SAN DIEGO -- Chone Figgins was baseball's top hitter from May 31 through the end of last season, batting .381 with 42 multi-hit games, including a video-game-like six-for-six night with a game-winning triple against Houston on June 18.
And that did virtually nothing this winter to quell the clamoring among Angels fans for a power-hitting third baseman such as Miguel Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez or Miguel Tejada.
"It's amazing," the 5-foot-8, 180-pound Figgins said. "We've got Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson, Torii Hunter, Casey Kotchman, Mike Napoli, Howie Kendrick . . . all these guys with power and they still want a power-hitting third baseman?
"How much power do you need? Would you rather have a guy who hits .240 with 15 homers or who hits .300 with 50 stolen bases and 100 runs?"
Figgins, who went hitless in two at-bats in Friday night's 4-1 exhibition loss to the San Diego Padres in Petco Park, will never be considered a prototypical third baseman because of his size.
But he is one of the game's best leadoff hitters, batting .330 with a .432 on-base percentage in 2007. With third base his only real entree into the lineup, the former utility player found a permanent home there in 2007.
Figgins missed all but one game last April because of two broken fingers on his right hand and hit .156 in May. Then he went on a tear, batting .461 with 53 hits in June, a franchise record for hits in a month, .351 in July and .342 in August.
"The injury and early struggles may have helped me," Figgins said. "It really made me concentrate because I had to make up for lost time. You realize you have to have good at-bats all the time."
And you can't give away at-bats like players sometimes do in lopsided games, when they swing at a first pitch or a bad pitch in a hitter's count.
"Every at-bat, I'm trying to get hits, walks, have good at-bats," Figgins said. "Guys who get 200 hits a year -- Ichiro, Michael Young, Juan Pierre -- they get two hits every game; I want three or four.
"And if it's a blowout, instead of giving away an at-bat, I'll try to get a walk or a hit, because that carries over to your next game. Now, every time I step to the plate, it's time to hit."
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That "dead arm" Joe Saunders complained of after his last spring start? It came back to life Friday night, as the Angels left-hander gave up one hit -- Kevin Kouzmanoff's first-inning home run--in five innings against the Padres, striking out six and walking none.
