After a stellar 2007 season, culminating in a fifth-place finish in the American League Rookie of the Year balloting, Willits fell off the radar in 2008, a forgotten man for the most part.

On the depth chart at all three outfield spots, No. 77 is hoping to reintroduce himself as a valuable asset in manager Mike Scioscia's stable of athletes as the new season approaches.

"Frustrating -- very frustrating," was the way Willits summed up a painfully idle 2008, when he was reduced by injuries and circumstances to 82 games and 136 plate appearances. "It wasn't easy to go through a year like this."

After surgery for removal of a non-functioning gallbladder in January, the blur from the plains of Oklahoma came to Spring Training optimistic that his sophomore season would be just as memorable as his freshman year in Anaheim.

But there were complications from the get-go. The arrival of perennial Gold Glove center fielder Torii Hunter added yet another quality performer to the cast, but it also created a crowd in the outfield.

Like Juan Rivera and Nathan Haynes, Willits looked around the clubhouse and wondered how he'd fit in with Garret Anderson, Gary Matthews Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero joining Hunter in a four-man rotation that included the designated-hitter role.

Haynes eventually was released, landing in Tampa Bay, and Rivera -- ticketed for left field this season -- didn't find consistent playing time until the second half. It never happened for Willits, whose rust showed in a .194 batting average and .321 on-base percentage.

This was the same performer who had played such a vital role for the '07 American League West champions, riding to the rescue in multiple roles because of injuries to all three starting outfielders -- Anderson, Matthews and Guerrero -- as well as leadoff catalyst Chone Figgins.

Setting club rookie records with a .293 batting average and .391 on-base percentage, while capably handling all three outfield spots, Willits endeared himself to fans with his all-out style, repeatedly sacrificing his body in the field and on the bases.

Playing in 136 games, Willits had 502 plate appearances, drawing 69 walks and stealing 27 bases. The Angels were 42-19 when Willits scored a run, and his 4.4 pitches seen per at-bat led the AL, underscoring his uncommon patience from both sides of the plate.

Hitting .312 at the All-Star break, he fell to .271 in the second half. It apparently was not, as some suspected, a case of wearing down as much as coping with a dysfunctional gallbladder that weakened his system.

"I kind of battled stomach issues all year," Willits said. "It started at the end of Spring Training. I didn't know what it was. We had it checked out, and I kept having the problem."

He was given medication to control the stomach pain, but the pains persisted. The root of the problem went undetected until extensive testing over the winter revealed the non-functioning gallbladder.

Successful surgery, and the birth of his second son, Eli, had Willits beaming when camp opened last spring in spite of the crowded outfield. He recalled that nobody had expected much of him in '07, either, but he was ready when called upon.

That call rarely came in '08, in part because Willits was usually recovering from some sort of freak injury.

The unraveling began when he injured his left wrist after getting sent to Triple-A Salt Lake in mid-April to create roster space for a reliever. He'd had one at-bat, driving in two runs with a double.

Rejoining the Angels on May 2, Willits had made five starts and was hitting .269 when disaster struck in Chicago.

Trying in vain to break up a double play as a pinch-runner in the eighth inning against the White Sox, Willits' right middle finger was slashed with a spike from shortstop Orlando Cabrera, his former teammate.

"I hit him," Willits said after the game, a bandage covering the finger, "and he came right down on it. The cut's on the top knuckle by the nail. It's about the length of a cleat."

Willits never really found his grip, or a groove, after that.

He made only nine starts after the spiking when misfortune resurfaced in the form of twin concussions, both in games against the Yankees.

The first came on Aug. 3 when Willits collided with Matthews in right center at Yankee Stadium. It happened in the course of one of Willits' best games, complete with four walks and three runs scored.

Five nights later, back home at Angel Stadium, Willits sustained a second blow to the head on a tag at home by Yankees pitcher Brian Bruney.

Sent to the 15-day disabled list, Willits returned to have his most active stretch after the Angels clinched the AL West title on Sept. 10, hitting .229 with 35 at-bats in the final month.

As fate would have it, the season ended in complete, total frustration in the AL Division Series against the Red Sox.

It was Willits, entering as a pinch-runner, getting tagged out at third on the suicide squeeze Erick Aybar was unable to execute in the ninth inning of Game 4. Moments later, it was Willits, in right field, sprawling in vain for Jason Bay's ground-rule double that preceded Jed Lowrie's series-clinching single.

"What a year," Willits said, shaking his head in the aftermath as silence filled the visitors' clubhouse at Fenway Park.

The renewal of spring can't come soon enough for the man from Oklahoma.