DATE: Saturday, March 29, 1997              TAG: 9703290628

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORT ST. LUCIE, FLA.              LENGTH:   73 lines

TIDES CATCHER IS HAPPY TO BE CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK GREENE GREW UP HANGING OUT IN THE BULLPEN WITH HIS DAD COACHING IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES.

As a coach's son, Charlie Greene grew up making road trips with his dad during the summers.

``He was in the Mets and Padres systems and I used to love making road trips when I was 11 and 12 years old,'' said Greene, the Norfolk Tides' projected starting catcher for the upcoming season.

``You grow up that close to the game and you either end up loving it or hating it.

``I was catching in the bullpen for guys like Doc Gooden and Rick Aguilera. I couldn't get enough of it.''

Growing up in and around baseball - his father Charlie Sr. is still coach of Miami Dade South Junior College - couldn't prepare Greene for the slump he found himself in at the beginning of last season.

Greene, who was admittedly disappointed about beginning the season at Double-A Binghamton, started the season 8 for 80.

``It was my worst month ever in baseball,'' Greene, 26, said. ``And when you get in a slump like that, you try to get two hits in every at-bat, you try to make it all up in one night, you try to hit a home run with every swing.

``I finally sat down with my wife (Blake) and she said, `You can't change the past. Just imagine you're starting the season over.' ''

After the opening slump, Greene hit .297 the rest of the season to lift his season-ending average to .244.

The year, as limited as it was offensively, was anything but for Greene at the defensive end.

Greene threw out an Eastern League-leading 55.3 percent of potential base stealers and Binghamton had the fewest number of passed balls in the league.

At season's end, Greene was called up to the New York Mets for the last 21 days.

``He's got a heck of an arm,'' Mets catchers coach Bruce Benedict said. ``His obvious strengths are his arm and his ability to block the plate.

``He can become a good hitter, but he has to pay constant attention to it.

``I don't see him ever being a power hitter, so he has to be a good contact hitter and move runners up when he gets the chance.''

With Alberto Castillo, the Tides' everyday catcher a year ago, promoted to New York this spring, the chance to be Norfolk's No. 1 catcher is finally Greene's.

He's not as flashy as Castillo behind the plate - ``Bambino'' loved to fire balls back to pitchers when he thought they'd lost their concentration and was animated with both umpires and fans during games.

But Greene promises to show off his arm from time to time.

``I like to throw behind runners at first,'' Greene said. ``I've got my own style and flair.

``And any time you pick one off it's just one less runner who can hurt you later.''

Greene says that not enough of today's players work hard enough to improve their arm strength.

``It just came naturally for me,'' Greene said. ``With two brothers, we were constantly going out in the backyard and throwing a ball, whether it was a football or a baseball.

``My dad's 67 now and still throws batting practice every day.

``I've continued to work hard on it. While I was in the Mets camp this spring, Alex Ochoa and I would work on our arms with the long toss. Alex likes to work on it, too.

``Arm strength is God-given gift, but you still have to do something with it.

``I might have thrown out 55 percent of the runners last season, but as long as it's not 100 percent, there's room for improvement.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Charlie Greene: ``I was catching in the bullpen for guys like Doc

Gooden and Rick Aguilera. I couldn't get enough of it.'' KEYWORDS: PROFILE

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