Reggie Willits

Reggie Willits joined the Angels on Saturday after a roster move that will forever link the outfielder with Nick Adenhart, the 22-year-old pitcher who was killed in a traffic accident early Thursday. Though Willits is not replacing Adenhart in the rotation -- that task probably will fall on the shoulders of triple-A right-hander Anthony Ortega, who is expected to be called up later this week -- Willits couldn't help but feel a little guilt.

Reporting from Salt Lake City -- It is five hours before game time and Spring Mobile Ballpark, the picturesque home of the minor league Salt Lake Bees, is empty except for two figures on the field. Reggie Willits, wearing a gray T-shirt and black athletic shorts with No. 7 on one thigh, is at the plate, bat in hand, honing his craft with a hitting coach. For Willits, 30, an outfielder unassuming in character and undersized at 5 feet 9 and 185 pounds, this does not involve slugging baseballs over the fence; in 414 major league games, he has never hit a home run. Instead, he spends 45 minutes bunting balls toward third base and first, polishing one of the fundamental skills he used to carve out a niche as a valued Angels reserve from 2007 until this past June.

Reporting from Salt Lake City -- It is five hours before game time and Spring Mobile Ballpark, the picturesque home of the minor league Salt Lake Bees, is empty except for two figures on the field. Reggie Willits, wearing a gray T-shirt and black athletic shorts with No. 7 on one thigh, is at the plate, bat in hand, honing his craft with a hitting coach. For Willits, 30, an outfielder unassuming in character and undersized at 5 feet 9 and 185 pounds, this does not involve slugging baseballs over the fence; in 414 major league games, he has never hit a home run. Instead, he spends 45 minutes bunting balls toward third base and first, polishing one of the fundamental skills he used to carve out a niche as a valued Angels reserve from 2007 until this past June.

CL, CITY, W-L, COMMENT AAA, Salt Lake, 39-54, OF Reggie Willits hitting .379 in July. AA, Arkansas, 48-39, RHP Matt Shoemaker 7-0, 1.89 earned-run average since May 19. A, Inland Empire, 41-51, RHP Ryan Chaffee 1-5, 7.32 ERA in last 10 Cal League games. A, Cedar Rapids, 42-49, DH David Harris hitting .173 with 45 strikeouts since June 1. R, Orem, 14-11, Owlz lead league with .310 team batting average.

The Angels avoided arbitration with four players Tuesday, agreeing to one-year contracts with pitcher Jered Weaver, catcher Mike Napoli, infielder Howie Kendrick and outfielder Reggie Willits. Weaver got the richest deal of the group and will be paid $4.265 million this season with an opportunity to earn more through award bonuses. He was paid $465,000 last season when he was 16-8 with a 3.75 earned-run average, throwing four complete games, including two shutouts. Napoli, who played in a career-high 114 games last year, hitting 20 home runs and driving in a career-high 56 runs, agreed to a $3.6-million deal that could grow by an additional $100,000 if he starts 120 games.

Reggie Willits has only 69 at-bats in 43 games for the Angels, having shuttled between triple-A Salt Lake and Anaheim all season, but when Manager Mike Scioscia submits his playoff roster for the American League division series, you can bet Willits will be on it. Willits is a valuable pinch-runner, he can enter as a late-game defensive replacement for corner outfielders Juan Rivera and Bobby Abreu , and it seems he can fall out...

The Dodgers and right-hander Chad Billingsley have avoided a salary arbitration hearing, agreeing Tuesday to a one-year, $6.275-million contract. Billingsley, who was 12-11 with a 3.57 earned-run average last season, was eligible for arbitration for the second time. He was paid $3.85 million last season. The team exchanged salary figures with its two remaining arbitration-eligible players, first baseman James Loney and left-handed reliever Hong-Chih Kuo . Loney asked to be paid $5.25 million for the upcoming season and Kuo requested $3.075 million.

CL, CITY, W-L, COMMENT AAA, Salt Lake, 39-54, OF Reggie Willits hitting .379 in July. AA, Arkansas, 48-39, RHP Matt Shoemaker 7-0, 1.89 earned-run average since May 19. A, Inland Empire, 41-51, RHP Ryan Chaffee 1-5, 7.32 ERA in last 10 Cal League games. A, Cedar Rapids, 42-49, DH David Harris hitting .173 with 45 strikeouts since June 1. R, Orem, 14-11, Owlz lead league with .310 team batting average.

Now that the Angels' season is essentially over, I want to be the first to congratulate Bill Stoneman for a job well done. It is clear, from listening to Stoneman, that a general manager's job is to hold on to every single prospect in the organization and not trade him for anything unless part of a one-sided deal (viz., Erick Aybar for Alfonso Soriano). Why on earth would he have wanted to trade for has-beens like Carlos Delgado or Jim Thome when he could waste at-bats (and games) on guys like Kendry Morales, Reggie Willits, Tommy Murphy, Dallas MacPherson and Jeff Mathis and thus expose all but a few of these "prospects" as either not ready or not good enough, diminishing their trade value further?

