Jim Edmonds has been quietly perfecting his right-handed swing this spring.

In an effort to counter his waning performance against lefthanded pitchers, Jim Edmonds will begin 2007 as a switch-hitter.

After stepping into the left side of the batter’s box in 6896 plate appearances in 14 major-league seasons, the Cardinal centerfielder will bat righthanded against lefthanded pitchers this season. His first test will be against future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine as the Cardinals host the Mets in the season opener tonight.

"Tommy’s gotten the better of me over the years," said Edmonds, who has a paltry .586 OPS in 24 plate appearances against Glavine. "But I’m hoping that I can see his changeup better from the right side. I can’t be much worse [batting righthanded]."

The move will undoubtedly come as a surprise to many, considering that Edmonds — presumably — missed most of camp recovering from offseason surgery and has had only 13 plate appearances this spring. But to get experience batting righthanded, Edmonds has actually spent most of spring training playing under a pseudonym in various minor-league games and on the back diamonds at camp. He never once appeared righthanded as “himself,” even as late as Saturday night’s Civil Rights Game, in which he batted left against Cleveland southpaw Jeremy Sowers. The centerfielder was able to keep his secret training under wraps by wearing a fake beard to conceal his identity.

"Tony thought it’d be best if the word didn’t get around the league about my experiment," Edmonds said. "The surgery was a natural excuse, but since I’m a fairly recognizable, good-looking guy, I needed a disguise." Edmonds says he contacted former Mets manager Bobby Valentine, who once famously returned to a game in a groucho-style disguise after being ejected. "Bobby’s a little more straight and narrow now that he’s been in Japan. But he turned me onto a costume guy in Osaka, and he hooked me up."

The Cardinals were initially skeptical when Edmonds — who became convinced of the benefits of a platoon advantage after a chance meeting with sabermetrician Sean Forman at a Las Vegas casino — approached them with the idea back in January. But after looking at Edmonds’s career splits, the team gave Edmonds the green light, on the condition that he train under the tutelage of special instructor Bunny Mick, who worked with former Cardinal outfielder Vince Coleman in 1989 to improve his pitch selection and bunting. After several attempts to reach Mick went unanswered, the team was informed that Mick had died Sept. 14, 2005. That’s when Cardinal manager Tony La Russa stepped in and suggested his former player Walt Weiss, who as a switch-hitting shortstop for La Russa’s Oakland A’s was equally inept from both sides of the plate.

La Russa sounded an optimistic note on his new weapon.

"Personally, I’m proud of him taking this step at this point in his career," La Russa said. "From a manager’s perspective, it gives me options, at least. There were times last year when I wished I could’ve pinch-hit for him, but with whom — Belliard, Vizcaino? Please."

Cardinal fans will recall another spring attempt at switch-hitting, that of Bo Hart in 2005. Hart ultimately gave up his left-handed swing and was non-tendered later that year. Edmonds, however, isn’t worried about a similar fate.

"Totally different, totally," explained Edmonds. "I just have to remember to take my righthanded bat up there with me, and I’ll be fine."

This entry was posted by Pip on Sunday, April 1st, 2007 at 12:01 am and is filed under news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.