News
Injury opens door for Balentien
Mariners outfielder in lineup with Gutierrez ailing
By Pete Kerzel / Special to MLB.com
06/11/09 7:15 PM ET
BALTIMORE -- Franklin Gutierrez's nagging knee problem is Wladimir Balentien's latest opportunity.Whether Balentien shows he's learned not to chase bad pitches and make opposing pitchers' jobs easier is strictly up to the 24-year-old, said Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu.
"We're trying to get [Balentien] to understand his swing a little bit, and this gives him an opportunity to try and see what he can do," Wakamatsu said.
Gutierrez aggravated a longstanding knee problem Wednesday night when he fouled a ball off his left knee in the third inning, tweaking an injury that's bothered him since Spring Training. After grounding out to short to end the at-bat, Gutierrez was removed from the game.
"We'll take this opportunity to try and rest it before we get into Colorado," Wakamatsu said. "He had patella tendinitis before this and fouled it right off the same spot. I don't know how you do that -- get underneath your kneecap -- but he did."
Gutierrrez is day-to-day, and while he's out, Balentien gets another chance, starting in left field in Thursday night's finale of a three-game series at Camden Yards while left fielder Endy Chavez shifts to center, replacing Gutierrez.
Wakamatsu isn't sure which version of Balentien he'll get -- the patient hitter with developing gap power whose average was above .300 for most of the first six weeks of the season, or the sometimes confused slugger whose playing time has curtailed as his average has plummeted to its current .226, a season low.
"I think he kind of goes back and forth," Wakamatsu said. "You start to see an improvement and then you'll see where he'll have a mechanical breakdown or you see him swing at bad pitches. We try to do the best we can to get enough at-bats to try to identify the kind of player he is and see if he's making those adjustments."
Each opportunity for playing time can become a crash course for a young hitter. Wakamatsu said he hopes Balentien doesn't immerse himself so deeply in a self-created pressure cooker that he isn't able to perform.
Balentien's problems at the plate aren't unusual, considering his age and relative inexperience, the manager pointed out.
"Pitch selection -- we talk a lot with these guys about understanding the physical and mental side of it," said Wakamatsu. "Looking at a younger player, a lot of times they keep doing the same thing without making a lot of adjustments and just looking at the numbers. We have to try to get him to look at the numbers and try to explain why the numbers are where they're at."
But Balentien prospered during Spring Training, when he earned a roster spot by hitting .311 with three homers and 13 RBIs. And his early season production at the Major League level proves he's capable of holding his own, provided he doesn't fall back into bad habits.
Wakamatsu said Balentien's current struggles are just an example of the league making an adjustment to a hitter, much like a hitter has to adjust and readjust to keep a step ahead of a pitcher.
"In Spring Training, the numbers can be skewed," Wakamatsu said. "You don't know what they are coming out of Spring Training. Earlier [in the regular season], in the role he was at, he kept it a little simpler. Once you get an everyday spot, you tend to [forget that]. There's a maturity with everybody."
Pete Kerzel is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
