 |
| Benny Agbayani and fellow Hawai'i professional baseball players honed their skills during the offseason. Watching Agbayani as he takes a cut are, from left, Jandin Thornton-Murray, Chad Santos, San Francisco Giants minor league manager Lenn Sakata and Billy Pieper.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser |
 Williams' legend grows with each pitch
Hawai'i's players in professional baseball
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
The cheers from the postseason have subsided. The slate once again is swept clean.
Hawai‘i’s most visible professional baseball player, New York Mets left fielder Benny Agbayani, is ready for spring training. Camps open for full squads this weekend, but pitchers and catchers may report starting today. Agbayani is one of 37 players with ties to Hawai‘i who go to camp in the coming weeks.
 |
| Benny Agbayani batted .289 with 15 home runs and 60 RBIs for the New York Mets last year. This is an important season for him because he goes to salary arbitration after the season.
Advertiser library photo |
It was only October when Agbayani captivated Hawai‘i sports fans during the Mets’ climb to the World Series. He hit a game-winning home run against San Francisco in the National League Division Series. He drove in the go-ahead run in the Mets’ only World Series game victory against the New York Yankees.
Agbayani returned to a hero’s welcome. There were public appearances. There were products to endorse.
But his quest this spring has changed. Last year, Agbayani was trying to earn a spot on the 25-man roster. This year, it’s not a matter of making the team, it’s simply playing more.
"This time, I have to be ready to play a whole full season healthy," Agbayani said. "This is a big year for me because I’ll be heading for (salary) arbitration after this year."
Agbayani, 29, played his first full season in the majors last year after playing partial seasons in 1998 and 1999.
Players qualify for arbitration after three years of service time in the big leagues. After that, players have more bargaining power in negotiating their contracts.
After beginning last season as a role player, Agbayani worked his way into the starting lineup. He batted .289 with 15 home runs and 60 RBIs. He primarily batted seventh, but also hit leadoff at times. A .391 on-base percentage helped justify manager Bobby Valentine’s move.
Agbayani said he has room for improvement. He said he has been working on his bunting. In 744 career plate appearances, he has yet to be credited with a sacrifice.
He also wants to improve on his fielding. His range was 1.79 chances (putouts, assists and errors) per nine innings last season; the major league average for left fielders is 2.04, according to the STATS Inc. 2001 Major League Handbook. Agbayani was occasionally subbed in the late innings of games.
"I want to play all nine innings, instead of being a seven-inning player or eight-inning player," he said.
Still, nothing is guaranteed. The Mets ended the season with an outfield of Agbayani in left, Jay Payton in center and Timo Perez in right. They signed Tsuyoshi Shinjo from Japan, giving them eight outfielders on the 40-man roster.
"After last year, hopefully, I proved that I could play," Agbayani said. "But you never know. They might go out and sign somebody else again. So far as I know, I’m penciled in to play left field this year."
Agbayani spent the offseason training with other local pros, making public appearances to promote his autobiography and helping endorse a number of products — ranging from cars to coffee.
Borrowing a line from the movie "Jerry Maguire" ("help me, help you"), Agbayani heeded the advice of his agent, Danny Horwits of the Beverly Hills Sports Council.
"He told me, ‘Just take care of things on the field and I’ll take care of things off it,’ " Agbayani said. "They’ve been doing everything possible to get my name out there. It’s great because I won’t be playing baseball my whole life. I have to have something else planned after my career is over."
In the show
Agbayani is one of nine players with Hawai‘i ties who are in the majors or have gotten a taste of it.
Chris Truby, who earned all-state honors in football for Damien Memorial High in 1991, is the Houston Astros starting third baseman. He was called up last season after veteran Ken Caminiti suffered an injury. In half a season, Truby batted .260 with 11 home runs and 59 RBIs.
The Los Angeles Dodgers re-signed former ‘Iolani School multi-sport standout Mike Fetters to a two-year, $4.5 million contract that includes an option for 2003. Fetters is a middle reliever.
Rookies
The 2000 signees will be attending training camp for the first time. Most, after college and high school, played in rookie leagues or short-season Class A.
Those who will make their pro debuts this season are catcher Dane Sardinha (Cincinnati), and infielders Bruddah Choy Foo (Cleveland) and Billy Pieper (Kansas City).
Sardinha (Kamehameha ’97) and Choy Foo (Kailua ’00) signed late, but attended fall instructional league. Pieper (Kamehameha ’96), who played football and one season of baseball at UCLA, was signed as an undrafted free agent and played in the fall instructional league.
Sardinha endured a long contract negotiation period after being drafted in the second round following his junior season at Pepperdine, where he was an All-American.
More Islanders
There are two players with ties to Hawai‘i who did not play high school ball here or did not play for any of the three Hawai‘i college baseball programs.
Relief pitcher Brandon Villafuerte was briefly with the Detroit Tigers before being traded to the Texas Rangers during the offseason. Villafuerte was born on the Big Island and attended Honoka‘a Elementary for kindergarten before his family moved to Morgan Hill, Calif. His grandparents still live on the Big Island.
Also, catcher Mike Tejada attended Kamehameha during seventh grade before his family moved to Provo, Utah. Tejada was a 27th-round pick by the Colorado Rockies in 1999, but completed a church mission before entering pro ball. He played at short-season Class A Portland (Ore.) last year. Tejada makes his home here now.
Prospects
Sardinha and Montreal pitcher Justin Wayne (Punahou ’97) are ranked as their organization’s top 10 prospects by Baseball America magazine. San Francisco pitcher Jerome Williams (Waipahu ’99) is expected to be ranked when the publication releases its list of NL West prospects.
[back to top] |