Angels 4, Dodgers 1 AT THE PLATE: Mark Trumbo belted a long two-run home run in his second at-bat, erasing a 1-0 Dodgers lead. Reggie Willits had a run-scoring single and Chris Pettit drove in the final run with a sacrifice fly. Matt Kemp had a single and a stolen base and scored the lone Dodgers run. ON THE MOUND: Six Angels pitchers combined on a three-hitter, striking out six. Starter Trevor Bell gave up the only run. Right-hander Anthony...

Mike Trout had to bow out of Sunday's Futures game, the annual midsummer showcase for baseball's top prospects. The future, it turned out, arrived much sooner than the highly touted Trout could have imagined. The Angels called up Trout from double A late Thursday night, and the 19-year-old center fielder, who two years ago was playing high school ball in New Jersey, made his big league debut Friday night, going 0 for 3 in a 4-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners. Trout, named the top prospect in all of baseball by several websites last winter, was asleep in his Little Rock, Ark., apartment when he got a 1 a.m. call from General Manager Tony Reagins.

Dan Haren, whose streak of 214 consecutive starts is the longest among active major league pitchers, has been scratched from Saturday night's game against the Yankees because of lower-back tightness. But the right-hander, whose bullpen session Wednesday in Kansas City was cut short because of back spasms, long-tossed from 200 feet with no discomfort Friday and is scheduled to start Tuesday night against Tampa Bay. The Angels were told by the Elias Sports Bureau on Friday that there is no "hard rule" for start dates, so having a start pushed back three days won't constitute a "missed start" for Haren, whose streak dates to 2005.

Fans see a left-field platoon of light-hitting Alexi Amarista and even lighter-hitting Reggie Willits, and it's no wonder they're clamoring for the Angels to call up their top prospect, double-A outfielder Mike Trout. But Manager Mike Scioscia said Wednesday that despite Trout's hot start in Arkansas and the miniscule production of those filling in for the injured Vernon Wells and Howie Kendrick, the Angels will not call up the 19-year-old Trout right now. "I think that's a huge risk to take with a player with his upside," Scioscia said.

The signing of Russell Branyan on Thursday will cut into rookie first baseman Mark Trumbo's playing time, but it will also mean more time on the bench for center fielder Peter Bourjos . When General Manager Tony Reagins addressed reporters during the second inning of Thursday's game, he said the left-handed-hitting Branyan would most likely split time with the right-handed-hitting Trumbo at first. "We've had some discussions over the last two weeks about the offense and being able to match up Trumbo better against left-handed pitching," Reagins said.

His 13-3 career record and 1.97 earned-run average in 23 games against Oakland might give the impression Angels pitcher Ervin Santana has an easy time with the A's. So might the right-hander's pitching line from the Angels' 4-1 victory over the A's on Wednesday night, when Santana yielded one run and six hits in six innings, struck out six and walked two. But the game was anything but a breeze for Santana, as the A's forced him to throw a...

Reporting from Arlington, Texas — Maicer Izturis has sat out nearly as many games as he has played over the last three seasons, leading some to conclude that the 30-year-old infielder may be too fragile to be an everyday player in the major leagues. That's a conclusion to which the usually reserved Izturis takes exception. Strong exception. "Those are ignorant people who say that," Izturis said. "They don't know the game. I could play 140 games at 90%, 80%. But that's not the way I play.

Reggie Willits is flattered by the many and obvious comparisons to David Eckstein, another leadoff hitter whose hustle and heart outweigh his small stature. "That's a pretty big compliment. I definitely don't think I am where he's at yet," Willits said of Eckstein, a catalyst in the Angels' 2002 World Series championship and the most valuable player in the St. Louis Cardinals' title run last season. "He's proven it over several years, and he's done a great job."

Faster than a speeding bullet, the Angels' new center fielder has arrived on the scene. One day, there was a hall of famer, heart and soul of the team, in the middle of everything, where he always was and always would be. The next day, Torii Hunter was in right field and the universe had tilted. To Hunter's right was a newcomer named Peter Bourjos. He was more blur than player, so fast that it took HD TV just to get him in focus. Two weeks later, Bourjos is the guy in the Angels' outfield not named Reggie Willits who wears his pants pulled high and his red socks long.

Officially, the two-game Freeway Series between the Dodgers and Angels, which begins Monday night at Dodger Stadium, is an exhibition series. So officially, the games don't count. Don't believe it. Because for a handful of players still fighting for roster spots on both teams, the next two days could be the most important ones of their seasons, if not their careers. On the Dodgers' side, backup catcher Dioner Navarro will start the season on the disabled list, opening a roster spot for Hector Gimenez or A.J. Ellis, and Casey Blake's back injury has forced an infield shift that sent Juan Uribe to third base.

Angels 4, Dodgers 1 AT THE PLATE: Mark Trumbo belted a long two-run home run in his second at-bat, erasing a 1-0 Dodgers lead. Reggie Willits had a run-scoring single and Chris Pettit drove in the final run with a sacrifice fly. Matt Kemp had a single and a stolen base and scored the lone Dodgers run. ON THE MOUND: Six Angels pitchers combined on a three-hitter, striking out six. Starter Trevor Bell gave up the only run. Right-hander Anthony...