05/06/2004 8:00 AM ET
Ask the Giants: Getting in position
By Chris Shuttlesworth / MLB.com
Got a question for Ask the Giants? Submit your queries of general interest for a Giants player, coach, staff or front-office member and see if your question gets answered in a future edition of Giants Jottings.
What made you want to play the position you play now? -- Lucas R., Salinas
Dustan Mohr: I always wanted to play shortstop. We had a bad outfield in high school, and so I went and played center in high school. Once I went to the outfield, I enjoyed being out there. Making a diving catch or robbing a home run sometimes feels a little bit better than getting a hit. The thrill of taking base hits away from people is the reason why I like it now.
Matt Herges: I've kind of always been a pitcher, ever since Little League. But if I had had a choice coming into college, I would have been like a third baseman, because I love to hit. How your career path takes you, you don't know how it's going to end up. I guess the scouts, the guy who signed me, thought of me more as a pitcher. Even my college coach thought that'd probably be the best way for me (to succeed).
That's how it kind of evolved. I played third base and DHed in college. I used to be a switch-hitter. I never really said, "Yeah, I'm a pitcher." I would rather have been a hitter, but the way it's turned out, shoot, I never look back. I love my job now. I wouldn't change now.
Where does A.J. Pierzynski's last name originate from? -- Steph I., Napa
Pierzynski: It's Polish. Tom Paciorek, who is a TV broadcaster and is Polish, said it means "feather bed," but I don't know if that's true or not. He tried to look it up in the Polish dictionary, and that's what he could come up with. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's what he always calls me whenever he sees me.
What's with Pedro Feliz's new number? -- Cathi O., San Rafael
Feliz: I like the number (7). I used it in the minors. Somebody else (Marvin Benard) had it before.
Has J.T. Snow ever acted? -- Kate R., San Bruno
Snow: I've been on a show, but I wouldn't say I really acted. I just stood there. It was on "ER" in 1994. I was playing a doctor, just standing in the hallway looking at X-rays. When I was with the Angels, the best friend of our PR director was in charge of extras for that show. So he called him up and asked him if he could get me in a scene and he did.
Other then SBC Park, which is your favorite stadium to play at? -- Savannah W., Redwood City
Jeffrey Hammonds: Camden Yards -- it was the first. (Hammonds broke into the Majors with the Baltimore Orioles.)
Herges: That would have to be Busch Stadium, just because it's close to home and I always have family there. That's the ballpark I grew up going to most. Even the smells of it are the same from what I remember. First time going back there as a big leaguer, when the last time I was there was a kid, I was like, "Oh, my goodness." The smell of it brought back crazy memories.
Who decides what backpack the rookie will carry to the bullpen each year? -- Betty W., San Francisco
Scott Eyre: This year, Jim Brower bought the pink (My Pretty Pony) one for David Aardsma, and I went and got the new one, red Power Rangers with a mask. I kept the mask, but I gave the bag to, at the time, Coop (Brian Cooper), and now Tyler Walker has it, I believe.
The pink one was for Aardsma because he was a true rookie, no time at all in the big leagues, no days, so you get a pink one like that. That's what happened to me. We got the other one because Cooper had almost a year in, and the pink bag was also 6-11, so we fired it. It's still around, though. If Aardsma gets back up, he's getting the pink one. He's not getting the Power Rangers one. (Aardsma was recalled May 1 and is again carrying the pink backpack.)
How big is "The Shed" that Kirk Rueter has? What type of stuff is in it? -- Ryan N., Tracy
Rueter: It's about 4,500 square feet, and it's just a big game room, basically. It has big-screen TVs, it has a bunch of arcade games, pool tables, shuffleboard, any kind of game. It's just a big kids' room, basically. That's where all the guys hang out.
What is the biggest advantage playing home games at SBC Park? -- Scott L., Hayward
Hammonds: Our left fielder (Barry Bonds). He shows you what you should and shouldn't do here. If there's someone who knows this park like the back of his hand, it's him, so having somebody you can watch play the park the way it's supposed to be played (is an advantage).
J.T., where do you think you would be right now if you had turned down the baseball scholarship and taken a basketball or football scholarship? -- Brian M., Campbell
Snow: Probably at home, not playing. I probably would have played in college and then did some other job.
Chris Shuttlesworth is an editorial producer for MLB.com. Questions may be edited for clarity and/or space. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
