Angels’ Snow Has Matured Into Cool, Collected Veteran

ANAHEIM —  J.T. Snow feigned embarrassment Saturday night at Anaheim Stadium. He really didn’t want to rehash the moment.

“Let’s talk about the home run instead,” Snow said, smiling. “I will definitely remember this night and I’d rather remember the home run.”

OK. His homer was his first this season at Anaheim Stadium, a bases-empty shot to right-center with two out in the sixth inning of the Angels’ 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

That was the game’s highlight for Snow.

Moments after receiving his first Gold Glove award, unseating Don Mattingly as the American League’s finest fielding first baseman, Snow booted a first-inning grounder.

Actually, he didn’t boot it at all. He missed the darn thing entirely. It was a slow roller off the bat of Denny Hocking, a routine play he’s handled hundreds of times.

“I can’t explain it,” Snow said, sheepishly. “It’s not getting the glove down. It went right between my legs. It was just kind of bouncing along. I don’t know what happened.”

He laughed when he said that, mindful that it cost the Angels neither a run nor the game.

More than anything else, his postgame reaction was a clear sign of his graduation from wide-eyed, inconsistent rookie in 1993 to calm, cool and collected veteran in ’96.

Saturday, he could flub a play and laugh about it later. In the past, he often seemed to be overburdened by pressure and expectation. If he went hitless for a few games it weighed heavily on his mind. But no longer.

“Now, I’m more concerned about having a good at-bat instead of getting a hit,” Snow said. “Before it was, like, ‘Oh no, I’m 0 for 10. I’ve got to get a hit next time up.’ Now, I’m just trying to get quality at-bats.”

Since childhood, Snow always set specific goals. Hit this average. Knock in this many runs. Hit this many homers. Last year, he tried a different tact.

He concentrated more on vague goals such as “good at-bats.” And that’s also helped.

“I know it had been a long time between home runs, but, shoot, last year I didn’t try to hit home runs,” he said. “They were just mistakes [he hit].”

Like many of the younger Angels, Snow has learned a great deal from hitting coach Rod Carew. The mind game cannot be overlooked and Carew has hammered that into Snow’s head.

Snow said he’s become accomplished at the art of blocking out even the slightest distraction.

“I don’t feel like I have 100 eyes on me like before,” he said. “It’s hard to play that way. People filled my head with so many things it was hard to have a clear head.

“I’ve really worked on the mental side with Rod.”

Snow has matured too. Instead of thinking every out he made was the end of the world, he has learned to occasionally give credit to an opposing pitcher. After all, they’re major leaguers too.

“As you get older, you realize that,” he said. “When you’re young, you’re stubborn. Sometimes the guy will throw you a nasty forkball or something . . . but you still don’t want to give the pitchers too much credit.”