Wladimir Balentien shows better patience after late arrival to spring training

MESA, Ariz. — Taking his time is something Wladimir Balentien has forced himself to do since his spring training began.

Some might joke that the Curacao native was already doing that beforehand, seeming to take most of February just to make it to Mariners camp. A well-documented visa problem, caused by his ripping out wet pages from his passport that a cousin had dunked in water, led to his getting stuck in Venezuela and arriving in Arizona nearly two weeks late.

And now, he's trying to impress a new coaching staff in a short time period with his left-field job having been all-but-handed to Endy Chavez. But even though Balentien says he has tried to catch up by working harder, the second-year major-leaguer insists he isn't about to rush things to prove himself in limited time.

"That's a mistake I made last year," said Balentien, who had two singles in a 5-3 loss for the Mariners to the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. "I tried to do more than I could do and I didn't get results."

Balentien stumbled through his rookie season, got sent back down to the minors for a prolonged stint, then finished the year with a terrible .202 average and .592 on-base-plus slugging percentage. The holes in his swing that had previously plagued him in the minors were evident in Seattle and he spent months trying new techniques with former hitting consultant Lee Elia behind the scenes.

This spring, he's trying different drills with hitting coach Alan Cockrell and appears to be having some success. Balentien came out of Sunday's game with 14 hits in his first 36 at-bats this spring, a .389 average.

Inflated spring stats don't mean all that much, but the team is breathing easier now that Balentien is making contact. The Mariners know they might have to pinch-hit for Chavez late in games and need an outfielder who can come off the bench and play solid defense.

Balentien is versatile enough to play all three outfield positions without being a defensive liability. But the ticket to his sticking with the club was always going to involve showing improvement at the plate.

"Just about anybody will swing at a ball in the dirt a couple of times," he said. "It's kind of hard, but if I put a little more concentration on my hitting when I'm up there, I think I can do a better job with that."

Balentien is averaging one strikeout every five at-bats in spring training, better than his 1-in-3 rate last season. He's also worked closely with Cockrell at a drill designed to level-off his swing.

"He has me swinging with one hand," Balentien said. "He'll toss me the ball and I try to use my right hand more so I can keep my swing in the zone."

And that swing seems to be getting better as camp progresses. He had tried to stay in baseball shape while waiting for his visa, working out in a batting cage in Caracas, Venezuela, where he resides with his Venezuelan-born wife.

"I did the best I could," he said. "I would workout in the cage, play flip and do live BP. But it's not at all the same as seeing live pitching."

Nor is stepping into the regular season quite the same as putting up big numbers here. Balentien has been a spring training darling before, only to lose his shine when the games began to count.

For now, the Mariners will keep working with him and cross their fingers.

"Right now, I'm not trying to rush anything," Balentien said. "If I rush, I know I won't have the same success as if I just try to be myself. So far, I'm just being myself and with a little hard work, things are going well."

Notes

• Mariners starter Erik Bedard threw 45 pitches over 2-2/3 innings against the Cubs in his second start since being sidelined by a tight buttocks muscle. Bedard walked three batters and allowed two hits, but kept Chicago off the scoreboard thanks largely to some solid defensive play behind him.

When a television reporter mentioned that Bedard's fastball looked sharp, the pitcher smiled and shook his head.

"I felt like I had nothing today," he said. "I may have looked great but I didn't feel good. It was all about the defense today."

That aside, Bedard said he cares less about the results than getting his arm built up to where it needs to be.

"I've got to get more innings under my belt and get my pitch count up," he said. "As long as I feel fine, I'll be fine for the season."

• The Mariners expect all four of their players who had been with Team Venezuela at the World Baseball Classic to be back in camp by today. Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said he expected that second baseman Jose Lopez and left fielder Endy Chavez could play against San Francisco.

On the pitching side, Felix Hernandez is scheduled to start Thursday, and Carlos Silva is to start Saturday.

Sunday's box score

Seattle						Chicago (N)
	AB	R	H	BI			AB	R	H	BI
Cedeno 2b	4	0	0	0		Soriano lf	3	0	1	2
R.Corona 2b	0	0	0	0		Taguchi lf	1	0	0	0
Gutierrez cf	4	0	0	0		Miles 2b	3	0	0	1
E.Carrera cf	0	0	0	0		German 2b	0	0	0	0
Balentien lf	3	0	2	0		Lee 1b	2	0	1	0
Messenger p	0	0	0	0		Hoffpauir 1b	1	0	0	0
Clement ph	1	0	0	0		Bradley rf	3	0	2	0
S.Kelley p	0	0	0	0		Fuld rf	1	2	1	0
Branyan 1b	2	0	0	0		Ramirez 3b	3	0	1	0
Shelton 1b	2	0	0	0		B.Scales 3b	1	1	1	0
Morse 3b	3	0	1	0		Soto c	1	1	0	0
Wilson rf	4	1	1	1		Bako c	1	0	1	1
Burke c	2	0	0	0		Blanco ss	4	0	1	1
Phillips c	1	0	0	0		Gathright cf	3	0	0	0
J.Domgz pr	0	1	0	0		Zambrano p	2	1	1	0
Woodwrd ss	4	1	3	2		Fontenot ph	1	0	0	0
Bedard p	1	0	0	0		Marmol p	0	0	0	0
Lowe p	1	0	0	0		Guzman p	0	0	0	0
Jimenez p	0	0	0	0		Johnson ph	1	0	0	0
Redman lf	2	0	0	0		Wells p	0	0	0	0
Totals	34	3	7	3		Totals	31	5	10	5

Seattle	001 000 101	—	3
Chicago (N)	000 013 10x	—	5

E — Soto (1). DP — Seattle 2. LOB — Seattle 6, Chicago (N) 8. 2B — Woodward (4), Lee (2), Bradley (3), B.Scales (5), Zambrano (2). HR — Wilson (5), Woodward (3). SF — Miles.

Mariners	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
	Bedard		2 2/3	2	0	0	3	2

	Lowe BS,2-2		2 1/3	2	1	1	0	0

	Jimenez L, 1-1		1/3	2	3	3	2	0

	Messenger		1 2/3	4	1	1	0	1

	S.Kelley		1	0	0	0	0	0

Cubs	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
	Zambrano W, 2-1		6	4	1	1	0	6

	Marmol		1	2	1	1	0	3

	Guzman		1	0	0	0	0	1

	Wells S,1-1		1	1	1	1	1	0

HBP — by Marmol (Burke). A — 13,002.