Rays: Rays' utilityman wants to play ... anywhere on field

Rays' utilityman wants to play ... anywhere on field

Second base? No problem. Outfield? That's fine, too, for Damian Rolls.

By RICK STROUD, Times Staff Writer

ST. PETERSBURG -- Damian Rolls is used to glancing at the Devil Rays lineup card to see if he is playing.

Under Lou Piniella, he will have to study it to see where he is playing as well.

Tampa Bay's manager values versatility, and Rolls can wear a lot of gloves. Last season, he played exclusively in the outfield, starting 21 of the Rays' final 25 games.

Two years ago, when he finished seventh among American League rookies in batting, he was an infielder.

This season, he could do plenty of both.

That became evident during Friday's 1-0 loss to Houston, when Rolls made his first start since 2001 at second base while second baseman Marlon Anderson played his first game ever in leftfield.

"You've got to find out. If you don't find out, you never know, and that's what spring training is for," Piniella said. "You hate to get in the position where you have to start experimenting during the season, so you had better look at it in spring training and have a pretty rough idea of what your players are capable of doing or not doing and go from there. Spring training is the time to do it.

"It's not easy. It's got to be more difficult than playing one position, obviously. But that's what makes a player like that valuable on a baseball team."

With the Mariners, Piniella had the versatility of veteran Mark McLemore, who hit .270 in 104 games, splitting time between leftfield, second base and shortstop.

It's players such as McLemore who helped remove the stigma of utility players, a label that used to be worn by nomadic infielders who were not good enough to start.

"In the past, when people moved all over the place, it was almost like, 'We've got to find this guy a position. There's nowhere for him to play' or what not," Rolls said. "As you see with Mark McLemore the last couple of years with Lou, with those guys, it's almost like a blessing in disguise. When I first started moving to second and moving to the outfield the next day, I felt I really needed to find a home.

"That's the beautiful thing about it. Before as a utility player, you would kind of wait around to play. But as you see nowadays, a lot of players are actually benefitting from being able to play different positions. It's almost like you're an everyday player. You just don't know what position it's going to be today."

Friday, instead of shagging fly balls in the outfield, Rolls reacquainted himself with second base. The transition is natural until the game starts.

"You go out there. You take some ground balls. You take balls off the bat. You work on turning two," Rolls said. "And that comes back to you just fine. But nothing can simulate game speed. I'm sure it will take a couple of games to get used to that again, but I'm going to have fun trying. Like I said, it really doesn't matter where I play. If I'm between the lines, I'm happy."

Friday, Rolls handled his only two chances cleanly despite short-hopping his throw to first baseman Travis Lee.

He didn't fare as well at the plate, grounding out and bunting into a fielder's choice. Anderson's move to leftfield was equally uneventful, meaning the experimenting will continue throughout the spring.

"I'm not the inventor of anything," Piniella said. "Sometimes, you have to move infielders to the outfield. Sometimes, you have to move outfielders to first base.

"When (McLemore) came to us, he had played the outfield already. We put him back at shortstop, though, and that was somewhat by accident. We went to play our Double-A affiliate, and I just put him there. And he looked pretty good to me. We'll find out. We've done it to other players."

Piniella's tinkering is perfect for the Rays' utilityman. He is not afraid to switch Rolls.

"That's the beautiful thing about it," Rolls said. "That's the way it is in everyday baseball. You've got to have people who are willing to go out and put their necks on the line, whether it's crashing into a wall or turning two and getting taken out at second or smashing someone at second to break up two.

"They like that, and that's the type of player I am. I think it's outstanding. And wherever he wants to put me, I'm willing to play."