LAS VIRGENES SOLID ON MOUND, AT PLATE : DEPTH ALLOWS TEAM'S PITCHING ACE TO HIT, FIELD.

Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Daily News Staff Writer

The key word for the Las Virgenes American Legion baseball team is depth. And nowhere is it more apparent than on the pitching staff, where the club has so many quality arms that it has the luxury of resting ace Tanner Trosper during the early part of the schedule.

Trosper, who will be a freshman at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo next year and is expected to pitch out of the bullpen, has taken advantage of his time away from the mound to concentrate on his play in the outfield and his hitting.

The original intent once Trosper left Calabasas High School for Cal Poly was that he'd be a pitcher. But after his future coaching staff caught a glimpse of him with a bat in his hand for the Coyotes last year, it was obvious that he could help the Mustangs in other ways.

``They want me to be a closer next year,'' Trosper said. ``I feel if I'm going to do that, I'd also like to play in the outfield and hit. That's my favorite part of the game.''

Trosper has made the most of playing in the field thus far, hitting over .500 through 15 games.

The key has been an entirely new approach in the batter's box. In high school, Trosper often swung for the fences and tried to hammer the ball out of the ballpark. Although he had success with that philosophy, he admits it often caused him to get out in front of the ball.

This summer he's tried to forget about home runs and concentrate on making solid contact.

``I completely changed my style,'' he said. ``I'm looking to hit line drives up the middle. But the home runs are still coming.''

Trosper has just one home run so far, but he's hitting the ball hard and deep, and the one that he did hit went 390 feet.

``It was a bomb,'' he said.

Even with Trosper playing in the field, Las Virgenes has not missed a beat on the mound. That's because it still has Jared Sandler, Brandon Cohen and Zach Fields to turn to. In addition, Calabasas High School seniors-to-be Ricky Stockton and Matt Sagoian have turned in quality performances as well.

``We feel we have a number of guys that are capable of pitching a good game for us,'' said Las Virgenes co-coach Scott Drootin.

Drootin is especially excited about the fact that the players coming back to the Calabasas program next year all have stepped up their play thanks to the presence of college players on opposing teams and in his own dugout.

``They're playing up to the level of the college guys,'' Drootin said. ``And as a coach that's what you want to see.''

The club was put together with that objective in mind. Whereas other legion teams go strictly with underclassmen, Las Virgenes filled its roster with an equal amount of college and high school players.

``Our thinking was that by having the younger players play around the college guys, they'd improve their game because they'd play up to that level,'' Drootin said. ``So far it seems to be working.''

Trosper appreciates having older players to lean on, especially with the start of his own college career just a few months away.

``It's pretty fun because I played with them last year, and they're a bunch of good guys,'' he said. ``You can see how much they've matured since last year.''

One player coming back to Calabasas next year who has made a positive impression is catcher Josh Goldfield, who shares time with Agoura High School catcher Chris Cicuto.

``I haven't seen anybody better than Josh at catcher,'' Drootin said. ``He's outstanding.''

Besides his talent behind the plate, Goldfield hopes to improve offensively by switch-hitting this summer.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Tanner Trosper

Arm getting lots of rest