Mission’s Recruits No Secret : College baseball: Word gets out and scouts flock too see Cuban defectors play in 4-2 loss to Harbor.

Harbor College has one of the state’s best junior college baseball programs so professional scouts are no strangers to the Seahawks’ field.

On Wednesday, however, there was an unusual flock of scouts to watch Harbor play Mission in a semifinal game of the Harbor-El Camino tournament that was rained out earlier this month.

“Wow, look at all of them,” said Harbor public information officer Gary Wood as he entered the press box. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many.”

Apparently word got around that Mission has two new players, both recent defectors from Cuba and both former national team members in their native country.

The scouts watched closely and took notes but wouldn’t comment on 24-year-old Luis Alvarez and 23-year-old Osvaldo Fernandez. Alvarez is a powerful 6-foot-3, 220-pound left-hander who plays outfield and first base.

Fernandez is a 6-1, 190-pound left-handed pitcher. Most of the attention was focused on him since he made his American debut against Harbor. He went four innings and gave up four hits and two runs in Mission’s 4-2 loss. He struck out four and walked three.

Alvarez, who was the designated hitter on Wednesday, went one for three.

One scout, who asked that his name not be used, said both athletes have the tools to play major league baseball. He clocked Fernandez’s fastball at 84 m.p.h., considerably slower than most major league pitchers, but says that will improve with time.

“He has good potential and he has a great curveball,” the scout said. “But it’s obvious he hasn’t pitched competitively in a while. Luis is not in form either. Come back and watch them in four weeks and they’ll be completely different than they are now.”

Alvarez and Fernandez were inactive for more than six months while they defected from Cuba. The process began during a road trip to Curacao with their Cuban baseball team.

They never returned home after the game and hid in the Caribbean island for about four months before stowing away to Puerto Rico where they were granted political asylum.

Casa Cuba, a San Juan-based group of Cuban Exiles, paid for the athletes’ plane fare to Los Angeles, where they eventually joined other former Cuban national team members who had defected.

Alvarez and Fernandez share a house in Sylmar with five other Cuban baseball players. They enrolled at Mission because it’s close to their home and they needed a place to compete.

“They can help us out big-time,” Mission coach John Klitsner said. “They can step in and play a high caliber of ball. Luis is a powerful man and Osvaldo has some real good stuff.”

And what does a group of young athletes not far removed from high school think of these national-caliber players invading their team?

“Everyone is excited to have them,” said third baseman Rene Rodriguez, a Cuban-American. “I know these guys are studs and they are so confident and relaxed that it really helps the rest of us.”

Many of Mission’s players are Latino so Alvarez and Fernandez can communicate with most team members.

“It’s a good thing because English is really difficult,” Alvarez said, shaking his head. “But we have to learn it. We have no choice.”

Both men have the same goal, one which they claim many baseball players in their country dream of daily.

“We want to play in the big leagues,” Fernandez said. “That’s why we came here.”