Catcher experiment pays off for all-star Morales

FORT MYERS — After being selected to the Gulf Coast League All-Star team as a second baseman following the 2002 season, the Minnesota Twins organization had a unique gift for Jose Morales: a catcher's mitt.

"Since they signed me they talked about me moving to catcher, but I never thought it would be that quick," said Morales, now catching for the Fort Myers Miracle. "It was like I came back for fall Instructional League (in 2002) and they were like, 'Here you go.' "

And there Morales went, off to Quad City and a year of abuse his lower body wasn't used to after spending most of his life at either second base or shortstop.

His back ached so much from the constant crouching that his body eventually wore down.

Morales missed the last month of the season, though he did manage to hit .288 with 27 RBIs in 60 games.

Now, 18 months into the experiment, Morales is an All- Star. He will be one of three Miracle players — shortstop Kaulana Kuhaulua and reliever Justin Olson are the others — who will play for the West squad in the Florida State League All- Star game on Saturday in Port St. Lucie.

"I was a little surprised because I wasn't hitting so good at the time," Morales said. "I think I'm hitting like .250, .248 (actually .245), but I'm happy. (Being selected by the other managers) was the first thing that came to my mind. I guess I'm doing OK."

While he's still getting used to calling a game, Morales still possesses the strong arm of a shortstop. Until a recently, he was throwing out 35 percent of potential base-stealers.

"In any league, that's pretty good," said Miracle manager Jose Marzan. "He's adapting pretty well. He's doing a good job of calling the ballgames and he was hitting .260 until he got into a little slump like everybody else has."

While he's happy with his progress, Morales knows he's playing in an organization that appears to be set at catcher for, say, the next 15 years. Twins rookie catcher Joe Mauer is only 21 and is very much the future of the franchise.

"When they told me I was playing catcher, Joe's the first guy I thought about," said Morales, who like Mauer is just 21. "I was like, they have Joe, they have so many good catchers, what am I doing over there?"

Then again, there are 29 other fish in the major league sea.

"I don't look at it like I play for one team, I play for 30," Morales said. "If I don't make it with the Twins I'll still have a chance. If I get called up to be Joe's back-up for the next 10 years, that'd be OK too."

LET'S GO TO THE VIDEOTAPE: The television at one end of the Miracle clubhouse at Hammond Stadium was supposed to be a luxury item.

The "Extra Innings" cable package that makes almost every game available via satellite a way for the Miracle players to keep up with the Minnesota Twins or kill time during a rain delay.

But Marzan has also used it as a teaching tool. He'll tape at bats of certain players then use them as a template for what to do — and what not to do — as a hitter.

Monday afternoon Marzan replayed the tape of Mauer's first ever big league home run — a three-run shot against the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday — over and over while doing a little tutoring for whomever happened to be nearby.

"I taped (Michael) Cuddyer's double too," Marzan said. "You see those guys, you see what they're doing and then our guys can start to do it now too."

FEELING BETTER: Marzan said he's pretty much over whatever was troubling him last week when he was rushed to the hospital after feeling pain in his chest during a game at Lakeland.

After preliminary tests showed no heart problems, Marzan said doctors will perform tests on his stomach.

"But that doesn't need any headlines," Marzan, 38, said with a laugh. "They say once you hit 40, it's all downhill."

BOBBLEHEAD MANIA: Scan the lockers of a few Miracle players closely, and you'll find one of the 1,000 Joe Mauer Bobbleheads the team gave away on Saturday night.

"Yeah, and you can believe (Mauer) is going to sign that," said reliever Justin Olson.

While the toy is cool, in a way, it's also motivation. Mauer spent a few days with the Miracle in late-May rehabbing a knee injury. Two weeks later he's in the majors hitting homers and they're giving away Bobbleheads in his honor.

"It makes that goal (of getting to the majors) that much closer," Olson said. "He was right over there (in one of the lockers) a couple weeks ago and you look at what he's doing now. He's pretty gifted, but everybody in this room is pretty gifted too."

NOTES: Jannio Gutierrez, who spent the 2003 season with the Miracle, is back in Fort Myers. Gutierrez spent the first half of the 2004 season with Class AA New Britain, but returned to the Miracle to help solve some control problems.

Gutierrez is 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA in two appearances with Fort Myers.

Marcus Moseley has stepped out of the bullpen to take Josh Gray's spot in the rotation. Gray has struggled during the first half, going 2-6 with a 7.51 ERA. Opponents are batting .348 against Gray this season.

Scott Baker, who started the season with the Miracle, was named Pitcher of the Month of May in the Eastern League.

Left-handed reliever Jason Miller joined Baker in New Britain last week after holding Florida State League hitters to a 1.30 ERA.

The Miracle will need to win their last five games of the first- half to escape with a winning record. Fort Myers is 27-31 on the season heading into today's double-header against Sarasota beginning at 5:05. The Miracle went 44-26 in winning the first-half title last season.