Agbayani trying to work way up

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, June 11, 2003 | 9:49 a.m.

Benny Agbayani's baseball career has gone from one extreme to another. He was the left fielder for the pennant-winning 2000 New York Mets, but now finds himself far from the spotlight filling the designated hitter's role for the Kansas City Royals' Triple-A affiliate in Omaha.

"In New York, you're pressing for wins and pressing for a championship," said Agbayani, 32. "You go to small market teams, your pressured to just win games."

The Omaha Royals have been doing a lot of winning lately. Tuesday night at Cashman Field, they beat the 51s, 10-6, scoring in six of nine innings and racking up 15 hits. Three Royals had five at bats, and third baseman Jed Hansen had six.

Agbayani was 0-for-4 with a strikeout -- it's the strikeouts that the Royals want him to work on before they're ready to bring him up to the major leagues.

"I just try to cut down more on my strikeouts, and take a lot of pitches. I know the Royals organization's philosophy is on-base percentage and taking a lot of pitches," he said. "But I'm not only showcasing my stuff for the Royals, I'm showcasing my stuff for the 29 other teams that are out there watching. In crunch time, teams are going to need players that have playoff experience."

Agbayani hit .320 in the 2000 playoffs, and .278 in the World Series against the New York Yankees. But he slumped in 2001, and hit only .231 between two teams in 2002. He was signed to a minor-league contract by the Cincinnati Reds before this season, but was traded for cash to the Royals at the end of spring training.

"They didn't want me to stay in Triple-A, they wanted me to go to a place where I'd have an opportunity to go to the major leagues," he said.

Agbayani got his start in Hawaii, where he had been playing soccer. "A coach came by my house. He asked me if I wanted to play baseball, and I said sure." He worked his way up the Mets' system, and landed the full-time outfielder position the year before the World Series season.

His unusual position as a Series veteran in Triple-A offers him a chance to be a leader for some of his younger teammates.

"I tell them straight out how it is, what is expected," he said. "A lot of teams look for guys who can hit in the clutch, who can hit with a man on base, and who don't feel the pressure every time they go up there where they need to do something or else."