Hajek nears record he'd rather not have

The Las Vegas Stars love having Dave Hajek around.

Hajek's feelings, however, are not reciprocal.

With only five Stars games left, the veteran minor-league second baseman is closing in on the club' single-season hit record. Yet he doesn't view Thursday's finale as a deadline to record as many hits as possible.

No aspiring major leaguer is thrilled with making minor-league history. A player's appearance in a minor-league record book merely is another reminder the big boys didn't want him.

"My goal is to make the major leagues," Hajek said. "I haven't done that."

Hajek went 3-for-5 in Sunday afternoon's 9-8 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers at Cashman Field. He now has a Pacific Coast League-leading 168 hits on the season, four shy of the Las Vegas mark set by Paul Faries in 1990. Hajek is hitting .331.

"It's frustrating," said Hajek, who also recorded an RBI and stole home in the third inning while designated hitter James Mouton was caught in a rundown between first and second.

Hajek, who turns 31 in October, has made it to the major leagues twice, but only for a total of 12 at-bats over 13 games. He was called up by the Houston Astros in 1995 and '96.

With the Astros he was buried behind all-star second baseman Craig Biggio. He spent the first part of the 1997 season with the Detroit Tigers and found himself looking up at another future all-star in Damion Easley.

Hajek's contract with the playoff-bound San Diego Padres, where he plays behind Quilvio Veras, runs through this season. He cannot say where he will be next year.

"You just have to hope to get a chance," Hajek said. "Until then, you just have to sit down here and do your job, do it well and wait.

"It's all about being in the right place at the right time."

As long as Hajek maintains his stroke, Stars manager Jerry Royster is confident Hajek will return to the Show.

"This guy has always gotten hits," Royster said. "He's a hitter extraordinaire. He can get a hit as good as anybody. It's uncanny how he can get hits."

Hajek, a three-time PCL all-star, is a pure contact hitter. Entering 1998 he averaged a paltry 30 strikeouts a year. He whiffed only six times in 156 at-bats with the Stars last year.

In addition to approaching Faries' hits record, Hajek needs five more doubles to break Kevin McReynolds' team record of 46 set 15 years ago and four more multi-hit games to surpass McReynolds' mark of 55 set the same year.

"There's nothing more he can do (to get promoted)," Royster said. "I would not be surprised at all if the Padres called him up before the end of the year. If he were to get recalled, I don't see him having any trouble hitting up there, too."

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