Monday, March 13, 2000

Still uphill battle

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Sanders trying to crack outfield

BY TOM BALOG
Enquirer contributor

Ken Griffey Jr. signs autographs prior to the start of Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

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        SARASOTA, Fla. — Deion Sanders knows he has a long way to go to make the Reds Opening Day roster. He is the seventh outfielder on a team that will keep only five or six players at that position.

        “He has a chance to create a problem for us,” Reds General Manager Jim Bowden said Sunday after Sanders made his spring debut in a minor-league intrasquad game. “That's a good kind of problem to have.”

        That scenario sounded good to Sanders.

        “I hope so,” Sanders said. “That's what I'm here to do.”

        But Reds manager Jack McKeon said a minor league game is hardly an accurate test for Sanders.

        “Let's let him play before we put him anywhere,” McKeon said. “It's pretty tough in an intra-squad game to make a lot of comparisons to playing against these (major-league) guys.”

        Sanders has not played baseball in almost three years, since he left the Reds in 1997 to play football full-time for the Dallas Cowboys. Plus, he's recovering from having surgery on his right knee Jan.24.

        The surgery doesn't seem to have slowed Sanders much. Bowden said Sanders was timed in 4.3 seconds running to first base.

        “That's quick,” Bowden said. “He demonstrated today that he does have average speed. So he does run better even at his 70 percent than most players do at full speed.”

        Sanders said he is more than 70 percent healthy. “I have no pain,” he said.

        Reds team medical consultant Dr. Tim Kremchek said Sanders is showing improvement.

        “He is a lot better than when he first came to camp, but he's certainly not 100 percent,” Kremchek said.

        Sanders is most concerned with hitting. He doubled into the gap in right center in his first at-bat Sunday and later singled off the second baseman's glove.

        He flied out in his last three at-bats.

        “I need to see live pitching,” Sanders said. “It's good to get up there and hit a weak ground ball and pop up so you can see what you're doing. I really need to make adjustments.

        “I can make contact. The ball doesn't always go where we want it to go. But I think it came out all right.”

        Sanders was 2-for-6 against Reds right-hander Steve Parris.

        “I thought he swung the bat all right for not playing for a couple years,” Parris said.

        “His knee has got a way to go,” Bowden said. “But ... we're three weeks tomorrow from Opening Day (April 3). That's a long time for him to heal.”

       

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