ASSOCIATED PRESS Waipahu's Jerome Williams is a starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants.

Local pros receive
their assignments

Four players from Hawaii make
major league rosters, but two
are injured

There are four players with Hawaii connections on major league rosters, but two are inactive at the moment.

Twenty players opened with minor league teams last week and eight others are on disabled lists.

Right-handed pitchers Jerome Williams (Waipahu) is with the San Francisco Giants and Brandon League (Saint Louis) with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Chris Truby (Damien) signed a free-agent contract with Kansas City in the offseason. The veteran third baseman was placed on the Royals' 15-day disabled list April 1 with a chipped bone in his left wrist. He is out indefinitely.

Tyler Yates (Kauai, Hawaii-Hilo) is on the New York Mets' 60-day disabled list after having rotator-cuff surgery on his right shoulder earlier this year. The right-hander is probably out for the season after splitting time in 2004 between the Mets and their Triple-A team, the Norfolk (Va.) Tides.

Six players have been assigned to Triple-A teams.

Kansas City promoted first baseman Chad Santos (Saint Louis) to the Omaha Royals of the Pacific Coast League. Santos, in his seventh pro season, homered in his first game for Omaha and will share playing time with Ken Harvey, who spent the last two seasons in the majors.

Dusty Bergman (Hawaii) was sent to the Salt Lake Stingers, the Los Angeles Angels' PCL affiliate. The left-hander was a nonroster invitee to spring training. In eight appearances, he walked four, fanned six and gave up 11 hits and three earned runs in six innings.

The Cincinnati Reds purchased the contract of Dane Sardinha (Kamehameha, Pepperdine) from Louisville of the International League in November, then optioned the catcher to Louisville on March 22.

Sardinha appeared in 10 spring games with the Reds, getting six hits in 17 at-bats for a .353 average. He had one double and one homer.

Shane Victorino (St. Anthony), a Rule 5 pick by the Philadelphia Phillies, struggled offensively in spring games. The outfielder, in his seventh pro season, was assigned to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Red Barons in the IL after the Phillies offered him back to the Dodgers and the Dodgers declined to take him back.

Brandon Villafuerte signed with San Francisco in the offseason. The Big Island-born right-hander made three appearances in the spring for the Giants and did not allow a run in four innings. But he was sent to minor league camp March 13, then assigned to the PCL's Fresno Grizzlies.

Keoni DeRenne (Iolani, Arizona), an infielder, starts the season with the PCL's Tucson Sidewinders, the team he finished 2004 with.

There are five players at the Double-A level.

Outfielder Darren Blakely (UH) begins the season with the Birmingham Barons in the Southern League for the second consecutive year.

"Darren had a good spring, even got a couple of at-bats with the White Sox," said Brian Porter, Chicago's assistant director of player development. Blakely was 2-for-3 with a homer in two games.

Mark Johnson (UH) signed a free-agent contract with the Detroit Tigers in February. The right-hander, starting his ninth pro season, has been assigned to the Erie (Pa.) Seawolves in the Eastern League.

Bronson Sardinha (Kamehameha) returns to the Trenton Thunder in the EL. He finished last season as the Thunder's third baseman, but the New York Yankees have moved him to right field this year.

Brandon Chaves (Hilo, UHH), whose 2004 season was cut short in May with torn ligaments in his left knee after colliding with an opposing first baseman, is healthy. The shortstop is back with the Eastern League's Altoona (Pa.) Curve.

Rex Rundgren (Mid-Pacific, Sacramento CC), returns to the Carolina (Zebulon, N.C.) Mudcats in the Southern League. The shortstop finished the 2004 season there after being promoted and hit .268.

Nine of Hawaii's players open on Single-A teams.

Pat Scalabrini (UH), who signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles after four seasons of independent ball, was assigned to the Frederick (Md.) Keys in the high Class A Carolina League.

"Pat should have the opportunity to move up to AA if he keeps hitting the way he did in spring training. He was 12-for-25 with seven doubles in AA spring games," said Tracy Hunt, Scalabrini's agent.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Kauai's Tyler Yates of the New York Mets is likely out for the season after having rotator cuff surgery earlier this year.

Brian Bock (UH) is with the Delmarva (Salisbury, Md.) Shorebirds in the low Class A South Atlantic League. A catcher, also in the Baltimore system, Bock is starting his third pro season.

Left-hander Reid Santos (Castle, Saddleback), the co-pitcher of the year in the Appalachian League in 2004, is with the Lake County (Eastlake, Ohio) Captains in the Cleveland Indians organization. Also assigned to the SAL team is former UH shortstop Brian Finegan.

Right-hander Clary Carlsen (UH) starts his second season in the Phillies system with the Clearwater Threshers in the Florida State League.

