ANAHEIM, Calif. -- When Chone Figgins played for the Salem Avalanche, he imagined what it would be like to be a major leaguer someday.

He was wrong.

"It's funny because you think of what it could be, and it's 20 times better," the Los Angeles Angels third baseman said with a laugh at Angel Stadium before an August home game. "A lot of stuff that you didn't know that happens ... just makes you realize that you're in the big leagues."

For instance, Figgins no longer has to carry his own bags.

"I had to carry a big bag because I had so many gloves," said Figgins, who can play infield and outfield positions. "Now, moving from place to place, you never have to carry your luggage. That was real fun for me."

Figgins has plenty of reasons to smile these days, and not just because there is less lifting in his life.

He is starting for a team that is closing in on its fourth American League West crown in five years.

Figgins, 30, might even earn his second World Series ring. He already has one from 2002. He was called up in August that year and played in six postseason games, including two pinch-running appearances in the World Series.

Figgins played for the Avalanche in 1999 and 2000, back when he was in the Colorado Rockies' organization.

"It was so much fun," said Figgins, a former Carolina League all-star. "Most of us lived in the same complex, so after games we'd all just hang out and play video games and talk about coming up through the minor leagues together."

Figgins hit .239 in 1999 and .278 the following season.

Last year, he ranked sixth in the AL in batting average at .330, up from .267 in 2006.

"As you play more and more games and you get older, you learn how to be more consistent," said Figgins, in his fifth year as an Angels starter. "You're not going to be able to be strong through the course of 162 games every single day, but you try to learn how to work through those days."

Finding the holes helps, too.

"In '06, I hit balls harder than I did last year. I didn't have any luck," he said with a chuckle. "The next year, it happened.

"Sometimes hitting balls hard is overrated. You'd rather chink off the end of the bat or chop off the plate or something like that and find the holes."

The team's leadoff hitter, Figgins is batting .277 with one home run and 21 RBIs this year. He has scored 64 runs and has stolen 30 bases. Figgins has stolen 234 bases in his Angels career, a team record.

Angels TV analyst Mark Gubicza, a former Kansas City Royals pitcher, said the switch-hitting Figgins has a better grasp of the strike zone than he once did.

"He's letting the ball get deeper in the zone and hitting the ball the other way," Gubicza said. "He used to try to pull certain pitches."

Figgins has walked 58 times.

"He works the pitch count very well," Gubicza said. "Early in his career, he was up there hacking. He didn't trust his ability to be able to be behind in the count and have to fight off a curveball or a slider. Now he feels confident."

And happy to be in the big leagues.

"Sometimes there's a business side of it that you have to deal with, but overall, as long as you get to step on the field, it's fun -- just like it used to be," Figgins said.