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Friday, June 9, 2000
Three more
Hawaii players
go pro
Perio, Small and Yee agree
By Al Chase
to contract terms and get ready
for first assignment
Star-BulletinIan Perio, Chris "Buster" Small and Damon Yee have agreed to contract terms and leave for their first professional baseball experience in the next three days.
Perio, a left-hander drafted in the 14th round by the Boston Red Sox, leaves Sunday for Boston's Logan International Airport.
"They are going to pick me up with a limo," said Perio, who is anxious to start his career.
He'll be driven to Lowell, Mass., and play for the Spinners in the short-season Class A New York-Penn League.
Perio, who uses four pitches -- fastball, curve, slider and change-up --will pitch his home games in Edward LeLacheur Park. Average attendance is 4,700 in the 5,000 seat park built in 1998.
"He's a lefty who keeps the ball down and pitches with deception," said Boston scout Fay Thompson.
"Hitters get a tough look at his pitches so I expect him to put up good numbers."
Perio is the first Castle High School graduate to turn pro since Carlos Diaz signed with Seattle in 1979.
Small, a catcher and Toronto's 28th round choice, heads to the Blue Jays' spring training facility in Dunedin, Fla.
The Punahou graduate also might end up in the NYP League playing for Brooklyn, N.Y. or be assigned to Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada in the Pioneer League, classified as advanced rookie.
"I've got a Princeton degree (sociology major) in my back pocket to fall back on, but right now it's time to play ball," Small said.
Yee stops in Nashville, Tenn. to get his belongings at Vanderbilt University, then drives to Auburn, N.Y., also in the NYP League.
A 28th round selection by the Houston Astros, Yee said, "The prospect of playing in a new atmosphere and against kids I grew up playing against is exciting."
A Punahou graduate, the 6-2, 190-pound right-hander relies on three pitches --fastball, slider and circle change-up.
Shannon Keoki Torres, a center fielder from Waianae High School drafted in the 35th round by Oakland, has decided to be a draft-and-follow prospect.
The 5-foot-10, 185-pounder plans to attend Seminole State (Okla.) this coming school year.
He then would have the option of signing with Oakland after his first year of college ball up until one week before the 2001 draft or enter that draft.
Around the diamond:
Major league teams selected 14 Western Athletic Conference players in the 2000 draft. Rice led the way with six players selected.Incoming league member Nevada also had six of its players chosen.
