Dawgs got Clark back behind plate; Kennedy's tip got his bat going

By Kirk Kenney
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

August 6, 2005

Cody Clark prefers to have baseballs thrown to him, not hit at him. He is a catcher, not a fielder.

But you do what you have to do to stay in the game. And if the River City Rascals needed a third baseman, then Clark was a third baseman.

After all, what alternative did he have?

"That was my only option," said Clark, who was released by the Texas Rangers organization in April.

When a month passed and nothing else came along, Clark resigned himself to a position change. So he got behind the wheel of his TrailBlazer and began the 450-mile drive from the family home in Conway, Ark., to O'Fallon, Mo., home of the Frontier League Rascals.

Clark was perhaps an hour down the road when his cell phone rang. It was his father, who said the San Diego Surf Dawgs had called looking for a catcher.

Clark made a U-turn. So, it seems, has his career.

Catching for the Surf Dawgs, Clark, 23, has been on the receiving end of the best pitching staff in the Golden Baseball League.

"I'd like to think I had some part in it," he said. "But it's mostly them. They're the ones throwing it."

Clark won't take all the credit for his performance with the bat ­ where he is among the team's leaders with a .316 batting average, six home runs and 37 RBI ­ either. He credits a little tip from Surf Dawgs manager Terry Kennedy for much of his success.

"I was struggling a little bit with things and he noticed something in my swing," said Clark, who was advised to make an adjustment with his front hand. "It was something he said Willie Stargell showed to him and he showed it to me. And things just clicked."

Kennedy signed Clark sight unseen on the recommendation of Kash Beauchamp, the GBL's director of scouting. Kennedy, tickled at his good fortune, knew he had something the moment Clark arrived.

"I could see right away the skills he had behind the plate," said Kennedy, who spent 14 years catching in the major leagues. "He is, to me, the most valuable player on the team.

"He just knows how to do things. He's smooth. He calls a good game. He knows what hitters do and he knows what a pitcher's capable of. And he's been throwing so well. You give him a chance, he's going to throw everybody out."

Clark's defensive skills have never been questioned. It was his performance at the plate that led the Rangers to release him. Texas took him in the 11th round of the 2003 draft out of Wichita State. Clark hit .210 that first summer and .230 the following season. Things weren't going any better at the start of this season when Clark was released.

"It was kind of my fault, and theirs, too," said Clark. "When I did play, I didn't hit enough for them. But I was playing once every four or five days. I just couldn't get in a groove. I never got rolling . . . I just wanted an opportunity to play every day."

Said Kennedy: "Maybe in the past the report would have been, good catch, good throw, poor offense. But he's changed his approach at the plate. He's pulling the ball with authority now. He's much more of a threat."

Page Created: 8-6-05

Page Last Updated: 8-6-05