Attitude Included

MESA, Ariz. —  It was the first day of his first spring training and Greg Jacobs wanted to make an impression.

With 141 players in the Angels’ minor league camp being shuttled around like cattle, getting some time in the spotlight can be a challenge. Jacobs, though, managed to pull it off without even trying.

“The first morning we had physicals and I have a thing about needles. When we got to the blood test, I didn’t handle that too well,” said Jacobs, a left-handed relief pitcher from Cal State Fullerton. “I nearly passed out.”

Jacobs, less than a year removed from college, had no idea what to expect. Safe to say, he figured it would lean more toward tossing baseballs.

Imagine his surprise.

Aircraft flying low enough to strafe. Mandatory meetings . . . on health insurance. And needles.

Still, one thing remains timeless about spring training. “We have 141 players in camp and 98 jobs,” said Jeff Parker, the Angels’ director of player development. “I usually know when other teams are making their cuts. I’ll get to the office and there will be 50 messages from agents and another 50 faxes. It’s a panic.”

It will settle over the Angels’ minor league camp this weekend. That is when team officials will file into a conference room and about 50 players will be out of work. It can be enough to make a guy sick.

According to one survey, only 10.6% of the players who sign ever spend a day in the major leagues. But Jacobs, a 13th-round pick last June, is not sweating it out.

His fastball has been clocked at 93 mph, making Jacobs the fastest left-handed pitcher in camp. His swagger has been undeniable.

Even before that big meeting, Jacobs said he knows his destination is Anaheim, he just hasn’t been told where the first layover will be. Class-A Cedar Rapids? Class-A Lake Elsinore? Double-A Erie?

“I hear a lot of guys saying their goal is to make the 40-man roster,” Jacobs said. “Forget it. I’m going for the big one--a spot in the [Angel] clubhouse. I have the patience. But, really, you don’t need patience if you get the job done.

“I know my skills. So I’m not worried at all. A lot of guys, you see their faces and they’re scared. That’s the first mistake right there. If you’re scared, you’re screwed.”

MEALS ON DEALS

Gene Autry Park, carved out of orange groves in Mesa, is losing its isolation. Housing tracks are closing in. Still, there is a sense of solitude, shattered occasionally by a plane approaching the nearby airport.

“One of those World War II planes will pass overhead and [pitching coach] Greg Minton will stop workouts,” Jacobs said. “He loves those things.”

Players are crammed onto three full fields, loosely divided into classification--triple A, double A, Class A. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., it’s all baseball.

Then comes the hard part.

Dinner.

“We used to give them $20 a day to eat on,” Parker said. “But some of these young guys would go buy CDs. They weren’t getting three square meals. A couple years ago, I was walking around a local mall and saw this restaurant had this deal. If you paid with coupons, you got 10% off. We got boxes of coupons. We needed a U-Haul to take them over for the bill.

“They must have hated us. They probably expected someone to buy $50 worth of coupons. We were spending thousands of dollars and getting the 10%. Now we have a deal with them.”

Ah, but, according to players, you get what you pay for.

“I usually break out the raisin nut bran in the morning and make my own dinner at night,” Jacobs said. “I can’t believe they have us eat at that place. It’s all this heavy food. It’s hard to run around and be light on your feet when you have that stuff on your stomach. I’d rather be broke and feed myself.”

The big picture, however, is the Angels must find a way to house and feed 141 players as cost efficiently as possible. In past years, players stayed in a motel, one that didn’t pull a triple-A rating. This year, the team has them in a new apartment complex.

Club officials arrange mandatory meetings on topics ranging from drug abuse to health insurance. Boring stuff for a guy like Jacobs, who grew up in Anaheim Hills and attended Canyon High School, but a brave new world to others.

“We have a 17-year-old kid from Venezuela in camp,” Parker said. “I’m sure he has never even heard of health insurance before. We want them to know how to go to the doctor if they get sick.”

The bottom line is the club takes care of everything, allowing the player to concentrate on baseball.

“Basically, they tell you where to go and what to do,” Jacobs said. “You can just cruise through it and you won’t be tired or you can bust your butt. I’m wasted every day. They get every inch of energy out of me.

“Some guys go out at night. The nightclubs around here are fun. They have something different every night. But your competition may be in bed at 8 p.m.”

DOWN TO BUSINESS

There is a military feel to camp, right down to the air cover.

“We almost hit one of those airplanes with the pop-up machine the other day,” Jacobs said. “I was wondering what that pilot must have thought to see a baseball about eye level. That had to be a little unusual.”

Then again, maybe not. This was, after all, where the Angel major league players once trained.

Still, it’s far from fun and games.

“One of the guys grabbed [my new glove] from me to go warm up our outfielder between innings,” Jacobs said. “He wasn’t even left-handed. He stuck the wrong hand in my glove. I was pitching that day and if I had pitched poorly, that glove would have gone in the trash.’

Jacobs pitched well and kept the glove.

He is one of 57 pitchers in camp. They range from Steve Frey, a 16-year professional (eight in the major leagues), to 17-year-old Francisco Rodriguez, a right-hander from Venezuela who signed for a $900,000 bonus.

“We’re all aware of each other,” Jacobs said. “You hear about a guy who throws hard and when he’s throwing, guys will stop and watch. When Matt Wise threw, everyone stopped and watched. He’s a triple-A guy and everyone wanted to check him out.”

Jacobs has done nothing but pitch well. He has been used as a closer in his Class-A group.

It’s a jump from a year ago, when he was 3-2 with a 4.24 earned-run average at Class-A Boise. It followed his last college season at Fullerton, where he pitched 57 innings.

Now, he has benefited from a winter working out and by the fact that he is only a pitcher now. Jacobs was a designated hitter and pitcher at Fullerton.

“I pump a couple in there and and heads will turn,” Jacobs said. “They hear the snap of that glove. People behind the dugout start talking because the gun reads 93. I’m like, ‘That’s right, give me that ball back.’ ”

That certainly has made an impression.

“I’m out there with the big attitude and the big walk,” he said. “I’m anxious for the season to start. I want to get out there, take that ball and shove it at hitters and say, ‘Better get me to the next league.’ ”