Hawaii’s independents
just looking for attention
Eight players with Hawaii ties were on independent league team rosters last summer. Another, Mark Okano, went to Mexico to play.
Tom Ford played for the Lincoln (Neb.) Saltdogs and the Sioux City (Iowa) Explorers, Justin Hall was with the St. Paul Saints and Pat Scalabrini was with the Winnipeg Goldeyes, all Northern League teams.
Kaliko Oligo and Bryce Uegawachi played for the Springfield/Ozark (Mo.) Ducks in the Frontier League.
Keith Luuloa spent the summer with the Atlantic League's Bridgeport (Conn.) Bluefish.
Chad Giannetti (Punahou, Hawaii, New Mexico) and Gabe Memmert (Punahou, Maine) started the year with Sioux City and the Elmira (N.Y.) Pioneers (Northeast League), respectively, but were released in the first month of the season.
A year ago Scalabrini said it was time to get a haircut and a real job, but that didn't happen and the former Hawaii Rainbow had his best season in four years in the Northern League.
Scalabrini hit .322 for the Goldeyes, with 34 doubles, two triples, 20 home runs and 66 runs batted in, all career highs. He was named Winnipeg's most valuable player by the media and was the Northern League's all-star third baseman.
"I feel great about the season. I wasn't expecting this type of season, but I was consistent all year," said Scalabrini, who will play winter ball in Colombia.
"I had some power, but I don't know where that came from. I just want to keep playing as long as I'm having fun."
The 27-year-old still hopes for an opportunity to play for a team in organized ball.
Hall is in the same situation.
"I think this may be my last hurrah. I'll see what happens when spring training comes. I don't want to stay in independent ball forever and this is my third year," said Hall, who began his pro career in the Oakland organization after playing for St. Anthony in the early '90s and then Long Beach State.
Hall hit .326 for the Saints, led the team in runs (77) and was second with 22 doubles. In the championship series won by St. Paul, Hall hit .429 (9-for-21)
"I set personal goals and I didn't reach them this year, so I'll say the season was OK. I was hitting .341 and wanted to get to .350, but I fell off the last two weeks" said the 27-year-old Hall who works as a personal trainer in the offseason.
Hall did have a brief flirtation with organized ball. The Texas Rangers purchased his contract from St. Paul and assigned him to Oklahoma in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, but a day later the Rangers wanted him to go to Single A and Hall declined, returning to the Saints.
Luuloa, who also contemplated retirement after last season, found a new lease on his baseball life once he overcame a bothersome right knee.
"I started off slow, hitting a buck seventy (.170). Every time I started to swing, clear my hips, I would drift toward the pitcher and end up with a long swing," said Luuloa, a Molokai graduate. "I had a lot of pain in the knee, maybe tendinitis. I shut it down for a few days, rehabbed and things picked up when I came back."
Luuloa's average rose steadily after that. He ended up in a three-way tie for eighth in the Atlantic League batting race with a .313 average. He also led the Bluefish with 63 walks.
"I had a very good season. To finish in the top 10 in batting is self-rewarding. It was nice to walk into the clubhouse and not have to look at the lineup card, knowing I was playing every day," said the third baseman. "My focus was rejuvenated. It was like the 1998 season at Midland (when he hit .334)."
Luuloa hit a game-winning, three-run homer in the 17th inning of a late-season game, a game in which he didn't walk on the field until 15 minutes before start time because his alarm failed to go off.
"That was the first game-winning homer of my (11-year) career. It was one of those at-bats where the ball slowed down. The guy left a 3-1 pitch over the plate. The ball cleared everything," said Luuloa. "I never knew that feeling before, when all your teammates greet you at home plate."
Luuloa is acting as his own agent this offseason. He is sending his rŽsumŽ to every major league team's farm director and has a standing invitation to return to the Bluefish.
"I may play winter ball. I don't want it to stop now. I want to show people I'm back," Luuloa said.
Uegawachi had kind of a funny season for the Ducks of the Frontier League. He started off by getting 12 hits in his first 19 at-bats (.623), but knew that was not going to last the whole season.
The law of averages took over, his batting average slid considerably and he was released June 28 but kept on the payroll as a coach. Then he was resigned Aug. 2 for the rest of the season.
Before he was released, the former Kaiser and Hawaii Pacific infielder hit his first home run in four seasons of pro ball.
"I always thought my first homer would be something I pulled right down the line because I don't have a lot of power," said Uegawachi. "I was batting left-handed and swung late on an 0-2 pitch. The ball went over the left-field wall. That was a small victory."
Uegawachi finished with a .250 batting average and would like to play again next year.
The transition from college to pro ball was a hard one for Oligo (UH-Hilo). It started when the Ducks' batting coach went into surgery and Oligo had to fend for himself.
"The hardest problem was the rotation on the ball and the fact I was an aggressive hitter at UH-Hilo," Oligo said .
"I had to learn how to be very, very patient, especially with a wooden bat. The pitching was backward. You see a lot more offspeed pitches early in the count. After a while, it started to fall into place. I did it the hard way and that's probably what benefited me most."
He hit .228 in 60 games and earned the nickname "Flyin' Hawaiian" in his first game in center field when he attempted a diving catch (and missed).
"I'm looking forward to going back next year," said Oligo.
Ford had a season to forget. He was bothered by an impingement in his left shoulder and inflammation of the ulna nerve in his left arm. He was traded from the Saltdogs, an organization he called high class, to Sioux City, where he didn't get the proper pants to his road uniform for three weeks.
"After I was traded, I shut down for two weeks. Then I tried to pitch with the pain, took anti-inflammatory medicine, but I didn't pitch as well as I wanted to," said the Hawaii-Hilo graduate, who stopped pitching again with two weeks left in the season.
Ford's combined statistics for 19 games were 77 innings pitched, a 4-3 record with a 5.61 ERA, but he walked 38 while striking out 37.
"The pain took away from my focus and concentration. It was the key to my numbers," said Ford, who will spend the offseason rehabbing.
Okano (Aiea, New Mexico) played for Cananca in Mexico's Northern Sonora League.
Primarily a center fielder -- though he played the last five games at shortstop -- he led the league with 22 doubles and was fifth in hits (79), home runs (7) and slugging percentage (.464).
"I had a great time. It was definitely different. Obviously, I don't speak Spanish, but being on the field every day and playing every day was the opportunity I wanted," said Okano.
"The fields were bad, but the baseball was good. The fans let you know if you are doing bad or good and that keeps you on your toes."
Giannetti became the second player from Hawaii to play in France. He replaced Aaron Pribble on the Toulouse roster when the former UH left-hander retired two-thirds of the way through the year when French teams take a month break
"It just so happened that Chad's first game was my last (July 18)," said Pribble. "I threw seven innings to get the win and Chad threw the last two to get the save. I actually hit a bomb in my 'last ever' at-bat, which was a great way to go out.
"I'm now in graduate school in California to get my teaching credential."
