Steve Decker update...

By HERB SWETT

For the Keizertimes

Steve Decker of Keizer, former pennant-winning manager of the Volcanoes, has been staying busy in baseball.

Last year he managed the class A advanced San Jose Giants of the California League, winning both halves of the season before losing the playoffs. He went to the Dominican Republic in November to help develop players there, and he is preparing to manage the Connecticut Defenders of the class AA Eastern League.

The parent San Francisco Giants send people in their organization, usually two men at a time, to the Dominican Republic through the off-season to instruct players who have signed with the Giants organization. Decker and Fred Stanley, the Giants' farm director, went there for about a week.

Decker, who played winter ball in Mexico and Puerto Rico, said he found the Dominican Republic a much less developed place than the parts of Latin America where he had been.

"You're dealing with a different realm of aptitude," he said, noting that the Dominican Republic is a Third World country, in which many of the players have little formal education and are less advanced than players in the same age group in the United States and Mexico.

A former catcher whose career included several seasons in the Major Leagues but never in a first-string capacity, Decker works mostly on hitting but is also involved with catching and the other phases of the game. As a manager, he said, he has to stay involved with all the phases.

"The best way to communicate is hands-on," he said.

The Eastern League plays a 142-game season that will start April 9 and end in the first week of September. The Connecticut club, based in Norwich in the southeastern part of the state, finished fourth last year with a 68-73 record. The Defenders name honors the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in nearby New London and a submarine base in nearby Groton.

Describing the home stadium as a "pitchers' ballpark," Decker said he planned to focus on pitching, fielding and "little ball" offense to get the most out of his players. His pitching coach will be Ross Grimsley, a major league veteran who played with the Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles and Montreal Expos and had a 20-victory season with Baltimore. Gary Ingram will be the hitting coach and Eric Ortega the trainer.

His player roster, of course, will not be known until the last week of spring training.

Decker managed Salem-Keizer from 2005 through 2007. The Volcanoes were the Northwest League champions in 2006 and 2007, and in 2007 they were the Minor League Team of the Year.

His playing career included 263 games in the majors, spread out over most of the 1990s. He played for the Giants, the Florida Marlins, the Colorado Rockies and the California Angels (now the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim).