STEVE DECKER BY SHERRI ENG

he bat rack didn’t stand a chance. The 2001 Salem-Keizer Volcanoes had gone silent at the plate, and Steve Decker, the team’s hitting , had had enough. So in a fit of frustration, T he upended the rack and demanded his team play with just one bat. “If you’re going to play like Little Leaguers, you’re going to be treated like Little Leaguers!” Volcanoes Fred Stanley recalls Decker yelling at the players. Whether out of fear or embarrassment, the team’s offense turned around: The Volcanoes won the game and went on to take the championship. “He’s intense,” Stanley says. “He has the desire [to win]. He’ll press you; he’ll push you; he’ll challenge you.” That intensity and dedication to the game—and especially to the Giants—have led to Decker’s steady climb through the organization. As the Giants’ coordinator of minor league instruction and hitting, Decker is responsible for the development of every prospect coming through every level of the farm system. He works with all the managers and coaches throughout the team’s minor leagues to ensure that each player receives consistent instruction tailored to his individual needs. “He demands a lot out of his players,” says Nick Noonan, who played for Decker in 2011 at -A Fresno. From mid-February through the end of October, Decker’s workday starts at 5 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m., seven days a week. His goal: Make every player under his tutelage better. Decker MISSY MIKULECKY MISSY

GIANTS 39 contributed to his call-up later that season. “He would get on us, but he could relate to us, too,” he says. Andrew Susac, now playing at Triple-A Fresno, says Decker helped him fine-tune—not overhaul—his swing. “He’s good about not going overboard,” Susac says. “He tries to get you to the next level and give you the best chance for success.” Besides identifying players’ strengths and weaknesses, Decker considers a player’s future within the organization—where he needs to be several years down the road. CHARACTER “It’s like a chess game,” Decker says. “You have to think three or four SKETCH moves in advance.” The Giants originally drafted When Decker came up as a young Steve Decker as a third baseman in player in the late ’80s, however, it the 21st round of the 1988 draft was unlikely he could have predicted out of Lewis-Clark State College in how his own career would play out. Idaho, one of the top NAIA schools in the country. Former Giants Decker has been invited to help Manager More than three decades ago, ’s Major League coaching the Rock Island, Ill., native was on , , Steve staff during the postseason in both the road to success as he blazed Reed and farmhand Keith Foulke seasons. through the baseball ranks, making are all also Lewis-Clark alumni. his Major League debut as a late- Decker’s career started with season call-up on Sept. 18, 1990, a bang: In his first Major League after three seasons of minor league at-bat, he singled off Reds acknowledges that each hitter is ball. He made the Giants’ Opening Tom Browning. The next night in different, so he doesn’t employ a Day lineup the following year. But his Atlanta, he went 3-for-4 with a cookie-cutter approach. He dissects career failed to take off. and his first Major League each hitter’s swing, identifying Decker bounced back and forth —off Tom Glavine—and threw out Tommy Gregg, the first strengths and weaknesses, and then between San Francisco and Triple-A. runner attempting to steal off him. tailors his instruction to the player’s He left the Giants in 1992 when abilities and personality. the Florida Marlins took him in When he made the Giants’ “Connecting with players on a the Expansion Draft, but injuries lineup in 1991, Decker personal basis and showing a strong and inconsistency limited him to became only the second rookie work ethic are very important,” just 263 games over seven Major (following Tom Haller in Decker says. “If you can get them League seasons with the Giants 1961) in San Francisco history to to trust you, their coachability (1990–92, 1996), Marlins (1993, start an opener. improves, and that’s when you 1995), (1996) and Decker appears in one of the develop guys a lot faster.” Anaheim Angels (1999). He also strangest baseball cards of all time: Giants shortstop Brandon played in the minor league systems the 1991 Studio “Black & Decker” Crawford certainly benefited from of the Mariners, Pittsburgh card. The card—No. 260, the last Decker’s instruction. He worked with Pirates, New York Mets and Oakland one of that year’s set—features Decker in 2011 on shortening his A’s before retiring in 2000. Decker and former Giants pitcher swing and improving his approach “He knows the ups and downs,” Bud Black standing back-to-back to different types of . The Susac says. “He has real-life and shot in black and white. “Black & Decker,” get it? instruction helped Crawford become experience and understands what

more consistent at the plate, which we’re going through.” PHOTOS: MISSY MIKULECKY; ILLUSTRATION: JON STICH

40 MAY / 2014 “Connecting with players Decker’s struggles gave him a league’s Manager of the Year award. healthy appreciation for what it takes The following two seasons, he guided on a personal basis to get to—and stay in—The Bigs. A Salem-Keizer to two Northwest and showing a strong career .221 hitter, Decker admits League titles, again winning Manager work ethic are very that he may not have been the most of the Year in ’07. That earned him important. If you can get talented player. But what he lacked a promotion to Single-A San Jose in in skill, he made up for in motivation, ’08 and then to Double-A Connecticut them to trust you, their desire and hard work. Describing in ’09, where he won the Eastern coachability improves, himself as “a blue-collar guy, grinding League championship. By ’10, he was and that’s when you out a career,” Decker listened intently managing at Triple-A Fresno. develop guys a lot faster.” to advice from his coaches and Suddenly, in addition to guiding teammates, meticulously studied Giants prospects, Decker had become — STEVE DECKER opposing hitters and learned all the a prospect: a managing prospect. nuances of the game. Decker was on such a fast track “As a player, he worked harder that some players started calling him than anyone on the field,” says Jack “Future Manager Decker.” Hiatt, the Giants’ senior consultant He might already be in the big on player personnel, who helped leagues by now, except in 2012, the bring Decker up through the minors. Giants offered him the crucial job of Former teammate Will Clark also coordinating all minor league hitting Decker played in 263 Major League games praises Decker’s determination. “He and instruction. Decker accepted the over seven seasons, studied his craft as a player, and I position, putting aside his managerial including parts of think he’s taken that approach into aspirations, at least temporarily. four with the his hitting instructor job,” he says. “What’s best for the organization Giants. Decker’s dedication caught the is what I’m going to do,” he says. eye of the Giants’ top brass. After But if the number of former retiring in 2000, he realized –turned–Major League he missed the game, and managers—including Bruce Bochy and contemplated either scouting former Giants catchers Mike Matheny or coaching. He called his and Bob Melvin, among others—is old pal Hiatt, then the any indication, Decker’s chances of Giants’ director of player taking the helm of a big league team development, for some are good. Catchers’ understanding career advice. Hiatt offered of the game puts them in a prime him a job as the hitting coach for position to become a field general. the short-season Salem-Keizer “As a catcher, you have the unique team. Decker jumped at the perspective of both pitchers and opportunity and served there hitters. That’s a positive when it during the 2001 and ’02 comes to managing,” says Buster seasons, then followed Posey, who played for Decker in 2010. Manager Fred Stanley Baseball insiders say the future is to Triple-A Fresno bright for the 48-year-old Decker, and for the ’03 and ’04 that it’s just a matter of time before seasons. he makes the big leagues again. Decker made his “He’s a taskmaster. He knows all managerial debut the facets of the game,” Bochy says. in ’05 with Salem- “He has a passion for the game, and Keizer, finishing he works well with the players. I with a 45–31 think he has a nice future as a Major record and League manager.” winning the Sherri Eng is a frequent contributor to Giants magazine. MARTHA JANE STANTON JANE MARTHA

42 MAY / 2014