Jackson graduate has big league confidence

Published 2:33 pm Friday, March 6, 2009

GLENDALE, Ariz.

This is how confident Brent Lillibridge is that he’ll be in the Chicago White Sox starting lineup when they open the season April 6 at US Cellular Field.

He has “no doubt” that second base is going to be “my position.” And that he’s going to be an All-Star either “this year or next year.”

That might sound extraordinarily bold. But it’s the kind of competitive spirit that managers like in a player.

Don’t know if Ozzie Guillen had read this kind of remark from Lillibridge before, but there’s no doubt the White Sox manager likes the 25-year-old infielder.

“This kid brings a lot to the table,” Guillen said last month at the Sox spring training quarters here. “He’s going to have a shot to play. He’s going to have a legit shot to be with the White Sox this summer.”

And he’s getting a legitimate shot to compete for the open second base job, along with Jayson Nix and Chris Getz.

Lillibridge caught Guillen’s attention the first time he appeared on the field this spring, but not initially for anything he did. Like many others over the years, the Sox skipper was taken aback by Lillibridge’s youthful face.

“I didn’t even know if this kid was old enough to be on the field,” he said, laughing uproariously. “It is funny because we have the rules – no kids on the field. I saw this kid and then I see him take ground balls.”

It was then that he knew “this kid” was old enough to be on the field.

“The scouting report we have (on him) is amazing,” Guillen said. “I don’t want to say (he was) the key of the trade (with Atlanta) but he was a big part. We tried to get this kid (for) a few years.

“He’s got a lot of things going for him because he can run, he knows how to play the game and he can play a couple of different positions. I love those guys who come out and play the game good, play the game hard. He’s a hard-nosed kid.”

When he came over from Atlanta in a six-player trade in December, Lillibridge – the former Jackson High School and University of Washington standout – soon learned what the White Sox had in mind for him.

They wanted him to be a “small-ball guy,” he said, “a catalyst on the bases, let the big guys hit the ball out of the park, you just hit the ball hard on the ground, make mistakes on the ground instead of in the air, which has caught up to me in my career with a lot of popups.”

He has power, as he proved with 34 home runs in four minor-league seasons, but the White Sox do, too. So he can concentrate on reaching base rather than reaching the seats.

Lillibridge has his sight not only on the second-base job, but on the leadoff spot in the batting order as well.

“I understand that role,” he said, having filled it in the minors with Pittsburgh, the team that drafted him. “I know exactly what needs to be done, working the counts, being able to put the ball in play.”

And, yes, the man can run. In the minors, he swiped 128 bases in 163 attempts. “If I can get over a .350 on-base percentage, I can steal 40 bases,” predicted Lillibridge, who had a .352 OBP in the minors.

There have been many players, however, who posted glittering statistics in the minors and never stuck in the majors. Who never even got to the majors.

Lillibridge got there last year. He aims to stick this year.

He looks back on the entire 2008 season with a certain amount of anger. Anger, especially, at the numbers he put up. A .220 batting average at Class AAA Richmond and a .200 average with Atlanta.

“I hate looking at the numbers because I don’t think they really showed who I was,” he said after practice one day early in camp. “I’m mad about my numbers but I learned so much about what I needed to work on in the offseason.”

Because he was shuttling between Richmond and Atlanta, he never felt as if he got into a rhythm at the plate. “Up and down, inconsistent playing time, that was a huge learning experience for me,” he said. “You’re coming into that (batter’s) box in the seventh or eighth inning or you’re playing when a guy gets hurt halfway through the game, you aren’t going to have any feel for the game.”

He welcomed the trade to Chicago, not that he had anything bad to say about the Braves, just that he’s getting a fresh start with the White Sox and apparently an opportunity to play on an everyday basis that wasn’t there in Atlanta.

Even if he doesn’t win the second base job, he could be a valuable backup, as he has played shortstop throughout his professional career and he can also play third. Several years ago, when he was a fixture in the UW lineup, he also starred for one season in center field and also played that position for the USA team.

“It’s like being a little kid, running baseballs down, using your speed,” he said of roaming the outfield. “I still go out there during BP (batting practice) and chase balls down because I love doing it.”

The outfield isn’t where his heart is, though, as he battles for a job this spring.

And people are noticing.

Recently, a White Sox employee was sitting in a golf cart talking about this player he had seen.

“The first time I saw your boy Lillibridge, I thought he was a batboy,” the man said. “But when you see him on the field … whoooooeeeey.”

Lillibridge hopes to elicit the same emotion from Sox fans this summer.