I ran into Portland Sea Dogs Manager Arnie Beyeler in the Sox clubhouse over the last few days, and the talk turned to 20-year-old first base prospect Lars Anderson. He’s big, strong and powerful, and represents the best pure power prospect in Boston’s minor league system. That in itself makes him something of a rarity because there aren’t a lot of blue chip corner infield prospects -- and there certainly aren’t many elite power prospects -- in Boston’s pitching-heavy development pipeline.
 
After hitting .317 with 13 home runs and 50 RBIs in half a season with Single-A Greenville, Anderson impressed while hitting .316 with 5 home runs and 30 RBIs in 41 games in a Double-A Portland that just recently concluded. Expect Anderson to be back at Portland to start next season, but he was impressive in the Eastern League as one of the youngest players there.

Anderson also is a blond California boy through and through, and he’s got more than a little Spicoli in him. You remember Spicoli. He was the surfer/stoner character brilliantly played by Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The guy who wins a ton of money after high school graduation and blows it all by having Van Halen play a concert at his no-holds-barred graduation party.
 
I wouldn’t call Anderson exactly like him because -- as the interview shows -- he's certainly very intelligent and actually pretty thoughtful for a baseball player, but something tells me Boston fans are going to love a ballplayer that starts talking about “riding on a wave of positiveness.” Hang Ten, Dude and enjoy this conversation from several weeks ago with the up-and-coming first baseman.

How did you adjust going from Single-A to Double-A?
LA: Good, man. Just about every pitcher here at Double-A would be somebody we’d be going around saying was a pretty good pitcher at A-ball, so they’re still good. But it’s still a baseball and it’s still a fastball. There’s nothing really out of the ordinary. I think pitchers are just a lot more consistent here.

You hear a lot of talk about a big jump between A ball and Double-A, and that Double-A is when a lot of young players truly become prospects. Did you talk to anyone about expectations or the adjustment that would have to be made?
LA: I think what everybody has said for the most part is true, but I think the thing that’s important for me is that it’s still just the game of baseball. It’s definitely a jump, but I guess it’s where you show whether you can play or not?

How would you describe the launching pad out in Lancaster to somebody that had never played out there before?
(A ball from batting practice shoots out close to us and Anderson gives me a heads up to look out, and then replies “Dude. Don’t even worry about it, if a ball comes out this way I’m on it for you.”)
LA: The wind blows out pretty steadily out to right field. Sometimes pretty hard and sometimes not hard at all and sometimes it blows in. When the wind isn’t blowing out it’s actually a huge park with it being 350 down the lines and 410 to right-center and 385 to left-center.
 
It’s actually really a big park with big gaps, and then when the wind is blowing out you’re going to some balls that are hit do some very weird things. Balls that are hit to left-center will drift over to centerfield and a routine fly ball to right field might drift to the fence or go over. It’s tough if you hit to left field because a lot of balls get knocked down and it’s really tough on right-handed pull hitters because the ball really gets knocked down over there.

It’s a good hitters’ park, but you still have to put the barrel on the ball and it’s not like you can just send whoever there and they’re going to hit 40 home runs. It’s all about putting decent swings on the ball and having a good approach.

I know that you’re kind of known as a guy that hits it to all fields and can go opposite field with your power. Did you find that you got away from it a little because of the way the ball plays in left field there?
LA: A little bit, yeah, but I don’t think it was a negative. Last year was a really weird year because I went to left field a lot and I became really opposite field-heavy. I’ve always thought of myself as somebody who could hit the ball anywhere and that’s something I really wanted to get back to. In that respect I think it’s something that might have even helped this year.

I was way more confident this year in the Cal League when I was pulling the ball. I had that confidence and I don’t even know why. I had it and I got pitched there a lot. I think it was a healthy thing. You don’t want to just hit the ball one way, and now I feel pretty comfortable pulling the ball and handling those pitches that are in on me.

