Marnell has new outlook

Thursday, March 21, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

PEORIA, Ariz. -- After an admittedly disastrous rookie season in professional baseball, Bishop Gorman graduate Anthony Marnell is seeing things in a different light this spring.

Literally.

Marnell missed much of last season with an eye disorder that prohibited him from seeing well at night -- a potentially dangerous problem when you're standing in the way of a 90 mph fastball.

Marnell, a catcher in the San Diego Padres minor-league system, apparently had the disorder when he was starring at Gorman and, later, when he played for the University of Arizona, but it went unnoticed.

"We didn't play very many night games in college and high school, so I really didn't notice it too much," Marnell said. "As soon as I got (to the minor leagues) and started playing every game late at night, I couldn't see the spin on the ball."

Marnell, a 22nd-round draft choice last June, was sent to the Padres' short-season Class A club in Idaho Falls where he played three games. When the Padres signed their top draft pick, catcher Ben Davis, and assigned him to Idaho Falls, Marnell was sent to Class A Rancho Cucamonga to play every day.

At Rancho, Marnell struggled at the plate in 16 games -- hitting .043 with 16 strikeouts in 23 at-bats -- before he was sent to a series of eye specialists.

"I went to four or five different doctors, and they finally gave me tinted contact lenses," Marnell said. "I didn't have any of the pigment in the back of my eye that absorbs the light when it comes into the eye from concentrated areas, like light poles. To correct that, they gave me tinted contact lenses. I hit a little bit at night in the off-season and they seemed to help a lot.

"I'm not counting last year at all. I don't think the way I played last year is the way I'll be playing this year. I think once the season starts, I'll be ready to go."

As a result of his vision problems -- and the fact he had fewer than 130 at-bats in three years at Arizona -- Marnell expects to begin this season back at Idaho Falls. He said his top priority is to regain the swing he had while he was playing at Gorman.

"I came in so far behind (everybody else) because I had so little experience all through college -- I had only about 120 at-bats out of three years of college," said Marnell, whose father, Anthony, owns the Rio Suites Hotel and Casino. "I haven't really competed at the higher level as far as hitting. It's a struggle, but I'm going to give that some time. I think I can still hit, I just have to make some adjustments.

"My swing is coming along a little slow, but I've been trying a lot of different things and that's what spring training is for. When I went to college, I didn't like the way they had me hitting, but there it was either hit the way they want you to hit or you don't play."

It is Marnell's abilities behind the plate that led the Padres to draft him last June after he quit the Arizona baseball team. Marnell tried out for the Padres last spring in Peoria and spent part of last season before the draft catching Stars pitchers in the bullpen.

"When I left Arizona, (the Padres) heard I wasn't playing there anymore because they had sent somebody to scout me," Marnell said. "Marty Barrett called me at home and asked me to come down so the Padres could take a look at me.

"I had tried out for eight other teams, but when the draft came around in June, the Padres drafted me."

While the thought of one day being able to play in his hometown for the Stars is appealing to the native Las Vegan, Marnell said he was just hoping any team would draft him.

"I just wanted the chance to play for somebody who would give me the opportunity to play every day," Marnell said. "I'm not the most talented guy out there, but I do have some ability and I just wanted somebody to recognize that and be able to play day in and day out.

"All I was looking for was that opportunity. I didn't really care who it was with, but I like this organization ... it's a fun place to be."