Thurston working toward return to L.A.

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, June 17, 2003 | 9:15 a.m.

Las Vegas shortstop Joe Thurston didn't play in the 51s' 7-3 win against the Tacoma Rainiers Monday, but chances are good he didn't mind.

Thurston may be the only man on the 51s' roster who doesn't think a stint in Triple-A is such a bad thing -- a surprising attitude, considering six months ago he seemed headed for a season in Los Angeles.

"If I'm in Triple-A, then that's where I belong," said Thurston. "It doesn't matter where I'm at. Whatever the decision is, I'm going to make sure it's not going to be an easy decision for them to make. I'm going to make it hard on them."

The decision to hype Thurston, 23, didn't seem like a tough one after his breakout season in 2002. He had a franchise-record 196 hits last year, only 20 short of a modern PCL record that has stood since 1960. He was also 22-for-31 in stolen bases, and in eight games with the Dodgers in September, he stole 6 of 13.

With the trade of Mark Grudzielanek in December, Thurston seemed to have a one-way ticket to Dodger Stadium punched. But a rough spring training meant Thurston would be spending another year in a 51s uniform.

In the midst of the slump, Thurston doesn't blame the hype.

"They're supposed to do things like that when they have new young talent coming in to play. But, I think it's one of those things where anyone would be disappointed to get hyped up, and do all they can do to try and make the team, and not be able to make the team. Any ballplayer would be that way, and I fit in that category."

So far, the decision to keep Thurston at Triple-A seems appropriate. He's hitting .261 midway through the season, and hasn't stolen a base in nine attempts. The one bright spot for Thurston has been his fielding -- his range is better than ever, and he has committed only eight errors in 66 games.

"Something I cherish is my defense," he says. "I've always wanted to be known as a defensive guy, and if I hit, that's a plus.

"Growing up, I was always a little guy, so nobody expected me to be a hitter," said Thurston, who stands 5-foot-8 "Little guys have to do something very well. I've been blessed to be good at both offense and defense. I liked Ozzie Smith, Robby Thompson, Mark Lemke -- those guys had to be good at defense. They weren't the bigger guys, they weren't going to hit the home runs to win the games. They were guys that were going to play steady defense all year."

Thurston said he has tried to forget about the slump and getting that first stolen base.

"It's something I've been really frustrated with, because I've never been this bad," he said. "As far as getting a stolen base, I'm not going to stop trying because I'm frustrated and I haven't had a stolen base. That's one of the worst things that could happen -- I give up, I don't have a stolen base, so I'm not going to run anymore."

As for his hitting, he thinks it will come along.

"I work hard every day, but this is a failure oriented game," he said. "You can't expect to be hot all season, and you can't expect to be cold all season. Everyone goes through bad times. Some people might just have a bad two or three games, somebody might have a bad week, somebody might have a bad month.

"Baseball's a long season, and if you're working hard at the things you need to get better at, and it doesn't pan out for you, you can't complain because you've done anything you could to get better at it. I feel comfortable with my swing, just right now, my average doesn't show that."