Ex-phenom Benji Gil sees career resurrected with Angels

By Chris Jenkins
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 11, 2001

ANAHEIM -- Benji Gil was on the line. So was his pride.

"I called (general manager) Kevin Towers a couple years ago and asked if the Padres could use me," says Gil, now with the Anaheim Angels. "Closest I've ever come to begging."

The former phenom had floundered to the point where he spent the 1998 and '99 seasons with the Calgary Cannons, a Class AAA club. From all indications, Gil had played his last big league game.

"I couldn't find a job anywhere in the majors," Gil says. "My agent said, 'Nobody wants any part of you.' I'd gone from being a guy who supposedly was a superstar to a guy who nobody believed could play."

Gil relates this story not to put the Padres or any other team on the spot, but to illustrate just how desperate the former No. 1 draft choice from Castle Park High in Chula Vista had become to revive his career. He had to start over, really, after years of bad numbers and the perception that he also had a bad attitude.

What an interesting turn of events, though, that the Padres would try so many others and give up so much in their failure to find an everyday shortstop with some pop. And here's Gil, batting .327 with eight homers and 37 RBI for the Angels, who'll cite his contribution as a major reason Anaheim continues to be such a surprise this season.

For his part, Towers recalls their phone call and another conversation with Gil in Culiacán, Mexico, where Gil was playing winter ball. There was some interest, Towers says, but the Padres also had Chris Gomez with two years left on his considerable contract at the time.

Injuries to Gary DiSarcina and Mo Vaughn created an opportunity for Gil, who signed with the Angels as a minor league free agent in 2000. Since the Angels are placing a higher priority on rookie shortstop David Eckstein's speed in the top of the batting order, Gil's the primary utility man, playing first and second and even center field as well as shortstop.

Using a completely different swing from the one he brought to the majors as a 20-year-old in '93, Gil is batting 100-plus points higher than his career average. Last year he hit .239 over 110 games.

Put his present slugging percentage of .543 next to his pre-'01 career mark of .331 and it looks as if somebody -- just about everybody -- might have made a mistake on Gil. Especially since Gil, humbled by two years in the Pacific Coast League and the hardship of winter ball in Mexico, hardly came with a big price tag.

"It didn't matter," says Gil, recalling that offseason between '99 and 2000. "When I called San Diego, Kevin said he'd keep an open mind (and) they'd keep an eye on me. I don't know what they saw, but when they called back, they said they had no room and no interest.

"What gets me is, it would've been such a good fit. They've always said they wanted a player from Mexico, a connection to Tijuana. I'm a Tijuana guy, the first Tijuana native to make the majors, and I went to high school in San Diego. My family still lives in Chula Vista. Nobody fills that role better than me. There can't be a better guy."

Admittedly, Gil is working with hindsight, a perspective that's often been harshest on him. If only for one day, the Padres also would like to change their minds on Gil, who hit two homers, drove in four runs and scored three times in Anaheim's 8-7 victory over San Diego on July 17. Gil cannot suppress a smile of satisfaction at mention of that game.

The smile turns to a full-scale grin when somebody suggests -- strictly for the sake of speculation -- that the possibility still exists for Gil to someday play in his hometown. His contract with Anaheim is up after this season, with Gil holding the option for 2002.

"I love it here," he says of Anaheim. "The only place I can imagine being better, or more natural, is San Diego."

"Better" is a word being applied to the Angels, even if they are 24 games out of first and no higher than third place in the AL West. The fact they're over .500 and not yet out of the wild-card picture makes them much better than anybody had a right to expect, given Anaheim's apparent lack of pitching and the loss of Vaughn before the season.

While getting far more out of those pitchers, manager Mike Scioscia has become a master juggler with the lineup, and Gil has been a vital part of the act.

"He's opened people's eyes," says hitting coach Mickey Hatcher. "Now we're trying everything we can to get him into the lineup."

When on the field, Gil is rebuilding his own marketability while chucking all the baggage he brought with him to Anaheim.

"Sometimes I realize I'm still young, but I've gone through a lot of things for somebody my age," Gil says. "Everything's a learning experience. I've had to learn more already than most do in entire careers."

That he's only 28 indeed is hard to believe. Because he did reach the majors before his 21st birthday, and because people kept waiting and waiting and waiting for him to play like the Castle Park senior who batted .430 and hit seven homers in 25 games, Gil's now more of an afterthought.

Hatcher, as a coach with the Rangers when Gil arrived in the big leagues, saw the classic struggles of a rookie trying to prove himself worthy of all the attention and expectations.

"I wasn't trying to be a superstar, but I kept hearing about all my 'possibilities,' " Gil says. "When you don't achieve them, you just put pressure on yourself. That's when the frustration sets in."

Only in the first half of '95 did Gil begin to realize his potential -- and get some Rookie of the Year consideration -- but he says he failed to adjust to pitchers' adjustments to him.

Gil's seven years with Texas were enough for all concerned, especially after Gil batted .224 in '97. A trade to the Chicago White Sox merely led Gil back to the minors, where those two seasons in Calgary didn't change anybody's perception about him.

This long-delayed explosion in his offensive numbers, Gil attributes to sessions with independent instructor Charley Lau Jr., son of the late hitting guru. Gil says he found a comfort level at the plate that he's never felt before, revising his swing to cut down on the ground balls that were his trademark.

"The quality of my at-bats has changed drastically since last year," he says. "I've made humongous strides."

But the real difference, Gil says, is that he's grown more comfortable with his life. The arrogance of his early years is gone, along with the anger that built up in the minors, and his partying ways have given way to domestic bliss.

"Maturity has changed everything about me," he says. "I'm a lot calmer. I'm married. I have a year-old child and one on the way. I know now that there are things more important than baseball."

Knowledge learned the hard way. Pride goeth before the call.

Back to Press Room