Wednesday, March 15, 2000

Deion needs minor tuneup

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Willing to play in scrimmages to get at-bats

BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Deion misses. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

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        CLEARWATER, Fla. — To regain major-league form, Deion Sanders is ready to go to the minors — right away.

        Sanders doesn't want a demotion. But the aspiring outfielder does want at-bats, so he's willing to perform in minor-league intrasquad scrimmages and exhibitions to play himself back into baseball shape.

        Sanders proved he needed refining Tuesday, playing five innings in his first exhibition game and going hitless in three at-bats in the Reds' 8-6 split-squad loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium.

        “I think by the end of this week I'll make a tremendous amount of improvement,” said Sanders, the football star who hasn't played baseball since 1997. “If I don't get at-bats in the (regular) games, I'd love to go down to the minor leagues and hit over there.”

        General Manager Jim Bowden approved of Sanders' idea, since it frequently has been implemented.

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        “We can take whoever needs work here and put them in (minor-league) games,” Bowden said. “That includes 25-man guys — guys who need innings and that kind of thing, not just guys trying to make it. Deion's a perfect example.”

        Sanders, whose recovery from arthroscopic right knee surgery in January has delayed his participation in spring games, said he saw the ball well as he grounded out twice against Philadelphia right-hander Chris Brock. He then took a called third strike from Randy Wolf — a left-hander, the type of pitcher that always has troubled the left-handed-batting Sanders.

        A pair of bloop fifth-inning singles fell in front of Sanders, who played center field. Thinking Sanders misplayed both hits, the crowd of 5,404 booed him.

        “It looks a lot easier than it is,” Sanders said.

       

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