Draft will clear up Rainbows' outlook
POSTED: Thursday, June 04, 2009
A one-year contract extension answered one of the big offseason questions for the Hawaii baseball team.
Head coach Mike Trapasso will be back for a ninth season after agreeing to a one-year rollover of his contract last week.
The second question could have its answer as early as next week after the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft concludes Thursday.
Hawaii had five seniors on this year's team, but could also lose junior standouts Vinnie Catricala and Kevin Macdonald and redshirt sophomore Sam Spangler if they are drafted, depending on who picks them and in what round.
Catricala is back home in Sacramento and finished a workout with the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday. He said he's heard a lot of “;top-10 round”; projections from scouts and plans on watching the draft with his family from home.
“;I don't want to think I'm getting drafted and get my hopes up and have it not happen, so I just want to go in with a level head,”; Catricala said. “;It's all new to me. I'm just working out every day and waiting around. Not really much I can do now.”;
Catricala would leave a giant hole at third base. He hit a career-best .349 this season and his 13 home runs were fourth most in school history.
Spangler made a huge jump from 2008 to '09, increasing his velocity and showing much-improved command of the strike zone. After a freshman season in which he walked 29 batters in 21 1/3 innings with a 6.75 ERA, he became Hawaii's best pitcher out of the bullpen this season. He finished 5-3 with a 4.17 ERA and only walked 14 batters in 45 1/3 innings while striking out 48.
Macdonald, who led the team with 14 homers, saw his stock rise dramatically before struggling a bit toward the tail end of the season.
If Catricala and Macdonald were to forgo their senior seasons, the Rainbows would lose two of the four most prolific single-season home run hitters in school history.
That'd leave much of the weight in the middle of the lineup on returning sophomore Kolten Wong, who was named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Baseball team yesterday.
Wong, who was named Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year after hitting .424 in league play, hit .341 for the season with 21 doubles, 11 homers, 46 runs, 52 RBIs and 11 stolen bases.
“;I'm still in shock,”; said Wong, who was told of the award by Catricala yesterday. “;Just to find out a guy from Hilo can do this kind of stuff is amazing. I never thought about it and here I am.”;
Wong said he's prepared to play outfield, second base or even catcher next season as the Rainbows figure out how to replace seniors Landon Hernandez and Ryan Morford.
Incoming freshmen Breland Almadova, the Gatorade state player of the year from 'Iolani; Pi'ikea Kitamura of Kamehameha and Trent Allianic of Kauai will give UH some options. Kitamura and Almadova could be drafted as could Bellevue (Wash.) Community College signee Kirk Wetmore, a left-handed pitcher.
If Almadova and Kitamura find themselves in the same situation Wong was in last year after being picked in the 16th round by the Minnesota Twins, Wong's advice is simple.
“;Remember it's something that will change your life,”; he said. “;If they get drafted high then I'd tell them to go, but if not then I'd really think about it. Don't settle for something less.”;
Two other junior college transfers coming in next season are pitchers Randy Yard of Central Arizona and Nick Struck from Mt. Hood Community College in Oregon.