Left-hander Chad Bailey (Campbell, Seminole State) is assigned to the Vero Beach Dodgers in the FSL, a team he spent part of 2004 with.

Hawaii will be represented in the California League with three players and a manager.

The Royals have sent first baseman Kila Ka'aihue (Iolani) and right-hander Jason Kahi Kaanoi (Kamehameha) to the High Desert (Adelanto, Calif.) Mavericks.

Kaanoi's pitching coach is Andy Hawkins, who pitched for the Hawaii Islanders in 1981.

Catcher Kurt Suzuki (Baldwin, Cal State Fullerton) begins his first full season with the Stockton (Calif.) Ports. Suzuki saw action with the Oakland Athletics this spring, hitting .417 with two doubles in 13 games.

Former major leaguer Lenn Sakata (Kalani, Gonzaga) is back managing the San Jose Giants for a second season.

Eight minor league players are sidelined.

Infielder Kaulana Kuhaulua (Waianae, Long Beach State) and right-hander Shane Komine (Kalani, Nebraska) are still recovering from injuries.

Kuhaulua, in the Minnesota Twins organization, broke an ankle in the offseason and won't report until he is ready to play. He begins the season on the Ft. Myers Miracle (Florida State League) disabled list.

Komine, in the Oakland Athletics organization, had Tommy John surgery last summer and just started throwing off the mound last week.

"It is still a bit sore, but that is to be expected. I should report sometime between mid to late May," said the right-hander, who is helping coach the Kalani baseball team.

"Coaching is something I always wanted to do and it is fun. Now I know it is something I want to do some day," said Komine, who recently hosted former UH right-hander Jeff Coleman for a few days of surfing.

Coleman went to spring training with Oakland, but experienced pain in his right shoulder during three stints on the mound. He had surgery Friday to repair a completely torn labrum.

"I shut myself down and went to the doctor. I had tried therapy in the offseason, but this time we decided on surgery," said Coleman, who may be ready to throw again during instructional league this fall.

He has some extra motivation, "get my butt in gear," he said, because his wife, Lisa, is expecting their first child in two months.

Will Quaglieri (UH, Loyola Marymount) had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder during the offseason. The right-hander just reported to the New York Mets extended spring training last week.

Rodney Choy Foo (Kailua) suffered a stress fracture in his left foot while running and had surgery in February. The infielder hopes to be ready to report to a Cleveland Indians farm team in another month and a half.

Outfielder Tim Montgomery (UH) is at Cleveland's extended spring training camp in Winter Haven, Fla., recovering from surgery in November to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He hopes to be back in action before the summer is over.

Duke Sardinha (Kamehameha, Pepperdine) is in extended spring training with the Colorado Rockies. The third baseman continues to rehab his right wrist, which was operated on during the 2004 campaign and again in the offseason.

He is throwing again but hasn't started live hitting, according to his mother Darneen.

Infielder Micah Furtado (Kapaa, Lewis-Clark State) is rehabbing a strained right shoulder in extended spring camp for the second year with the Texas Rangers.

"Micah also battled a bacterial infection that caused him to lose weight and strength. He has to build his strength back up," said Texas director of minor league operations John Lombardo.

Two Hawaii players are looking for jobs with new teams.

Justin Wayne (Punahou, Stanford), a right-hander, was released by the Florida Marlins and Chris George (UH) was let go by the San Francisco Giants the final week of spring training.

George, a right-hander who had recovered from surgery on his left hip at the end of the 2004 season, reported to spring training healthy but was told by his coaches to take it slow.

"They never put me into a group and I never got a chance to pitch in a game. That was disappointing. I could finish my college degree, but I don't want to do that right now. I want to keep playing," said George.

Besides Sakata, former Rainbow catcher Todd Takayoshi and former UH-Hilo pitcher Brendan Sagara, are coaching in the pro ranks.

Takayoshi begins his fourth season as a hitting coach in the Angels farm system. He will be with the Arkansas Travelers in the Texas League.

Sagara, who prepped at Leilehua, leaves in two weeks for his sixth summer as a coach in independent ball, this time with the Gary (Ind.) Southshore Railcats of the Northern League.

Chad Giannetti (Punahou, UH, New Mexico) signed in February with the Mid-Missouri (Columbia, Mo.) Mavericks of the independent Frontier League. The right-hander pitched briefly for the Sioux City (Iowa) Explorers early last year, then took Aaron Pribble's place on the roster of the Toulouse (France) Tigers.

Outfielder Mark Okano (Aiea, New Mexico) has signed for a second season with Somona in the Cananea in Mexico's Northern Sonona League.

Kainoa Obrey (Iolani, Brigham Young), who sat out last season with herniated discs, is trying to decide whether to have surgery and continue his career in the St. Louis Cardinals system or move on outside of baseball.