Do you think it’s important to stick with that all-fields approach rather than becoming known as a strict pull hitter, power guy? Maybe a .300 hitter who also has some pop as well.
LA: Yeah, that’s a good question. I’ve never really thought of myself as this pull hitter, or this big, monstrous masher of a hitter that just bashes home runs. This like Babe Ruth…well actually Babe Ruth hit for average too, but you know you think of Babe Ruth with these big, towering home runs and with tons of power.

I have always thought of myself as this pure hitter who can pull the ball when he needs to or hit it the other way. If home runs happen then it’s great, but I think I can probably can’t the amount of times on one hand when I’ve actually hit a home run when I was trying to hit one.

It’s usually a surprise to me when I hit it. I definitely don’t want to be thought of as this big hulking first baseman that just hits home runs; I want to be a lot more well-rounded than that. Guys who do that, that’s cool. But that’s not me.

Do you get into trouble when you start trying to hit home runs?
LA: Yeah. And then you start seeing me hit a lot of balls to the second baseman…softly. At least if I hit the ball to the left side of the infield then I’m putting my head down and running. There are very few things worse than just watching the second baseman scoop up a ball in front of you and then make the play over to first base. It’s like popping out or something. It’s just awful.

What did you head into this season intent on improving or working on? I had read somewhere that the Sox were hoping you would become a little more aggressive in your approach.
LA: Yeah. I think actually one of my best characteristics as a hitter is my approach and my patience, and my ability to lay off of balls or whatever…being a patient hitter. But at the same time that can work against me because sometimes I’ll have a 1-1 pitch that I can drive…and I’ll take it and then I’ll be down 1-2 and thinking to myself ‘ok…this isn’t good.’ Any count where I’m a little too selective I think I can get in trouble there, but I like my approach and what I do with my at bats.

I think it’s just a matter of really fine-tuning things and just getting aggressive in counts where you can really dig in and drive a ball. Yeah, I think it’s something that I have worked on this year.

Do you think your particular approach is something that’s a good fit with this organization given how much they preach taking pitches and on base percentage?
LA: Yeah. When I signed and stuff, it was always the way I approached my at bats. I remember when I was 8 years-old my dad asking me why didn’t I swing at a particular pitch, and I told it was because I didn’t think it was a strike. When I signed with them I didn’t really know what they’re philosophies were about hitting. I definitely had read Moneyball but it wasn’t a huge consideration for me or my decision-making process.

What ended up being a huge consideration in your decision-making process to sign with the Sox out of high school [Anderson was one of several above slot high school draft picks that slid because of signability concerns, but the Sox ended up convincing him to choose pro baseball over college baseball.]
LA: They handled themselves really professionally after they drafted me, but I didn’t really know a lot about them. I knew their area scout Blair Henry pretty well and he is somebody I am still good friends with. But I got drafted on June 6 and I don’t think I signed until the first week of August, so there was a pretty big courting period there where they would send people out to watch me play and then we would talk about the situation.

I think it was a good fit and the compensation was good and that I’ll have opportunities to prove myself. I felt like it was something I wanted to do.

Any memorable parts to the “courting period” that you really ended up enjoying?
LA: It was right before I signed and I was undecided at this point. It was a couple of weeks before I was supposed to go to school and Jason McLeod, the Sox scouting director, came and watched me in San Diego in a tournament.

He was watching and I think I struck out twice and had a weak ground out to second base…just really ugly at bats. Then I thought to myself ‘well, this ought to be pretty interesting.’ So then we went out to lunch and he’s like ‘yeah, I think it looks like you’re just getting your foot down a little bit too late.’ I was like ‘oh, okay.’

So then the next game I hit, like, a couple of home runs and I felt really good at the plate, so then I decided that it must have been fate or something. It was really cool, though. I was like ‘man, this is going to be really easy if they just give me one pointer and all of the sudden I feel really great at the plate.’ But that was pretty memorable to me and kind of a special thing.