Final 2009 UH Baseball Statistics
| Batting | ||||||||||||||
| Player | Avg | GP-GS | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SLG | BB | SO | OBP | SB |
| Josh Chevalier | .357 | 12-2 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .500 | 5 | 3 | .526 | 0 |
| Vinnie Catricala | .349 | 58-58 | 218 | 51 | 76 | 13 | 1 | 13 | 44 | .596 | 36 | 43 | .447 | 3 |
| Kolten Wong | .341 | 58-58 | 226 | 46 | 77 | 21 | 2 | 11 | 52 | .597 | 25 | 23 | .418 | 11 |
| *Ryan Morford | .305 | 50-47 | 167 | 36 | 51 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 22 | .449 | 23 | 19 | .392 | 2 |
| Sean Montplaisir | .291 | 46-42 | 151 | 30 | 44 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 26 | .510 | 18 | 27 | .385 | 2 |
| Matt Roquemore | .281 | 40-39 | 128 | 16 | 36 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 12 | .352 | 11 | 24 | .357 | 4 |
| Kevin Macdonald | .271 | 58-58 | 221 | 44 | 60 | 12 | 0 | 14 | 60 | .516 | 24 | 52 | .352 | 0 |
| Greg Garcia | .265 | 58-58 | 226 | 46 | 60 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 23 | .385 | 30 | 40 | .359 | 6 |
| *Landon Hernandez | .265 | 45-44 | 151 | 21 | 38 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 22 | .417 | 20 | 29 | .361 | 2 |
| Alex Myers | .250 | 4-0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | 0 | 1 | .250 | 0 |
| Jeff Van Doornum | .228 | 43-41 | 149 | 18 | 34 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 16 | .315 | 12 | 40 | .293 | 6 |
| Kevin Fujii | .220 | 21-17 | 59 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | .237 | 3 | 12 | .270 | 1 |
| Christian Johnson | .214 | 42-35 | 131 | 18 | 28 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 23 | .412 | 16 | 41 | .304 | 1 |
| *Shane Hoey | .197 | 28-19 | 71 | 8 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | .268 | 8 | 18 | .301 | 0 |
| Easton Torigoe | .133 | 10-3 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .133 | 2 | 7 | .316 | 0 |
| Chase Koissian | .000 | 6-1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 4 | .143 | 0 |
| Jesse Moore | .000 | 1-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 0 |
| Totals | .278 | 58-58 | 1,938 | 346 | 539 | 115 | 12 | 64 | 318 | .449 | 234 | 384 | .367 | 38 |
| Opponents | .310 | 58-58 | 2,038 | 376 | 632 | 125 | 21 | 54 | 350 | .472 | 177 | 351 | .373 | 45
|
| Pitching | ||||||||||||||
| Player | ERA | W-L | G-GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ||||
| *Jayson Kramer | 3.47 | 5-4 | 15-14 | 1 | 93 1/3 | 98 | 46 | 36 | 22 | 45 | ||||
| Sam Spangler | 4.17 | 5-3 | 19-0 | 4 | 45 1/3 | 49 | 24 | 21 | 14 | 48 | ||||
| Matt Sisto | 4.37 | 5-4 | 14-13 | 0 | 82 1/2 | 104 | 48 | 40 | 14 | 50 | ||||
| Jesse Moore | 4.88 | 0-1 | 12-0 | 0 | 24 | 26 | 16 | 13 | 15 | 17 | ||||
| Nate Klein | 5.10 | 3-4 | 11-10 | 0 | 60 | 69 | 38 | 34 | 13 | 47 | ||||
| Connor Little | 6.49 | 3-0 | 15-5 | 0 | 34 2/3 | 42 | 26 | 25 | 19 | 27 | ||||
| *Jared Alexander | 7.26 | 3-3 | 14-12 | 0 | 53 1/3 | 85 | 48 | 43 | 12 | 32 | ||||
| Harrison Kuroda | 7.98 | 4-1 | 15-1 | 0 | 29 1/3 | 40 | 27 | 26 | 6 | 13 | ||||
| Josh Slaats | 8.33 | 2-2 | 18-0 | 4 | 27 | 29 | 26 | 25 | 17 | 30 | ||||
| Lenny Linsky | 8.47 | 1-1 | 12-0 | 1 | 17 | 22 | 21 | 16 | 14 | 15 | ||||
| Ryan Davis | 9.31 | 0-0 | 10-0 | 0 | 19 1/3 | 32 | 25 | 20 | 16 | 11 | ||||
| Alex Capaul | 9.86 | 1-3 | 9-3 | 0 | 21 | 29 | 24 | 23 | 12 | 15 | ||||
| Alex Myers | 18.90 | 0-0 | 4-0 | 0 | 3 1/3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| Totals | 5.74 | 32-26 | 58-58 | 10 | 510 | 632 | 376 | 325 | 177 | 351 | ||||
| Opponents | 5.50 | 26-32 | 58-58 | 9 | 500 2/3 | 539 | 346 | 306 | 234 | 384 |
Complete games: Hawaii 3 (Sisto 2, Kramer 1), Opponents 2
*—senior
