MLB: Ex-Lion pursuing Chicago hope

BY SCOT GREGOR, SPECIAL TO THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

TUCSON, Arizona--Jeff Liefer came full circle this spring.

Now 33 years old, Liefer is back with the Chicago White Sox, the same team that selected him in the first round of the amateur draft nearly 13 years ago.

"I'm glad I'm back," Liefer said. "It's been interesting, to say the least."

Liefer spent the first seven years of his career in the White Sox' system, and he had his best major-league season in 2001, batting .256 with 18 home runs and 39 RBI in 83 games.

After that, the first baseman/outfielder bounced between the Montreal Expos, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Milwaukee Brewers and Cleveland Indians.

Released by the Indians after the 2005 season, Liefer made a decision that changed his life.

"I knew some guys that went over to Japan to play," he said. "They enjoyed the experience, and the money is really good over there. My agent made a few calls, and off I went."

Liefer spent the past two seasons with the Seibu Lions. His wife Melissa and 4-year-old son Cade joined him in Japan.

"It was different and interesting," Liefer said. "The culture was completely different, so that made it kind of tough, especially that first year. But overall, it was a great experience. It was one of those things that when you were there, it was tough and it was long and I was ready to go home. But looking back, it's obviously something me and my family are going to remember the rest of our lives."

Liefer, who batted .261 with 8 homers and 28 RBI in 47 games with the Lions last season, is still trying to forget the strategy employed by most of the Japanese pitchers he faced.

"They really don't want to get beat by the foreign hitters," said Liefer, a native of Upland, California. "It's almost like they pitch to you like you're Barry Bonds. You get a 3-0 count and they'll throw you a forkball. They don't want you to hit a home run off them.

"It's tough to hit there. You don't get pitches to hit and it's frustrating, because you want to get up there and know a pitch is coming and tee off on it. But they'll never give in. They pick at the corners and throw a lot of stuff in the dirt trying to get you to chase it."

Liefer said Japanese pitchers don't resent players who have major-league service time. They just don't like giving up home runs.

"I just think the type of hitters we are over there, the foreigners so to speak, we generally are the ones that hit the ball over the fence," Liefer said. "Generally speaking, their guys don't. Obviously, with one swing, there's a run. To them, a run is like gold. They play the infield in from the first inning, you're bunting from the first inning. One run is what they're shooting for and they play small ball to get it. Then one of us gets up and with one swing it could be 3 runs.''

Liefer is hoping to hit some 3-run homers for the White Sox this season, but he'll have to wait for his chance.

Sent to Chicago's top farm club--Class AAA Charlotte--midway through spring training, the left-handed slugger is keeping his dream of returning to the majors alive.

Playing for the Sox would be quite a change from spending the past two seasons with Seibu.

"It was a lot of fun playing in Japan,'' Liefer said. "But now I'm back here in the States, and my goal is to get back to Chicago."

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Scot Gregor covers Major League Baseball for Chicago's Daily Herald.(IHT/Asahi: March 27,2008)