That also must give you an idea that the Red Sox guys must know what they’re talking about.
LA: It was simple but effective, and that’s the kind of thing that I like. They don’t try to overhaul anything here. Everybody is here for a reason, and they’re here because they’re a decent player who could excel. So I think they try to build around that rather than tear it down and do it their own way. They try to enhance it, which is good.

What’s your sense now of what the Red Sox are looking for in their young hitters and what the philosophy is that they’re trying to preach to people?
LA: Having a pregame routine. Swings off the tee or whatever…flips, front toss. Have a routine and a plan at BP and stay consistent with it whether you’re doing well or not. Have a plan that you’re comfortable with one that you’re going to stick with whether you’re hitting .200 or .400.

Be consistent with that and have good positive thoughts at the plate, and just really work consistently. Obviously the approach thing is to be aggressive but also patient. I think it’s a good combination. There’s obviously been a lot of success with that at the big league and minor league level over the last few years.

I know you got into a B Game with the Major League team during spring training this season. What was that like for you?
LA: That was pretty cool. Spring training was absolute madness down there. There are tons of fans, tons of players and tons of media. The big league game was cool. I played in a B game and then I played in a regular game afterward. It was cool.

We all play baseball, so maybe we’re a lot more similar than one might think…or then again maybe not. We’re not all so different and we were all there for the same reason, so it was fun. I tried to kinda keep a low profile for the day. I wasn’t trying to be seen too much out there. You don’t want to be seen as the new guy going crazy out there; I was going for the strong, silent type hopefully.

Any guys growing up that you modeled your swing after or really idolized?
LA: I remember struggling in high school and then one morning waking up and watching Albert Pujols have an at bat. I remember the next day I held my hands like him and started feeling better at the plate, and I just went with that for a while.

Obviously I have great admiration for a lot of players, but I always kind of wanted to do what felt right for me. Hitting has always been a natural thing for me. There wasn’t like a shrine to anybody on my bedroom wall when I was growing up.

I liked Rickey Henderson a lot, but he’s a right-handed speedster. He hit a lot of home runs too. He hit 300 home runs and stole like sixty million bases. I think I’ve got a big goose egg right now, so that’s not happening for me. I’ve stolen two bases and been caught four times, so what’s that? 33 percent. Yeah, I’m not a speedster. I don’t find myself slow, though. I’m just not fast.

What are you working on now at Double-A? What did you want to add to your game this year?
LA: Overall improvement in all areas of the game mentally and physically. I think I had a ton of room mentally and I’ve worked on that. I’m having a ton more fun now than I was at the beginning of the year.

Why are you having more fun now?
LA: I just decided that it made no sense for me to be playing baseball 10 hours a day and not having any fun. I was struggling in the beginning, and that’s when I decided I was just going to have more fun. So then it kind of turned around and it’s kind of interesting how that works. Defense. Continuing to improve on my defense.
 
I think I made some strides last year and I’m continuing to ride on that wave of positiveness. Hitting. I wanted to work on getting to the inside pitch and work on my approach, and I think I’m doing that. Now it’s just continuing to develop and improve everything, and that’ll be a never-ending process because you’ll never hit 1.000 obviously.

Anybody told you about Larz Anderson Park Brookline and Larz Anderson Bridge in Boston?
LA: Yeah. I’ve been informed about both. That’s kinda cool. He spelled his with a Z, though. That’s a cool way to spell the name. My name is Swedish, and I think the literal translation for Lars is “crowned with laurels.” Something like that.
 
I love it man. I like having a weird name because I’m so bad with names. It always puts me in a bad position because everybody remembers my weird name.

You met somebody named Lars and you’re going to remember, regardless of what the person was like. It’s hard for to me to remember names, so I wish everybody had a weird name and then it would get into my head a little bit easier. I probably could have ten guesses at your name right now and it’s just not happening. It’s nothing personal. That’s just the way I am.