Dawkins waits his turn

Dawkins has time to overcome injuries, such as the right knee that bothered him last season. He has time to rebound from disappointments, including last year's offensive slump. He has time — and room — to develop his skills before his career stagnates.

“To be 21, that's a blessing,” Dawkins said Tuesday after the team's initial full-squad workout. “But I still have to continue to work hard and better myself in every way.”

Dawkins remains one of the Reds' top prospects despite all evidence to the contrary — his statistics, a virtual one-way ticket to the minor leagues — and shortstop Barry Larkin's three-year contract that will limit competition in the middle infield through 2003. After all, Dawkins has time to prove himself further.

“He hasn't even scratched the surface of what he can do,” Reds minor-league director Tim Naehring said.

By some measures, Dawkins may have seemed to slip in the Reds' estimation. After being rated the organization's No.1 prospect last season by Base ball America, he fell to eighth this year. The aura that enveloped him last year glowed brighter when the Reds refused to include him in the package of players they sent Seattle for Ken Griffey Jr.

Then Dawkins hit a ca reer-low .231 in Double-A Chattanooga. To make matters worse, he was defrauded out of an undisclosed sum of money by a Columbia, S.C., management group. Dawkins refused to comment about this situation.

This year, he hasn't been mentioned as even an outside possibility for a reserve infielder's job.

“I look at last year like it's a bad thing, in a way,” said Dawkins, who also hit .220 in 14 games with the Reds in 2000. “But you have to learn from failure.”

Naehring, a former major-league infielder, believes Dawkins can.

“He learned to deal with playing with an injury,” Naehring said. “He's going to learn to separate his defense from his offense. All those things are going to make him a little bit better.”

Naehring also plans to have minor-league hitting coach Mike Greenwell and hitting coach Leon Roberts study Dawkins closely.

The Reds point to Dawkins' knee, which required arthroscopic surgery Oct.10, as the source of most of his struggles. He admitted hiding the injury: “I never really told anyone. No one ever knew until later in the season.”

Dawkins still hasn't recovered fully, though he should be ready for the start of the season. “We'll take it slow until he builds a little bit more strength,” Reds trainer Greg Lynn said.

The rest of Dawkins' troubles can be attributed to youth. “I saw inconsistencies,” said manager Bob Boone, relating his impressions from the handful of games he watched Dawkins play last year. “I saw flashes of what we've seen and why we like him so much. I've seen some flashes of brilliance in the field and some letdowns — typical of what you see in a young player.”

Dawkins' reputation is so glittering he still was selected for the U.S. Olympic baseball team. Knowing they had plenty of backup infielders and wouldn't need him in September, the Reds were glad to let Dawkins go to Sydney and win a gold medal. “It was great to support your country with a lot of class and character,” Dawkins said.

He'll need to summon those qualities while Larkin continues to hold down the shortstop's job. Dawkins began playing second base last year, but Pokey Reese's presence makes that another dead end.

Still, Dawkins can learn plenty from Reese, who found himself stuck behind Larkin until moving to second base in 1999.

“We talked about that this offseason,” said Reese, Dawkins' fellow South Carolinian. “Just come here and show these guys you want to work. Be here early and be the last one to leave. It might be tough to make the team, but you never know. Anything could happen. You get your playing time, make the best of it. That's what I tried to do, and it paid off for me. He has to be patient. Not everything's going to go your way.”

Dawkins believes it will — someday. “I just have to play hard, continue to get better and see what happens,” he said. “I'm not letting it get me down. It's not going to happen until the man up above says, "OK, it's your time.'”

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