early by embarking on a 32-game hitting streak, the longest in pro baseball this year. West Michigan drew 8,000 to 12,000 fans to home games, and Fick became a local hero. T-shirts celebrating his hitting streak became a hot item.

Now he’s a hot item in the organization.

The Tigers asked Fick to play this winter for the Honolulu Sharks, an honor reserved for players with major league potential.

Kapler and right-handed pitcher Bryan Corey of Thousand Oaks High and Pierce College, who had nine saves at double-A Jacksonville, will be Fick’s teammates.

Fick also will return to catcher, the position he played before this season. He has been working this week with Fred Kendall, the Tigers’ catching instructor.

“My goal is to be the double-A catcher next year,” Fick said. “They flat out told me I’m going to double-A next year. I’ve just got to get back to being a good catcher.”

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Pencil in Roland De La Maza as your starting pitcher and prepare for a postgame Gatorade shower. The right-hander from St. Genevieve High and College of the Canyons is a proven winner.

De La Maza, 25, is 49-17 in five minor league seasons. He has never had a losing record and was 9-4 for the triple-A Buffalo (N.Y.) Bisons this year.

So he’s a hot major league prospect, right?

Depends on who’s talking.

When the Kansas City Royals obtained De La Maza from the Cleveland Indians in a trade last week for veteran utility player Bip Roberts, Indian General Manager John Hart told reporters he didn’t think De La Maza had an exceptional arm.

The Royals did not call up De La Maza when rosters expanded on Monday, and he is home in Arleta pondering his future.

“Only good things can come from this trade,” De La Maza said.

“When the Royals come to Anaheim next week, I’ll meet the team and talk with the general manager. As far as getting an opportunity to play in the big leagues, Cleveland was a traffic jam. There will be more of an opportunity with the Royals.”

He definitely is in better spirits than he was in October, when his father, Rolando, passed away. De La Maza felt he needed to quit baseball and stay home in Arleta with his family until his mother, Belkis, convinced him to continue his career.

“All the kids looked up to my dad, and all of a sudden I felt like I had to fill that role,” he said. “I was going to hang it up. But my mom pushed me back.”

And he proceeded to get batters out the way he has since being drafted out of Sacramento State in 1993, posting a 2.62 earned-run average in 33 appearances for Buffalo.

The Royals, last in the American League Central Division, could use a guy whose career winning percentage of .742 is one of the best in pro baseball.

Couldn’t they?

“Next year, it’s make or break,” De La Maza said. “I’m hoping they put me on the 40-man roster. I’d hate to say I’m going to [quit], but I have to make some important decisions.”

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How are these for some enormously encouraging numbers?:

Seven innings, 6.43 ERA, eight strikeouts.

You read right. They are encouraging because they belong to Derek Wallace.

Wallace, 25, made five appearances in August in a rehabilitation assignment at Port St. Lucie, Fla., where the New York Mets have Class-A and rookie league teams.

The former Chatsworth High right-hander entered spring training as the set-up man for Met closer John Franco.

Eventually, it was speculated, Wallace would be Franco’s successor.

Now, however, Wallace is taking it one small step at a time. He had an aneurysm in his right shoulder surgically removed in March.

The aneurysm was not life-threatening, but career-threatening was another story. Rehab was slow and painful.

And successful.

Wallace made five appearances of either one or two innings, and scouting reports indicate his velocity is nearly where it was last season. He will be back in Port St. Lucie in a few weeks for instructional league and next spring will try to stick with the Mets.