Giles hot, but says it's only April

by David O’Brien  --  Atlanta Journal-Constitution  --  April 29, 2003

Marcus Giles and his Braves infield coach/mentor Glenn Hubbard keep reminding anyone who will listen that it's only one month into a six-month season, so please don't knock over the Giles bandwagon racing to get on board.

But with each passing week it's becoming more difficult not to declare Atlanta's 5-foot-7 second baseman the most improved player in the major leagues.

Giles has been that good, batting .363 with eight doubles, four home runs, 14 RBIs and a .435 on-base percentage while playing steady and often spectacular defense for the Braves, who open a six-game trip tonight in Houston.

"He's playing great, doing everything a manager could want," manager Bobby Cox said. "He bunts, steals a base, hits for power, moves runners over, he's rugged, turns a double play . . . "

"He's playing perfect baseball," closer John Smoltz said.

"What we see now," general manager John Schuerholz said, "is a true testament to a guy with determination and work ethic. He's making plays now that not only didn't we think he could make before, but that very few second basemen can make."

Hubbard: "At the end of the year, I hope we're saying the same things. I think we will be."

Giles, 24, is keeping it in perspective. "I'm a bad series away from hitting .280," he said. "I just think I need to stay with the right frame of mind. If I stay where I'm at mentally, I'll be OK."

If he stays anywhere near this level of performance, he will be closer to All-Star than OK.

There isn't a National League second baseman playing better than Giles, who moved from the eighth spot in the order to No. 2 after first baseman Robert Fick jammed his shoulder April 12.

Batting second, Giles is hitting .436 with three homers, eight RBIs and 13 runs in 10 games.

"A natural," general manager John Schuerholz said of his work in the No. 2 spot.

Natural is not a word Giles imagined a Braves executive using to describe his game. "I'm not the smoothest," he said, though he has been both smooth and plucky this season, showing no fear of runners attempting to break up double plays.

Giles has pined for this moment since at least 1998, when he made 20 errors in the first half of the season at Macon and worked diligently with Hubbard to reduce it to six in the second half.

The lessons haven't stopped. This spring, Hubbard and bullpen coach Bobby Dews went each day with Giles to a back field at 7 a.m., and Hubbard, the best defensive second baseman Atlanta's had, hit grounders to Giles and talked about turning the double play.

Giles is completing a circle of sorts for Dews, 64, who managed Hubbard in 1976 at Kingsport in the Appalachian League and 1977 at Greenwood in the Western Carolinas League

"I can truthfully say, of every player I ever coached, Hubby and Terry Harper were more determined to make it than anyone," said Dews, who said he sees similar drive in Giles. "I never saw anybody turn a double play better than Glenn Hubbard. Giles is working toward that end. It's fun to watch Hubby work with him. It reminds me of 40 years ago, I hate to admit."

At the plate, Giles is surpassing Atlanta's wildest expectations. He's second in the NL in average, eighth in on-base percentage and ninth in slugging percentage (.613, ahead of Sammy Sosa's .607).

He leads the major leagues in average vs. left-handers (.600, 12-for-20) after batting .158 against lefties in 2002, and Braves second basemen lead the NL in batting average after finishing dead last in 2002 and 14th in 2001.

Giles is playing so well, Schuerholz picked up the phone last week and called 85-year-old scout Al Kubski. It was Kubski who advised the Braves seven years ago to draft the younger brother of Brian Giles, who was then a Cleveland rookie and became a Pirates All-Star.

"I called him just to say, 'Al, way to go,' " Schuerholz said. " 'You were right. You said this kid was gonna be a player, and you were right.' "

The Braves selected Giles in the 53rd round of the 1996 June free-agent draft, roughly 40 to 50 rounds after the majority of drafted players on major league rosters are taken.

The San Diego native worked his way through the organization in 4 1/2 seasons and reached Atlanta in 2001. But after batting .247 with 17 home runs in 136 games during parts of two seasons with the Braves, there were lingering questions about Giles.

Could he play enough defense to be a starter? Could he hold up to the rigors of a 162-game season? Could he hit for a high enough average against big-league pitching?

Schuerholz concedes he still had doubts this winter. The Braves turned down trade interest in Giles from San Diego and other teams, but if they'd had a bigger budget, some believe the Braves would have signed a proven second baseman after releasing Keith Lockhart.

Instead, they decided to give Giles the opportunity he craved and Hubbard lobbied for.

"We were confident enough in his determination and his good play in the minor leagues," Schuerholz said of Giles, who had a .322 career average in the minors and produced a 37-homer, 108-RBI season at hitter-friendly Macon, where Hubbard was his infield coach.

"But we didn't know for sure, based on how he played sporadically last year. But this year in spring training, he came in more streamlined. He was strong last year, but didn't have the flexibility and mobility he has now.

"I can't say I had complete confidence, but we were confident nobody would work any harder or put any more into it than this guy."