Rookie In A Playoff Race

PHILADELPHIA - It’s hours before the first pitch of a crucial September pennant race game, and the Philadelphia Phillies’locker room is eerily quiet except for a crowd of reporters surrounding one player.

Facing a grizzled group of veteran baseball scribes in one of the nation’s most notoriously sports-oriented cities, Maui’s Shane Victorino patiently and deftly answers questions about such critical topics as the first time he saw snow, whether or not he brings a surfboard on the road and whether Don Ho is the most famous living Hawaiian.

“Just part of the job,” says Victorino with a laugh later, shrugging it off. “The questions get old sometimes, but I know it’s interesting, me being from Hawaii. I would rather talk about baseball, though.”

Humble and soft-spoken at 25, Victorino has been doing a lot of talking this season on the field. He’s hitting close to .300 as the regular centerfielder for a team in the thick of the National League wildcard playoff race, is among the league leaders in out-field assists and is a threat to score every time he gets on base.

“He’s got a future in baseball,” says Phillies hitting coach Milt Thompson. “He can do a lot of things on the field. He makes the outfield look very easy and his range is unbelievable. Being a switch hitter with that kind of speed, I think he has a chance to play for a while.”

Victorino is just happy to be playing at all. He’s starting because of a late-summer trade (Bobby Abreau to the Yankees) and an injury (Aaron Rowand), and Thompson says Victorino has begun to fulfill the promise he demonstrated last season, when he won International League MVP honors with AAA Scranton.

“His effort and work ethic are unbelievable,” says Thompson, a former speedy outfielder himself, to whom Victorino has been most likened by baseball writers. “He’s here every day early, working and trying to get better. That’s the making of someone who’s going to be successful in this game.”

Victorino admits his success this year is the result of hard work, lucky breaks and continued focus. At 5-feet-9-inches and 180 pounds, he says he’s had to work extra hard to prove he could play at baseball’s highest level. He was drafted in the sixth round by the Los Angeles Dodgers after graduating from St. Anthony’s in 1999.

He had been progressing steadily through Los Angeles’ minor league system as a prolific base stealer when he was suddenly picked up in December 2002 by the San Diego Padres in the annual Rule 5 draft - when major league teams have the right to draft unprotected minor league players from other teams.

He started 2003 with the Padres and hit just .151 in 36 games before returning to the minor leagues. He was left unprotected again and the Phillies claimed him in the 2004 Rule 5 draft. He was given the chance to play every day and won the International League MVP by hitting .310 with 18 home runs and 70 runs batted in 494 at bats.

“I think I’ve come a long way - a lot farther than people expected,” said Victorino, who last week was hitting .294 in 310 at bats with six home runs and 40 runs batted in for the Phillies this season. “Hopefully I can keep it going and keep moving forward. The one thing I want to do right now is get to the playoffs.”

The speedy switch-hitter is a key reason the Phillies are still in the playoff picture, according to several members of the large press contingent that covers the team on a daily basis. Popular with teammates, the media and the fans, Victorino’s smile and easy island style are infectious, says friend and roommate Jimmy Rollins.

“He brings energy, he smiles when he’s out there, he does some goofy stuff,” said Rollins, “but he has fun.”

Victorino admits he is having fun and sometimes seems wide-eyed at the idea of being Hawaii’s most recent local boy to make it as a major leaguer.

“I remember when Benny [Agbayani] was doing what he did and he went to the playoffs with the Mets,” says Victorino, who says he’s looking forward to returning to Hawaii for a short visit this off-season. “I know that people back home are starting to talk about how I’m doing here and I’m excited about that. It’s always nice to be appreciated back in Hawaii - it’s definitely an honor.”

The Portuguese-Hawaiian-Japanese speedster now calls Las Vegas home - he just bought a house there with girlfriend Melissa Smith, a 31-year-old executive assistant who is pregnant with the couple’s first child. Victorino is excited about becoming a father early next year and says his priorities are family and friends, then fishing and diving.

“I call home a lot,” says Victorino, who especially likes to hear from older brother Mikey and mom Jocelyn about his dad Michael’s campaign for the Maui County Council. “I love to go fishing with my uncles and go diving with my friends, and one day I want to go back home and buy a house.”

Hawaii’s current big league star also talks to other local boys who have played or are playing in the major leagues this year, including Chad Santos (San Francisco Giants), Jerome Williams (Oakland Athletics) and Tyler Yates (Atlanta Braves).

And he also stays busy answering those critical pre-game questions about snow (he first saw it on Haleakala as a kid), surf (he doesn’t) and Don Ho (he said Michelle Wie is probably a bigger name now).

“It’s funny,” says Victorino of the inevitable questions about growing up in paradise, “but I’m used to it. I’m proud to have made it from Hawaii and I’m proud to know that people at home are watching. It makes me want to do even better.”

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