Angels spring training: Talk about a youth movement ...

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TEMPE, Ariz. -- Torii Hunter walked into the Angels clubhouse the other day, took one look at Eddie McKiernan and was tempted to ask him to fetch a pair of sanitary hose.

‘I thought he was a clubhouse guy,’ Hunter, the Angels’ 33-year-old center fielder, said. ‘I can’t believe he’s 19. He looks like he’s about 12. He makes me feel old, very old. When I was drafted, he was 3.’

McKiernan, a reliever who went 1-5 with a 3.73 earned-run average, 56 strikeouts and 16 walks in 62 2/3 innings at Class-A Cedar Rapids last season, was a last-minute addition to big-league camp.

He’s a wisp of a right-hander, all of 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds with a baby face and braces, and even he acknowledges that he looks like a kid who could be playing Pony League.

‘I’m getting razzed a lot about my age and how young I look,’ said McKiernan, a Monrovia High School graduate and a 17th-round pick in the 2007 draft. ‘That’s OK. When I’m 30, I’ll look 19.’

Don’t let those looks fool you, though. McKiernan is a tough kid, a brown belt in karate, and he’s got a live, 91-mph fastball that has obviously impressed the Angels enough to invite him to big-league camp.

‘It’s really cool, a good experience,’ McKiernan said. ‘I’m just learning, taking in everything I can from the older guys.’

-- Mike DiGiovanna