CHOOSING DOOR NUMBER TWO

MOORPARK — Judd Granzow slaps a hand into a palm and taps at his temple with both hands. His blue eyes widen as a geyser of emotion spews from his 6-foot-4, 240-pound body.

Granzow speaks about motivation, positive energy and goals. He talks a lot about doors, mostly the ones he expects to swing open without his even having to knock.

“Doors will open for me, I know,” Granzow said. “I know it’s going to happen. I’m not going to try and open any doors. They’ll open for me.”

His fingers again tap at his brow.

“It’s up here,” Granzow said. “I have talent. But if you’ve got this going, too, you can go a long way.”

Opportunity knocks at Moorpark College, where Granzow, a former two-sport star at tiny Faith Baptist High in Canoga Park, is expected to make an immediate impact this season as a freshman outside linebacker.

His mind is trained on landing a Division I football scholarship after playing one season with the Raiders.

“He wants to go straight to a Division I school after one year, and I think that is very possible for him,” Moorpark Coach Jim Bittner said. “If it was a horse race, I’d be putting a lot of money on him. You can just see it in his eyes.”

Granzow would prefer not to discuss the door through which he exited, the one the Dodgers say is always open should he decide to return.

Granzow, 21, who played one season in the Dodgers’ organization before retiring in 1996, says he never will. But he has been wrong about his career plans before.

“Baseball, I don’t really want to talk about it,” Granzow said this week, moments after pulling on the pads for the start of fall practice.

“I’m not bitter about it. I enjoyed living on my own and traveling. I just didn’t have it anymore. To be a [professional baseball player], you have to have so much desire and so much passion for it . . . and I didn’t have that desire.

“I don’t even think about it anymore. It’s in the past.”

Granzow was the Dodgers’ fourth-round pick and 102nd player chosen overall in the 1995 amateur draft. Though college scouts showed considerable interest in him as a defensive lineman, Granzow, an outfielder, signed with the Dodgers and received a signing bonus of approximately $80,000.

In an interview with The Times in 1995, Granzow was characteristically eager to begin playing baseball professionally.

“I don’t think I will ever play football again,” he said.

Yet, after batting .224 for the Dodgers’ Class-A affiliate in Yakima, Wash., and developing a shoulder injury that required arthroscopic surgery, Granzow decided to walk away rather than report to spring training.

“He basically told us he didn’t want to play anymore,” said Charlie Blaney, the Dodgers’ vice president of minor-league operations. “Really, he never did give a reason. We haven’t put any pressure on him.”

Granzow remains on the Dodgers’ voluntary retirement list, and the club will retain his rights for six years, Blaney said.

“The door is always open for him,” Blaney said. “He’s a ‘tool’ player, meaning he can run, he can hit, he can throw. . . . We don’t expect those tools to go away.

“But it’s tough enough to make it for a kid who wants to make it. It’s best to give [a player] time to figure it out.”

Granzow says he has. He insists he is not confused, rather committed to cutting a different path.

Friends have questioned his decision, but Granzow doesn’t care.

“I’m a very private person and I don’t think it’s anybody’s business,” Granzow said. “I didn’t have some great spiritual light hit me. I just found out that there was more to life than playing baseball 10 hours a day. When you’re driving to the ballpark and you’re saying, ‘I don’t want to be here,’ there is something wrong.

“I’m young enough right now to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to stop and I’m going to make a different choice and I’m going to be happy.’ ”

At Faith Baptist, Granzow was considered by scouts to be an unknown quantity. It was obvious he was talented, but his skills were difficult to gauge because of the level at which he competed.

As a pitcher and outfielder, Granzow batted better than .500 his senior year.

As a quarterback and defensive end, Granzow led the Contenders to the Southern Section eight-man large schools championship in 1994. Despite performing in near-obscurity, Granzow received a steady stream of recruiting mail.

“He had the ability to dominate on one side [of the ball],” said Greg Weiss, who coached Granzow in both sports at Faith Baptist. “Cal was really interested in him as a defensive end. When he graduated, although he seemed to like baseball, I always had the belief that football was in the back of his mind and that he could be a successful college football player anywhere.”

Though not a disciple of motivational gurus, Granzow speaks as dynamically as one and says he has considered entering the field of personal development.

“I’m a positive person, excited about life,” Granzow said. “I’ll let everyone else live in the past for me and worry about what Judd Granzow was doing in 1995. I’m moving on.”