Huff back at hot corner

03/04/2006
ST. PETERSBURG -- Aubrey Huff is back at third base, and whether he sticks there or not could go a long way toward determining the potency of the Devil Rays' lineup.
Thus far, Huff feels comfortable back at the position he played when he broke into the Major Leagues in 2000.
"Feels great," said Huff when asked about being back at the hot corner. "I can't tell until I play some games. Fungos are a lot different than live hitting, so we'll see. But fungos have been going solid."
Huff downplayed the difficult aspects of playing third and looked at the bright side of the position.
"There's been less running," he said with a chuckle.
Huff wasn't particularly smitten with the idea of playing third on an occasional basis during the 2005 season -- he played four games at the position in 2005 -- which came down to preparation.
"I wasn't happy with getting switched back and forth," Huff said. "That's why I didn't want to play third. I just wanted to play one position. Seems like this year they more or less want me to play there. So I don't know."
Manager Joe Maddon has been impressed with Huff thus far.
"He's going to play several positions and he's all for it," Maddon said. "We're going to give him some primary work at third base. He's also going to work at first base and right field. And he's all for it. It was beautiful. Because a lot of times players don't like to move from the infield to the outfield because of their arm. And I'm always sensitive to that issue. And that was one of the first questions I wanted to ask him, whether he was fine with that, because if he's fine with that, that makes us better. His comment was he'd do what's best for the team."
If Huff indeed moves to third, it will help the Rays put a more potent lineup on the field and deal with the logjam the team has in the outfield. Entering Spring Training, the Rays had Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli and Huff penciled in as the starters and Jonny Gomes, Damon Hollins, and Joey Gathright as quality reserves -- with potential superstar Delmon Young waiting in the wings.
Huff spent the winter hearing his name mentioned in trade rumor after trade rumor, which is a subject about which he has grown tired.
"I don't really want to talk about the rumors any more, I'm kind of sick of it," Huff said. "I'm coming in to play baseball for the Devil Rays and that's all I want to talk about. I can't worry about it. Who would have thought I'd be back this year? I didn't figure I would be, but here I am and that's all I can control, come out and play."
Huff, who had what amounted to an off-year for him in 2005, opted to take a different approach in the offseason by hiring a personal trainer.
"I did a lot of speed weights and stuff like that," Huff said. "Quickness drills and footwork and stuff like that. I did stuff like that in college, but in pro ball I haven't. I feel physically and mentally ready to go."
While Huff had an off year in 2005, he still managed to hit 22 home runs and drive in 92 RBIs. Huff gave credit to his teammates for the RBIs total.
"I had a lot of guys hitting ahead of me getting on base contributing to all those RBIs," Huff said. "Crawford and Lugo got on a ton. The position I was hitting in the order, you're going to drive in a lot of runs the way guys were getting on base in front of me."
Huff said he had a "bad year and a long offseason thinking about it" but said he's "coming in this year positive and ready to go."
In addition to his fitness, Huff took time to analyze his hitting.
"I think last year I was real long through the zone," he said. "Looping through the zone. This year, I really worked on getting my hands through the zone. Staying short and quick. And that's been my bread and butter in the past. I watched some video with my old hitting coach in college [from the University of Miami], Turtle Thomas. We went over some tapes together and he worked with me for a couple of days and got me squared away."
Though it's early in spring, Huff likes the way he feels so far.
"Everything feels loose, handsy, weight's back," Huff said. "[I] did a lot of stuff in the offseason with [Thomas]. Feels good, ready to go."

Source: http://tampabay.devilrays.mlb.com/