CHILL PILL D'ANTONA IS A COOL CHARACTER.

Byline: Gideon Rubin Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Jamie D'Antona admits it took some getting used to.

After growing up in a comparatively high-stress East Coast environment in Trumball, Conn., about an hour from Hartford, sandwiched between New York to the south and Boston to the north, D'Antona's decision to attend Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, N.C., meant a different pace of life.

``Everybody talks slow, everybody moves slow and everybody drives slow, and that kind of (upset) me off the first year I was there,'' D'Antona said. ``I kept trying to go around people, but then I figured it's just not worth it. You sit there and you wait your 10 minutes and you're done.''

Southern hospitality apparently made an impact on him.

A slugging third baseman selected by the JetHawks parent Arizona Diamondbacks in the second round of last year's draft (he was the 66th overall pick), D'Antona has brought his laid-back ways to Lancaster.

And all the pressure associated with being a high draft pick, projected to be on the fast track to the big leagues as he starts his first full year in pro ball, doesn't seem to faze him.

``Stress is something I just never deal with,'' D'Antona said. ``I'm always cracking a joke on someone. It never has occurred to me that I need to worry about something in baseball. You just don't perform like that.''

A ``goofball,'' by his own admission, D'Antona buys clothes at thrift stores and is oblivious to the notion of image.

However, at the prodding of the organization's upper brass, he got involved in a offseason fitness program and shed more than 10 pounds.

``Last summer he looked more like a slow-pitch softball player when he came to Yakima,'' Diamondbacks farm director Tommy Jones said, ``but he really disciplined himself to get that done and now he looks a lot more like a ballplayer.''

According to Jones, D'Antona's power stroke has attracted the organization's attention.

D'Antona, who's ranked 14th among organizational prospects by Baseball America, hit 15 homers in 2003 at short-season Yakima (Wash.), tying him for the Northwest League lead.

He also impressed the organization in stints with the major-league club in spring training.

``Jamie is one of those guys who when he hits a fly ball you just say, `You've got to be kidding me,' '' Jones said.

JetHawks outfielder Conor Jackson, who also played with D'Antona at Yakima, described D'Antona's propensity for hitting mammoth home runs as ``flabbergasting, just absolutely flabbergasting.''

Although D'Antona doesn't take himself seriously, he is serious about his game.

``He's a goofball, but when he's in between the lines he's intense, even though he won't admit it'' JetHawks outfielder Carlos Quentin said.

D'Antona acknowledged that some have taken his free-spirited nature for lack of effort, and that laughing off a booted infield grounder isn't always what others want to see.

Others view it as a way of putting the game in perspective and helping to foster a looser clubhouse environment.

``I'm not trying to disrespect anybody,'' D'Antona said. ``But I'm not going to take my bat and throw it against the wall because I struck out and I'm not going to take my helmet and throw it. I'm just a lot calmer than that.''

Gideon Rubin [phone]

gideon.rubin(at)dailynews.com

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