Major league teams pick 15 players with Hawai'i ties
| • | Chart: Hawai'i players drafted |
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
An all-time high 15 players with Hawai'i ties were selected during the Major League Baseball first-year player draft over the last two days.
Ten players were taken in yesterday's final 30 rounds of the 50-round draft. With five from Tuesday's first 20 rounds, the 15 surpassed the 14 picks from each of the last two years.
"I'm happy for everybody who got drafted," Kansas City scout Eric Tokunaga said. "But there are a lot more players who could've been drafted."
Because top-notch talent has surfaced in recent years, more scouts have been coming to the Islands. And because players like Kamehameha Schools' Bronson Sardinha and St. Louis School's Brandon League were blue chippers, the highest levels of scouting departments made trips here.
That created exposure for other players as well.
"Now, every team is sending somebody out here in March to look at players," Cleveland Indians scout Darren Chun said.
Sardinha, an infielder, was the 34th overall player taken in the supplemental first round by the world champion New York Yankees. League, a right-handed pitcher, was selected in the second round by the Toronto Blue Jays with the 59th overall pick.
More history was made when Bronson's brother, Duke, an infielder at Pepperdine, was picked in the 41st round by the Colorado Rockies. It marked the first time brothers from Hawai'i were taken in the same draft.
"Guys at work were saying, 'Wow, you got two guys going from your family,' " Dexter Sardinha said of his sons.
However, Sardinha said that Duke, a red-shirt sophomore, already told scouts he planned to return to Pepperdine. Duke missed part of last season with a wrist injury and was to play in a summer league in northern Ohio.
The elder Sardinha said teams inquired about drafting Duke as a "draft-and-follow." That procedure is usually applied to junior college players, with teams having until the day before the players steps into a classroom at a four-year program before the player is put back into next year's draft.
Drafted players who attend junior colleges can still be signed until the week before the next draft. Otherwise, they are returned to the draft pool.
COLLEGE PICKS
Yesterday, each of Hawai'i's collegiate teams had one players selected.
• University of Hawai'i junior right-hander Jeff Coleman was taken in the 21st round by the Oakland Athletics.
"Definitely I'm happy about the result," he said from his San Dimas, Calif. home.
Coleman (8-6, 3.75 earned run average) said he likely to sign. He added that the hiring of Mike Trapasso, who has a strong pitching background, will not factor in his decision.
• Hawai'i Pacific senior shortstop Bryce Uegawachi (Kaiser '97) was picked in the 26th round by the Cleveland Indians.
"Actually, I'm surprised, especially to be drafted in the 26th round," he said. "I thought, if anything, it would be later, being a senior
"I definitely want to play. It would be a great opportunity."
• Hawai'i-Hilo senior center fielder Brian Rooke was taken in the 31st round by the Oakland Athletics.
"It so great," he said from Southern California. "This is the best day of my life.
"I didn't have the greatest season (.230 with five home runs, 16 RBIs)," he said. "I got some attention in the middle of the season when I was doing well. But when I had a bad slump toward the end, I started to doubt the fact I would get drafted."
Rooke said a contract should be ready for him within three days. He is due to report Wednesday to the short-season Class A club in Vancouver, he said.
HIGH SCHOOL PICKS
Four high school seniors were drafted yesterday.
• Kaua'i left-handed pitcher Mark Rodrigues was a 29th-round pick by the Montreal Expos.
"I was sleeping and my brother woke me up," he said. "He said he heard it on the Internet."
• Mid-Pacific right-handed pitcher Ricky Bauer was taken in the 39th round by the Boston Red Sox.
Bauer is considering Merced and Cuesta junior colleges, as well as the possibility of signing with California-Irvine, which is reviving its program for 2002.
He is uncertain of his future.
"It's all happening kind of quickly," he said.
• Kamehameha right-handed pitcher Hubert Pruett was selected in the 41st round by the Milwaukee Brewers. He was surprised because he had told two other teams that he was opting for college.
Pruett had hoped to be drafted Tuesday. Instead, he has accepted a scholarship to Lewis-Clark State.
• Moanalua center fielder Stephen Green was drafted in the 43rd round by the Kansas City Royals.
"I was surprised," said Green, admittedly sleeping when the draft was going on. "I was hoping to (get drafted), but I was surprised."
Green is looking at the draft-and-follow route, a common practice among lower round picks. He is considering junior colleges in eastern Arizona and Cuesta (Calif.). A military dependent, he said his family will be moving to Arizona later this month.
JUNIOR COLLEGE PICKS
An apparent draft-and-follow pick was Saddleback Community College left-handed pitcher Reid Santos. Last year, he was drafted out of Castle High by Boston, which lost his rights after not signing him.
An elbow injury that will require surgery was thought to scare off teams, but one scout said teams draft these players just to secure rights in case they are satisfied with his recovery from surgery and want to sign the player.
Still another draft-and-follow pick was former Kaua'i High ('98) left-handed pitcher Neto Quiroz, a 38th-round pick of Cleveland. He missed this past season at Saddleback with an injury.
