Raines making his point with farmhands
L A NSING, Mich . • In his two years of work with the Blue Jays, Tim Raines has probably said it 1,000 times, maybe more. When you bunt, darnit, keep the bat away from your body.
Sometimes, he says it with a scowl. Sometimes, he breaks into a big grin and hoots and howls and mimics the gangly 20-year-old in the batter’s box who sticks the bat out, and brings it back, and then, too late, sticks it out again and awkwardly pops the bunt back to the screen. Usually, the kid smiles, and tries again, and little by little, he might learn from the taunts of Tim Raines.
“All the things they weren’t taught in high school or college, we have to teach them here,” Raines said after a session designed to teach Lansing Lugnuts players how to bunt for a base hit. “Some guys catch on faster than others and that makes my job a lot easier. But I think a lot more guys don’t know what the heck they’re doing.”
For 23 big-league seasons, Raines knew. He starred for 13 years as the Montreal Expos’ leadoff hitter and base-stealer extraordinaire, and when he retired in 2002, he owned a career batting average of .294, a .385 on-base percentage and 808 stolen bases. A lot of smart people say he should be in the Hall of Fame.
For the past two years, he has toured the minor leagues as the Blue Jays’ outfield and baserunning coordinator, trying to show prospects, and a lot of players who imagine they’re prospects, the way to the big leagues. His latest stop is in Lansing, home of the Jays’ low Class A club. It the lowest minor-league level where teams play a full fivemonth season of 140 games.
The team’s average age is 21. These kids were big stars before they turned pro. Now they discover daily how much they have to learn.
So they often come out at 2 p.m. for lessons, before batting practice, before the game at night. On Thursday, Raines supervised the bunting drill. Pitching coordinator Sal Fasano ran the pitchers’ fielding drills, tossing his wellworn catcher’s mitt to a spot between the mound and firstbase line and shouting, “That’s the demarcation line. If the ball goes beyond that spot with the bases loaded, you gotta throw to first. If you get it before that spot, you’re coming home.”
For some of these players, this is the easy part. Raines says the transition to pro ball requires much more than topping up their baseball techniques.
“The grind of playing every day takes its toll, regardless of how young you are,” he said. “You have to prioritize your life. This is something they have to get familiar with as young players — getting your rest, owning the way you’re growing.”
Raines is no drill sergeant. Just when you think he might be going grim, he breaks into a grin and a whoop. He and former two-sport star Anthony Alford are especially close, and they swapped barbs throughout the afternoon. At one point, Alford twisted an ankle and needed a trainer’s visit during an outfield drill. A few minutes later, Alford was back in action, apparently no worse for wear, and Raines was grinning and reminding him that baseball is tougher to play than football.
Raines keeps things light with Alford, in part because Alford’s work ethic impresses him.
“I wish I had 23 players like him on my team,” Raines says. “He works hard. This kid has a very good chance of getting where he wants to go.”
Raines, 55, says he’s doing this because he wants to give back to a game that gave him a lot. And he loves it when players are eager to know more.
Lansing has a good team. Entering Thursday night’s game, the Lugnuts led their division with a 31-22 record. Player development is the priority in the minors, but winning makes the education come easier, as Lugnuts’ pitcher Shane Dawson observed.
“Although it is about you trying to move up, if everyone around you is better because of you, or if they can make you better, it looks good on everybody,” said Dawson, an Alberta native who was named to the Midwest League all-star team Thursday.
That’s what Raines likes to hear. But he never finds himself short of work at this level.
“I still watch games, and I still look for something I’ve never seen before. Watching these guys, sometimes I see it,” he said with a chuckle.