LOCAL WATCH: FULLMER BACK IN THE SWING TORONTO DESIGNATED HITTER IMPROVING.

Byline: Heather Gripp Staff Writer

Wrapped around the biceps of Brad Fullmer's right arm is a tattoo that reads ``Can't break me.'' Fullmer's spirit might be unbreakable, but his swing was not.

The Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter spent much of the season struggling to fix a swing that had strayed from the form that produced career highs innearly every offensive category last year.

Fullmer, a graduate of Montclair Prep of Van Nuys, appears to have found the remedy, though. He entered this weekend's series against Texas with six hits in the previous four games, raising his average to .277 with 15 home runs.

``I've been battling,'' Fullmer said. ``I haven't quite found my swing like I did last year, but I'm still battling and there's still some time left to get things going this year.

``Because I started slow in the home run department, I think I started getting conscious of that and tried to muscle up on balls and my swing got kind of long. Home runs come from being free and easy and creating bat speed, so now I'm just trying to relax and stay free, let the bat do the work and create bat speed to get the ball out of the park or even just get hits.''

He had plenty of hits (a career-high 142) in 2000.

Feeling rejuvenated after a trade from Montreal to Toronto, Fullmer batted .295 with 32 home runs and 104 RBI, ranking second in the American League for home runs and RBI by a designated hitter.

Fullmer, 26, has always considered hitting his forte and was thrilled to become a designated hitter, a position where the former first baseman could focus solely on his favorite part of the game.

``That's why I'm here,'' Fullmer said. ``I'm here because of my bat and it's nice to concentrate on that.''

Fullmer likes to work on his hitting so much that Blue Jays hitting coach Cito Gaston sometimes has to tell him to stop so he won't wear himself out. Fullmer leaves the dugout during games to hit off a tee and just one bad swing causes him to start his entire routine from the beginning.

``You can't complain about someone who works as hard as he does,'' Gaston said.

Trying to do too much hurt Fullmer, though. He entered the season expecting to at least match his stats from last year. However, pitchers had become aware of his potential and were more cautious pitching to him and he no longer had All-Star Tony Batista batting behind him. Fullmer needed 18 games to hit his first home run and has not had a batting average above .300 since the first few games of the season.

``I think I've proven with last year what I'm capable of.'' Fullmer said.``Obviously, I came into this year wanting to duplicate that and that's been kind of tough at times, too, because I expected a lot out of myself. This is the first time I've had to follow up a year like that and at times maybe I tried to do too much, trying to do it again. Sometimes that might work against you a little bit, but that's in the past. I'm going to do what I can the last couple months here to put up a productive year.''

FULLMER FILE

Name: Brad Fullmer 

Team: Toronto Blue Jays

Position: Designated hitter

Age: 26

Local tie: Montclair Prep of Van Nuys

Career highlights: Established Blue Jays records for home runs (32) and RBI (104) by a designated hitter when he had career highs in both in 2000. ... Set Expos rookie record for doubles by hitting 44 in 1998, a total that was fourth-best in franchise history and ranked seventh in the National League that year. ... Named Expos' minor-league Pplayer of the Year in 1997. ... Selected by Montreal in the second round of the 1993 draft.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

After some struggles, Brad Fullmer of the Toronto Blue Jays may have found his swing.

Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

Box: FULLMER FILE (see text)