Rookie infielder Guzman putting on a show for Giants

Andrew Baggarly

Mercury News

Jesus Guzman wanted to be a Giant. Jose Alguacil, a Giants minor league coach following him in the Venezuelan Winter League, was ready to sign him.

There was just one problem.

"No contract," Guzman said. "There was nothing for me to sign."

All Guzman wanted was an invitation to major league camp. It's an opportunity the A's declined to provide him, even though he won the batting title in the Double-A Texas League last summer.

When Alguacil relayed Guzman's wishes, Giants vice president Bobby Evans agreed: The club would give him a locker at Scottsdale Stadium. But fax machines aren't always reliable in Venezuela. So Alguacil ripped out a piece of notebook paper, wrote "I agree to sign with the Giants" on it, and Guzman did the rest.

"In English and in Spanish too," Guzman said with a laugh. "Hey, I'm glad to sign with this team. I don't want too much money. I just want the manager and the coaches to see how I play."

Guzman is putting on a show for Manager Bruce Bochy and his coaching staff this spring. The right-handed hitter doubled in four at-bats Monday in an 8-5 exhibition loss to the Los Angeles Angels and is hitting .394. His 29 total bases lead the team. He has two home runs, and his eight doubles are twice as many as anyone else in camp.

It's not a surprising display, though. Guzman was named most valuable player in the Venezuelan Winter League after a banner season in which his 67 RBIs broke a 35-year-old record.

Guzman, 24, played third base for Caracas. Alguacil coached third base for Magallanes.

"I knew his bat would play in the major leagues," Alguacil said. "When I found out he hadn't signed, I asked him, 'What will it take?'"

Guzman still can't understand why the A's wouldn't make a similar offer. "They said they didn't have a spot for me," he said. "If they don't have a spot, they don't have a plan for me."

A's assistant general manager David Forst confirmed that the club wouldn't give Guzman a big league camp invitation because the organization already had a glut of utility infielders.

"He hadn't played much in Triple-A and our player development people weren't sure what position he'd ultimately play," Forst said. "There's no doubt he can hit, but we already had other guys with similar defensive profiles and we couldn't justify bringing Jesus in."

Guzman concedes his defensive profile is not the prettiest picture. He has been inconsistent at third base and is not a factor in the competition at second. So he added another glove to his duffel bag. Early Monday, he, Alguacil and special assistant J.T. Snow walked to a back field and tackled footwork fundamentals at first base. It's probably a long-term project, but if Guzman picks up the position quickly, there's an outside chance he could make the opening-day roster.

"We're staying open-minded here," Bochy said. "He's made a lot of noise in this camp."

Guzman knows he has a support network. Alguacil offered tips all winter, even as a chalk

line kept them on either side of a rivalry.

Caracas and Magallanes are like "the Yankees and Red Sox of Venezuela," Guzman said. But you won't see Red Sox third-base coach DeMarlo Hale giving advice to Alex Rodriguez in between pitches.

"If I had a bad play, he told me what I did wrong," Guzman said. "I don't have bad hands. I know I have good hands. But my footwork? "... You know, I have to keep going.

"It's my first big league camp and I want to open eyes. That's the baseball player's job, you know?"

From: MLB.com

LA Angels	LA Angels 8, San Francisco 5 Today's Boxes 3/16/09 MIN 5, BAL 3 BOS 6, TOR 4 DET 7, STL 6 WSH 3, FLA 1 NYY 12, PHI 0 MIL 9, CHC 6 COL 8, ARI 3 KC 11, CWS 7 OAK 10, LAD 8 SEA 4, LAD 3 CLE 4, SEA 1 TB 6, PIT 4	San Francisco
	March 16, 2009 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LA Angels 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 0 8 10 1 San Francisco 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 5 8 2
	Standings | Recap: LAA | SF | Gameday

