Tides' Bell faces twists on path to bigs

The swirling ink on Josh Bell's arms depicts a struggle of gain and loss, his baseball success countered by the death of his father six years ago. "Reminders of life," Bell, a touted Baltimore Orioles prospect, said of his tattoos on a Florida morning last month.

The relentless beat of pro baseball offers ample dramatic fodder, especially for a young player like Bell whose storyboard is laden with potential. A switch-hitting third baseman, Bell was Baltimore's prize - along with pitcher Steve Johnson - in August's trade that sent reliever George Sherrill to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

That kind of thing brings eyeballs and expectations; veteran Miguel Tejada is presumed to warming third base for one year as Baltimore awaits Bell's arrival.

It's in that atmosphere that Bell, 23, will seek a healthy balance this season with the Norfolk Tides, his first Triple-A team in his first full year with the Orioles organization.

"I look at the trade as a blessing," said Bell, who hit home runs from both sides of the plate in his first big-league spring training game in early March. "You know, you've been with a team for five years, they drafted you, they gave you your first opportunity; you build relationships with people.

"And then to pack it all up, it's bittersweet. But it's baseball. Opportunities arise, and you've got to be ready for them. And I think this is a good opportunity for me."

In 2005, the Dodgers put fourth-round faith in Bell out of high school in Palm Beach, Fla., because they imagined Bell's athletic blossoming - stout at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, brimming with corner-position strength.

As Orioles manager Dave Trembley told reporters near the end of camp this spring when Bell was sent down to the Tides, "Bell has a tool you can't teach: power from both sides of the plate."

It took Bell five years, though, interrupted by knee surgery in 2008, to get to Triple-A. That speaks to the painstaking pace of buffing talent, a rewarding chore that Tides manager Gary Allenson quickly noted can also be rife with complications, especially for the highly regarded prospect in the manic age of information and instant analysis.

"He's the 'third baseman of the future;' you can read or write about that stuff all you want, but until you do it on the field... " Allenson said the other day at Harbor Park. "He's got raw ability, but he's gonna have to fine-tune that. Let's let the season start and see what happens."

Two telling things the O's want from Bell in his first Triple-A challenge, Allenson said: smoother defensive footwork at third base and refinement of a super-aggressive swing from both sides for more contact, without robbing power, of course.

Bell, who said he has switch-hit since he was very young, progressed well with the latter in Double-A. Statistically better as a lefty, which makes sense given the prevalence of right-handed pitchers, Bell hit for average (.295) and power (20 home runs) and whiffed 98 times in more than 500 plate appearances - not great, but not terribly often for a power guy.

His first exposure to big-league spring training, though, reminded Bell of the peace necessary between the body and the mind in that long march through the good and the bad.

"You've got to be physically talented," Bell said, "but there's so much mental that goes into it, just your mindset, your preparation. I'm just really, really starting to understand the mental part of the game.

"It's not like basketball, where Kobe Bryant's gonna go score 23 points every night. In baseball you can't go out and hit two home runs every game. You have your days, but it's a humbling sport. You come out, and you do what you can do."

Tom Robinson, (757) 446-2518, tom.robinson@pilotonline.com