Waiting on Huff has big payoff

Impressed with slugger's work ethic, Rays find room for him after poor '01 and are rewarded with a breakout season.

By KEVIN KELLY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 17, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- Perhaps he saw a bit of himself in Aubrey Huff, which might explain why Hal McRae watched with a critical eye last year.

The defense needed to improve and, to a lesser extent, so did the attitude and conditioning.

But the passion for hitting, the desire and willingness to get better? Those were areas the Rays manager could relate to and build on with Huff.

"You kind of warm up to a guy who needs to improve in certain areas and works at it," McRae said. "He's done a good job in that respect. Even when I wasn't warm I felt he could hit. Some other areas of the game he needed to work on, and he did."

A stint at Triple-A Durham this season appears to have straightened Huff out both offensively and defensively and spurred him to start using the untapped potential McRae saw.

Helped by a record August and continued success at the plate this month, Huff is batting .327 with 23 homers and 54 RBIs in 101 games. He has surpassed All-Star centerfielder Randy Winn as the Rays' leading batter this season while looking infinitely more comfortable at first base.

"Hal gave me a tremendous chance last year and I just blew it," said Huff, who played in 111 games for the Rays last season. "I'm really happy they gave me a second chance and stuck with me."

The 25-year-old, who had a career-high 17-game hitting streak broken Wednesday, enters the series against the Yankees striving to qualify for the American League batting title. (Through Sunday, Kansas City's Mike Sweeney led with a .342 average.) Huff needs 502 plate appearances by the end of the season. (He has 442.) "It's definitely something that would be very exciting for me," Huff said. "That was the last thing on my mind coming up this year, to have something like this happen. But I'm just going to have fun with it."

Motivated to improve on a .248 batting average and the 11 errors he made in 2001, Huff spent the offseason working out with his batting coach from college and went into spring training in top physical shape as one of three players vying for the starting job at third base.

"I wanted to come in with a mental edge, knowing that I can play here instead of just thinking I can," he said.

But when it became clear Russ Johnson and Jared Sandberg were the front-runners at third, the Rays shifted their focus with Huff to first base in a last-ditch attempt to keep his bat around.

They sent him to Durham, where he missed the first three weeks after breaking three bones around his left eye socket. He batted .325 with three homers and 20 RBIs in 32 games before his recall May 28.

Huff has been producing since.

"It's just been confidence, knowing what he needed to do at this level and knowing the areas that he needed to improve on," McRae said. "He realizes the game at the big-league level is about more than just hitting. You can hit, but can you help the club win? I think he understands that better now than before."

Offense remains Huff's forte.

His 44 hits during an August in which he batted .355 broke the club record of 42 set by Winn in June. Through Saturday, his .372 average in 52 games since July 19 ranked second in the American League behind the Yankees' Bernie Williams.

"I've always thought he was going to be a good hitter," McRae said. "He loves to hit. I don't think he has any fear when he's at home plate. He just lets it fly and likes to mix it up."

Because he missed nearly the first two months, some might wonder what Huff could've done over the course of a 162-game season. Based on his current stats, he would bat .326 with 37 homers, 37 doubles and 87 RBIs.

"I'd be kind of curious to see what kind of year I would've put up," Huff said. "But I just want to finish this year up strong. I've got (two weeks) left and you don't want to work this whole season and do well and really tail off at the end. You want to finish strong and then look at next season."

Should Huff have a shot at qualifying for the batting title, McRae has talked about batting him leadoff during the last week of the season. That's fine by Huff ... on one condition.

"I've never led off before," he said. "I'd just have to put my wheels on and try to get some bags. If I go leadoff he's going to have to give me the green light to steal some bases, won't he?"