LA Angels AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Figgins, 3B 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 .367 Wood, 3B 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 .375 Kendrick, 2B 3 0 2 2 0 1 1 .455 Evans, RF 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .241 Matthews, DH 2 1 1 0 1 0 1 .333 a-Napoli, PH-DH 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 .182 Hunter, CF 3 1 1 2 0 0 3 .167 Pettit, CF 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 .286 Morales, 1B 3 0 1 1 0 1 0 .405 Johnson, Be, C 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 .182 Rivera, LF 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .190 Pavkovich, LF 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .333 Izturis, M, SS-2B 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 .200 Figueroa, L, 2B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .579 Mathis, C 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .240 Quinlan, 1B 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 .235 Willits, RF 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 .318 Aybar, E, SS 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .235 Totals 35 8 10 7 5 7 12 a-Walked for Matthews in the 8th. BATTING 2B: Hunter (1, Affeldt), Morales (6, Affeldt), Figgins (3, Howry), Kendrick (3, Howry), Johnson, Be (2, Perdomo). TB: Figgins 3; Kendrick 3; Matthews; Hunter 2; Pettit; Morales 2; Johnson, Be 2; Willits. RBI: Hunter 2 (3), Morales (6), Kendrick 2 (5), Johnson, Be 2 (3). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Izturis, M; Wood 2. GIDP: Hunter 2. Team LOB: 5. BASERUNNING SB: Figgins 2 (5, 2nd base off Affeldt/Molina, B, 3rd base off Affeldt/Molina, B). FIELDING E: Adenhart (1, pickoff). DP: (Loux-Aybar, E-Morales). San Francisco AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Velez, CF-LF 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 .302 Burriss, SS 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .375 1-Torres, PR-CF 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 .438 Aurilia, 1B 2 1 2 0 1 0 0 .360 2-Wald, PR-SS 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .429 Molina, B, C 3 0 2 3 0 0 1 .303 3-Williams, PR-C 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 Schierholtz, RF 3 1 0 0 0 1 3 .273 McClain, 1B 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .190 Uribe, 3B 3 1 1 1 0 0 1 .265 Rohlinger, 3B 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .267 Bowker, LF-RF 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .227 Frandsen, 2B 3 0 1 1 0 1 0 .293 Downs, 2B 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .286 Guzman, J, DH 4 0 1 0 0 2 0 .394 Totals 33 5 8 5 1 8 9 1-Ran for Burriss in the 5th. 2-Ran for Aurilia in the 5th. 3-Ran for Molina, B in the 5th. BATTING 2B: Molina, B (3, Adenhart), Aurilia (2, Adenhart), Uribe (4, Adenhart), Guzman, J (8, Loux). TB: Velez; Aurilia 3; Molina, B 3; Uribe 2; Frandsen; Guzman, J 2. RBI: Molina, B 3 (7), Uribe (6), Frandsen (4). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Uribe; Molina, B; Wald. S: Burriss. GIDP: Schierholtz. Team LOB: 4. BASERUNNING SB: Torres (3, 2nd base off Loux/Mathis). CS: Frandsen (2, 2nd base by Loux/Mathis). FIELDING E: Perdomo 2 (2, missed catch, pickoff). DP: 2 (Uribe-Frandsen-Aurilia, Burriss-Frandsen-Aurilia). LA Angels IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Adenhart 3.1 4 4 4 1 2 0 5.40 Loux (W, 1-0) 3.2 4 1 1 0 4 0 0.84 Arredondo (H, 3) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Bulger (S, 1) 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4.50 San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Affeldt 2.0 3 3 3 1 1 0 8.00 Miller, Ju 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Howry (BS, 1) 1.0 4 2 2 0 0 0 2.57 Taschner 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5.68 Valdez, M (L, 0-1) 1.1 1 2 2 1 1 0 12.27 Perdomo 0.1 1 1 1 3 1 0 4.91 Joaquin 1.1 0 0 0 0 3 0 1.29 WP: Adenhart, Perdomo 2. HBP: Burriss (by Loux). Pitches-strikes: Adenhart 51-37, Loux 54-35, Arredondo 11-8, Bulger 10-8, Affeldt 36-21, Miller, Ju 22-12, Howry 23-16, Taschner 14-11, Valdez, M 28-16, Perdomo 24-9, Joaquin 21-15. Groundouts-flyouts: Adenhart 5-4, Loux 3-3, Arredondo 0-3, Bulger 1-0, Affeldt 4-1, Miller, Ju 4-2, Howry 2-1, Taschner 0-2, Valdez, M 2-1, Perdomo 0-0, Joaquin 0-1. Batters faced: Adenhart 16, Loux 14, Arredondo 3, Bulger 3, Affeldt 10, Miller, Ju 6, Howry 6, Taschner 3, Valdez, M 6, Perdomo 5, Joaquin 4. Inherited runners-scored: Loux 1-1, Perdomo 2-2, Joaquin 3-0. Umpires: HP: Ed Montague. 1B: Tim McClelland. 2B: Gerry Davis. 3B: Mike Winters. Weather: 77 degrees, sunny. Wind: 3 mph, Out to LF. T: 3:04. Att: 8,987. March 16, 2009 Box score official statistics approved by Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner