PEORIA, Ariz. - Kevin Kouzmanoff has shown he can seize the moment. He made history in September by hitting a grand slam on the first pitch thrown to him in his major league career.

And, on a less visible stage this spring training, Kouzmanoff met a challenge and built a fire without matches in the San Diego Padres clubhouse.

Kouzmanoff, responding to a request from manager Bud Black, had about one week to prepare for his incendiary moment.

He's sharing an apartment with former Rockies pitcher Justin Hampson, who watched Kouzmanoff go on the patio and practice daily, using a knife, flint and magnesium to ignite lint, then set some dry leaves and twigs ablaze.

"Yeah, he'd do it every day to make sure he got it down because you don't want to choke in here," Hampson said, referring to the clubhouse. "I said, 'You got to get it on the first couple (attempts) because if not, panic's going to start setting in.'

"He set it all up. Everybody watched him. He just sparked it one time and it went up. Good fire. I was impressed."

The Padres have been impressed how Kouzmanoff, who went to Evergreen High School, has played third base, historically a position marked by constant turnover. Last year, when they used six third basemen, it was a blur of bodies.

That Kouzmanoff, 25, has this opportunity with the Padres resulted from a Nov. 8 trade that he said "shocked me."

San Diego acquired Kouzmanoff and pitcher Andrew Brown from the Cleveland Indians for second baseman Josh Barfield, 24, who as a rookie hit .280 with 13 homers and 58 RBI and was successful on 21 of 26 stolen base attempts.

But Barfield had only 30 walks, a .318 on-base percentage and had trouble with his throwing and turning double plays.

With Andy Marte, a young third baseman ahead of Kouzmanoff in Cleveland, Padres general manager Kevin Towers jumped at the opportunity to fill that position.

"I've always felt that second base is the easiest position to plug in each and every year through free agency or trade," said Towers, who signed free agent Marcus Giles to play second base six weeks after acquiring Kouzmanoff. "We felt he would give us more power, which we certainly need."

In particular, right-handed hitting power, a huge plus at Petco Park, where flyballs carry to the alley in left-center field.

Towers said Kouzmanoff "reminds me of a right-handed version of Chad Tracy," referring to the Arizona Diamondbacks' left-handed hitting third baseman who has shown he can hit for average and power.

On the day of the trade, Black learned he was the Padres' new manager. Black finished his playing career with the Indians in 1995 and spent the next four years in the Cleveland organization.

To learn about Kouzmanoff, Black called, among others, Indians general manager Mark Shapiro, former Cleveland farm director John Farrell and Torey Lovullo, who managed Kouzmanoff when he spent part of last year with Triple-A Buffalo (N.Y.).

"To a man they said, 'You're going to love this guy,' " Black said. " 'He can hit. He's a great worker. He loves to play.' They said, 'You're going to hear about the defense, but don't worry about it. He's going to make the plays.' "

Kouzmanoff's defense has not been an issue this spring training. To Kouzmanoff, the knocks on his defense - critics say his feet aren't fast enough - are almost inevitable, the unavoidable result of a comparison.

"I think in the last few years, I've hit so well and maybe my defense hasn't matched that," Kouzmanoff said. "But I've always thought my defense was pretty good, and I've always worked really hard on it."

When it comes to hitting, Kouzmanoff has followed simple advice while attempting to put the barrel of the bat on the ball, a dictate put forth by Troy Slinkard, a family friend who lives in Evergreen and has been Kouzmanoff's longtime hitting coach.

"Just like Troy would say, 'You don't want to hit the bull's-eye,' " Kouzmanoff said. " 'You want to hit the center of the bull's-eye.' So that's what I try to do out here in (batting practice), and, hopefully, that will carry into games: Hit the center of the ball and hit it hard."

Kouzmanoff has done that since the Indians drafted him in the sixth round in 2003 out of the University of Nevada, the third school he attended. Kouzmanoff spent most of his first full professional season at low Single-A Lake County (Ohio) in 2004, where he hit .330 with 16 home runs and 87 RBI.

Limited by back pain to 68 games at high Single-A Kinston (N.C.) in 2005, Kouzmanoff hit .339 with 12 homers and 58 RBI.

He began last year with Double-A Akron (Ohio), hitting .389 with 15 homers and 55 RBI in 67 games, missing three weeks with a left hamstring injury.

Promoted to Buffalo in late July, Kouzmanoff hit .353 with seven homers and 20 RBI in 27 games before learning Sept. 1 he would be joining the Indians the next night in Texas.

He hit .214 in 56 at-bats with three homers and 11 RBI after a storybook beginning.

Because of a travel delay, Kouzmanoff arrived at Ameriquest Field during the Indians' pregame stretching routine.

Batting seventh and serving as the designated hitter, he came up with two out in the first and the Indians ahead 1-0. That's when he drove Edinson Volquez's "first- pitch fastball, about letter high" to straightaway center field for a grand slam.

Kouzmanoff is the third player to hit a grand slam in his first major league plate appearance and the first on the first pitch.

"I kind of enjoy talking about it because it's a great memory to have," he said. "It was a special time for me. My folks (Marc and Kim) were there and my little brother (Ky). My family friend Troy, my batting coach, was there with his family. It was awesome.

"It's one of those things you don't want to forget, and I remember it vividly. I felt like I was floating around the bases. I got the chills and the goose bumps. The biggest thing was I'm thinking, 'My parents were here to see that. We waited forever.' "Up in smoke

Kevin Kouzmanoff was about 11 when he moved from California to Evergreen, which could help explain why he lists camping as one of his hobbies. And he told that to new Padres manager Bud Black when asked at a team meeting.

Black asked Kouzmanoff if the two of them were caught in a rainstorm while camping and their matches got wet, could Kouzmanoff keep them warm by lighting a fire with no matches? Kouzmanoff said he could.

To highlight morning team meetings, Black has rookies and minor leaguers who are in major league camp do something for the group.

Kouzmanoff's challenge was to start a fire in the clubhouse with no matches. After about a week to prepare, he carefully arranged some dry leaves and twigs on a metal tray and used a knife, flint and magnesium scrapings to ignite some lint.

Kouzmanoff touched the lint to the leaves and twigs and, spreading his hands about a foot apart, indicated the size of his roaring fire.

"I was a little nervous because everybody was asking me about it like for the week," Kouzmanoff said. "They were calling me, 'Fire starter,' and asking, 'When are you going to light that fire?' "

Kouzmanoff didn't disappoint, and his teammates were impressed.

• Pitcher Greg Maddux:

"I thought it was pretty cool. I'd never seen anybody start a fire without matches."

• Pitcher Trevor Hoffman:

"I'm sure that over half, shoot, over 80 percent of the (players in) the clubhouse didn't know how to do something like that. So not only was it fun to watch it happen, you're learning something. He was methodical about how he did it and did his scraping, sparked it and off it went. He quickly put it out. We don't need those sprinklers coming on."

• Catcher Todd Greene:

"It's one of those things where he had it figured out. He had to do it and was going to have to do it every day until he made it work. So he came in, did his thing. It was awesome. He had all the tricks figured out and was ready to perform."

Historic swing

• The moment: On Sept. 2, Kevin Kouzmanoff became the first player in major league history to hit a grand slam on the first pitch thrown to him. He also became the third major leaguer and first American League player to hit a grand slam in his first major league plate appearance.

• Select company: The two National Leaguers who hit a grand slam in their first major league plate appearance were Bill Duggleby, with Philadelphia on April 21, 1898, and Jeremy Hermida, as a pinch hitter, with Florida on Aug. 31, 2005.

etkinj@RockyMountainNews.com

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