JetHawks prepare to spring into action

By DAVE RASBACH
Valley Press Staff Writer

Chances are, not many of the faces that go with these names will be getting off a bus at Lancaster Municipal Stadium in early April.

The Seattle Mariners released their minor league spring training workout groups this weekend. The workout groups are only a place to start and are certain to change as the major league team cuts its roster from 54 to 25 and players filter down through the system.

After going through physicals Monday, minor league pitchers and catchers begin workouts today.

Although a few of the 30 players currently listed in the Lancaster workout group could open the Cal League season with the JetHawks in Bakersfield on April 8, the majority of the team will probably be made up of players currently in the Class AA New Haven or Class AAA Tacoma workout groups.

Among the pitchers who will start spring training with Lancaster are right-handers Caleb Balbuena, Greg Beaver, Oliver Berroa, Justin Dunning, Jeff Farnsworth, Neil Longo, Aaron Looper, Julio Mateo, Chris Mears, Juan Ramos, Allan Simpson, Melqui Torres, Enmanuel Ulloa and Craig Willis, along with lefthanders Tony DeJesus and Matt Thornton.

Farnsworth and Mateo each have pitched in Lancaster before. Farnsworth, who was rated the organization's seventh-best prospect in 1997, was 1-1 with a 6.97 ERA that season before suffering an arm injury that forced him to sit out the rest of the year. He also missed all of 1998 with a right elbow injury.

Mateo was promoted to the JetHawks for one relief appearance in 1998, in which he allowed a solo home run in 1 innings.

Dunning and Looper have wellknown relatives. Dunning's father, Steve, played in the majors from 1970-77. Looper's cousin, Braden, is a pitching prospect for the Florida Marlins and was a star at Wichita State. His father, Benny, also is the Mariners' Director of Player Development.

Thornton, who is rated Seattle's 14th-best prospect by Baseball America, was the Mariners' firstround selection (22nd overall) in the 1998 draft. He pitched in only two games with rookie-level Everett last year before suffering pain in his pitching elbow.

Mears was selected the Mariners' Minor League Pitcher of the Year last season after going 9-1 with a 2.74 ERA at Everett. Ulloa had a strong season, going 4-0 with a 0.88 ERA in 19 games at rookie-level Peoria. He was selected the Mariners' 11th-best prospect by Baseball America.

Their catching counterparts in the Lancaster workout group will by Craig Kuzmic, Carlos Maldonado and Scott Maynard.

Kuzmic was promoted to Lancaster for the JetHawks' two playoff games against High Desert last year after Brendan Kingman suffered a rib injury. The native of Torrance went 2-for-7 with three RBI and a home run in his stay at Lancaster.

Maldonado, who was rated the 10th-best prospect in the Mariners' system last year and the best defensive catcher in the organization by Baseball America this year, finally started to develop at the plate at Everett, hitting .287 in 42 games.

Infielders Jermaine Clark, Luis Figueroa, Claudio Liverziani, Victor Martinez, Shawn McCorkle and Jose Moreno also are in the Lancaster workout group.

Figueroa had a short stint with the JetHawks in 1996, when he hit .387 in nine games. He also had a strong season at Class A Wisconsin last year, hitting .291 with 48 RBI and earned his second Midwest League All-Star Game appearance.

Clark joined him in that all-star game last season after hitting .324 with 81 runs scored and 40 stolen bases with the Timber Rattlers. Clark, who was rated the best hitter for average in the Mariners' system by Baseball America, was selected the Wisconsin MVP.

Rounding out the Lancaster workout group are outfielders Gerald Eady, Fernando Espino, Alexander Fernandez, Larry Haynes and Juan Silvestre.

Both Espino and Haynes played in Lancaster last season. Espino hit .317 in 17 games with the JetHawks, while Haynes went 1for-9 in his brief stay.

Silvestre hit .252 with 56 RBI and a team-high 15 home runs last year at Wisconsin.

Top Mariners pitching prospects Ryan Anderson, Gil Meche, Joel Pineiro and Justin Kaye as well as 1991 first-overall selection Brien Taylor all start the spring in the New Haven workout group, meaning some or all of them could end up in Lancaster to start the season.

Former Lancaster players Greg Connors, Kingman, Francisco Santiestaban, Cirilo Cruz Jr., Adonis Harrison, Jason Regan, Ramon Vasquez and Anton French also start the spring at the Class AA level.

Patrick Dunham, Brian Fitzgerald, Kevin Gryboski, Kyle Kennison, Russ Koehler, Brian Sweeney, Allan Westfall, Greg Wooten, Karl Thompson, Chris Dean, Joel Ramirez, Jayson Bass and Matt Sachse begin camp at Tacoma, along with former JetHawks Rob Luce, Sean Spencer, Joe Victery, Jim Horner, Scott Sealy, Shawn Buhner and Joe Mathis.