Bush moving on from last year's arrest
By: BRIAN HIRO - Staff Writer | ∞
PEORIA, Ariz. ---- He can blend into the background here, which is just the way Matt Bush wants it. In the relative calm of spring training, his first spring training, Bush doesn't have to be the can't-miss kid, the teenager with a checkered start to his professional baseball career.
He can be just another faceless minor-leaguer with a high uniform number or no number at all, trudging into the Padres' complex at 7 a.m. and toiling away on the facility's back fields.
Or he can try to, at least. For though no one treats him differently than any other prospect, Bush is constantly aware of the yoke he carries along with his bat and glove.
"A lot of coaches and instructors out here, I'm sure, expect me to be this magnificent player and not make mistakes and drive the ball every day," Bush said. "The expectations are that much higher when you're a No. 1 pick."
The scrutiny on Bush would be intense enough if he were strictly a No. 1 pick, which he became when the Padres drafted the shortstop from Mission Bay High first overall last June.
Padres first baseman Phil Nevin, the top selection in 1992, could tell Bush all about that kind of pressure.
Alas, Bush further complicated an already overwhelming situation ---- prep star leapfrogging others to be chosen by the hometown franchise ---- by running afoul of the law right off the bat. Two weeks after trying on his new Padres jersey at a post-draft press conference, Bush was arrested outside McDuffy's, a bar located just across the street from the Peoria Sports Complex.
Then 18, he allegedly bit the arm of a bouncer who tried to eject him and his older brother, Jeremy. A felony assault charge and three misdemeanors were later dropped.
The Padres dropped the hammer, immediately suspending Bush and withholding most of his $3.15 million bonus until they could conduct an investigation into his background. The suspension was lifted on July 21, with the terms of the resolution made confidential.
"It was a big turning point in my life," Bush said. "It's still hard for me to deal with because I made my mistake and it stays over my head, and to this day people are talking about it and the media is on it.
"I've talked to Dave Winfield, and he told me there's not a player in this game who hasn't had to go through something negative. It just so happens that I had to go through it right away. It could be a good thing for me because I understand more what I'm out here to do: play baseball. All the other mess takes your mind off the game."
Bush readily acknowledges that he was too cocky coming out of high school and that last summer's ordeal humbled him. In an interview setting, he comes across as serious and contemplative, his voice barely rising above a whisper.
He is also driven. Bush arrived in Arizona on Feb. 17, the day before major-league pitchers and catchers had to report and about three weeks before the date for minor-leaguers. Offseason weight training has added 13 pounds of muscle to the beanpole, 160-pound frame of his prep days. His social life, he says, is practically nonexistent.
"The best thing that I see from him is that he's a competitor," said Tye Waller, the Padres' director of player development. "He really wants to play and he wants to do well when he's out there. When he sat out during (the suspension), I thought it bothered him tremendously, and that's a good thing for me. Hopefully, what I'm seeing and what I'm sensing is real, and that we'll find out over time."
Bush already has shown an impressive ability to change ---- and not just off the field. He struggled mightily in limited action during his first two minor-league stops last summer, batting .181 in 21 games at Rookie-level Peoria and .222 in eight games at Short-A Eugene while committing a total of 17 errors at shortstop. Then he reported to the fall Arizona instructional league, where swing adjustments suggested by minor-league hitting coach Rob Deer translated into 14 hits in 32 at-bats (.438 average).
"I was getting under a lot of balls, popping them up," Bush said. "Now my swing is a lot more short and compact."
This month he has received his first exposure to the big time, crossing over to the major-league side to appear in two spring training games and drawing compliments from manager Bruce Bochy for his composure, athleticism and strong right arm.
Bush will start this season playing in Fort Wayne, Ind., for the lower of the Padres' two Single-A affiliates. Having turned 19 last month, he would like to be in the majors by the time he is 21.
"It's real life now," he said. "I'm taking it as seriously as I can because I know what I want to do in life and I've been put in a great position for it. I'm trying not to do anything to set me back at all."
Contact staff writer Brian Hiro at b_hiro@hotmail.com.
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