[ UH BASEBALL ]
Rainbows ink 15 recruits
in early signing
Hawaii Rainbow baseball coach Mike Trapasso announced the signing of 15 players in the early signing period for the 2005 baseball season yesterday.
"It's a very balanced recruiting class that is front-loaded with a few high-profile guys. There's a balance of pitchers and position players and a balance of youth and experience," said Trapasso.
The class is composed of 10 high school players and five junior college transfers.
The six high school players from Hawaii are Kanekoa Texeira from Kamehameha, Ronnie Loeffler and Myles Ioane from Waiakea, Harrison Kuroda and Ryan Asato from Mid-Pacific and Aaron Asher from Aiea High School.
The four mainland prep players are Steve Bravlar of Westlake HS in Westlake Village, Calif.; Greg Burns Jr. of Walnut HS in Phillips Ranch, Calif.; James Parr of La Cuerva HS in Albuquerque, N.M., and Joseph Spiers of Canyon Springs HS in Moreno Valley, Calif.
The five JC transfers are Jeff Piaskowski and Jose Castaneda of Orange Coast College, Jonathan Combs of Santa Barbara City College, Kyle Thomas of Riverside Community College and Robert Nelson of Edmonds Community College.
Asato is an outfielder/first baseman who was an Interscholastic League of Honolulu second-team pick last year.
Asher, a catcher, earned All-Oahu Interscholastic Association honors twice. He chose UH over Arizona State, UNLV and Portland because he liked the facilities and the coaching staff.
Bravlar, a first baseman/outfielder, was named a Top 25 prospect at the Team One West tournament in Tempe, Ariz. He was named a scholar-athlete in each of his first three seasons at Westlake while earning honorable mention all-league honors last year.
Burns, an outfielder with the tools to play in the major leagues according to Trapasso, was a first-team all-league pick last year after earning honorable mention honors during his sophomore season.
Castaneda is an outfielder who Trapasso says has the ability to drive in runs right away.
"He's a physical player who will add pop to the lineup," said Trapasso.
Combs, an outfielder/first baseman, earned first-team All-Western State Conference honors as a designated hitter last year, hitting .322 with 14 doubles, nine homers and 33 runs batted in.
Ioane, a left-hander, was the Big Island Interscholastic Federation Pitcher of the Year last year. He was also a member of the Hilo Little League senior division team that won a national title last summer.
"Myles Ioane is a lefty that will see significant innings for us early on," Trapasso said.
Kuroda, a right-hander, was the Mid-Pacific team MVP last year while earning first-team All-ILH honors. Kuroda says he always wanted to be a Rainbow and he likes how the coaching staff takes care of the players.
Loeffler, a right-hander, was a member of the all-Hawaii team that went to Arizona this past October. He earned All-BIIF honorable mention honors last season.
Trapasso expects Nelson, a first baseman, to come in and help the Rainbows in the field and at the plate immediately.
Parr, a right-hander/infielder, was an all-state pitcher last year and earned all-district honors the past two seasons.
"James is the type of pitcher who I could see starting on Friday nights," said Trapasso. "He could make an immediate impact for us."
Piaskowski, an outfielder, is an RBI producer.
Spiers, an infielder, was the San Bernardino County Player of the Year last year and earned all-league, All-CIF and all-state honors. He currently has a 32-game hitting streak that ranks fourth all-time in California prep history.
Texeira, a right-hander, was a second-team All-ILH player last year and chose UH over Cal State Fullerton and Arizona.
Thomas, an outfielder, comes from a JC program with a history of producing Division I players.
