Angels' Hank Conger finds a perfect ending for his spring

Angels’ Hank Conger finds a perfect ending for his spring

Angels catcher Hank Conger (16) celebrates his three-run home run with teammates Mike Trout, left, Peter Bourjos (25) and Kole Calhoun during an exhibition game against the Seattle Mariners last month.

By Kevin Baxter

March 31, 2013 12 AM PT

Here’s the kind of day Hank Conger had on Saturday: With two outs in the last inning of the last exhibition game of the spring, he hit a pinch-hit home run to lift his Angels to a 2-1 win over the Dodgers at Angel Stadium.

And that was only the second-best thing that happened to him.

Just a few hours earlier Conger was told he had made the Angels’ opening-day roster after an up-and-down spring that looked as if it would end with the switch-hitting catcher headed back to the minors.

“It was a pretty good ending to the spring,” he admitted with a smile. “I really couldn’t write it any better.”

Besides Conger, who will be the backup catcher, the Angels filled out their bench by naming outfielder J.B. Shuck and versatile infielders Andrew Romine and Brendan Harris to the team.

Right-handers Mark Lowe and Garrett Richards won the final two bullpen slots.

Conger’s bat has never been an issue, especially this spring when he batted .359 with four home runs and a team-high 16 runs batted in. But he also led the team with four errors, all on throws, something the Angels became so concerned about that they brought veteran Chris Snyder into camp two weeks ago to compete with Conger for the backup job.

“It was a little bit of a roller coaster. We can all agree with that,” Conger said of his spring. “It helped a lot knowing that I had so much encouragement from everybody. The staff, even the players. That just really helped me in the last week or so as far as trying to lock it in and try to get focused.”

Through it all Conger, a former first-round draft pick from Huntington Beach High, tried to stay positive.

“I never really doubt my ability,” he said. “I knew I was going through a rough patch and I just knew that whatever happened, happened. But as long as I could just keep improving ... [that] was really my main focus.”

Before his defensive struggles surfaced, Conger was widely expected to make the team, so his success isn’t exactly a surprise. But Shuck, a non-roster invitee to spring training, came out and won his job, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said.

“His spring was off the charts. He flat-out made our team,” Scioscia said. “This is about J.B. Shuck just really taking an opportunity and capturing it.”

Shuck, 25, a left-handed hitter who played all three outfielder positions during a 37-game stint with Houston in 2011, batted .358 in 29 games this spring, driving in 10 runs and striking out just six times in 53 at-bats.

“When I came in, they asked me to do the small-ball stuff. So I really worked on it,” Shuck said. “And I had a lot of opportunities to prove that I could.”

But Shuck, who had never made an opening-day roster in the majors, said now is not the time to relax.

“You’ve got to put it up every day,” he said. “There’s a ton of great players. The outfield was stacked. And they’re going to be in triple-A or wherever doing what they do and ready to get up here. So I’m not going to try to take anything off.”

The versatile Harris, 32, another nonroster invitee, played seven years in the majors for five teams. But he’s spent the last two years in the minors trying to earn his way back.

“It’s been a big grind,” said Harris, who can play all four infield positions. “So it’s part relief, part exciting at the same time. It’s been kind of hanging over your head the last couple of days.”

As for making an opening-day roster again, Harris, who hit .250 this spring, said, “It never gets old. So I’ve tried to savor each one. I’ve never really taken things for granted.”

Romine, who in his three previous stints with the Angels has never made an opening-day roster, came into the spring as the favorite to win a job as a backup middle infielder. And he secured that job with a solid spring in which he hit .283 while committing just one error in 24 games.

For Scioscia, the intense position battles have set the Angels up well for a long season in which a number of minor leaguers can expect to be called up to play key roles.

“Overall, we’re in a better position right now than we were last year at this time,” he said. “We’re only going to break with seven bullpen arms, so there are guys that aren’t going to start with us.”

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