PRO BASEBALL / JEFF FLETCHER : Hughes Catches Major Scare Before Being Assigned to Minors

Happy birthday, Bobby Hughes.

Hughes, a catcher in the Milwaukee Brewer organization, celebrated his 23rd birthday last Thursday with one of the most frightening experiences of his life.

He nearly died.

After catching all nine innings in an exhibition game against the Seattle Mariners that day, Hughes passed out in his hotel room because of heat exhaustion. His temperature rose to 103 degrees and he was paralyzed for about 30 minutes, he said.

Hughes, a graduate of Notre Dame High, figured that if his roommate, Jeff Cirillo, had not been in the room when he passed out, he wouldn’t have gotten help for hours, and he might have died.

“It was really scary,” Hughes said. “You think you are getting enough fluids during the day, and when it ends up that you haven’t, you don’t realize it until something severe like that happens.”

Hughes said he felt fine throughout the game, but was a little sore afterward, so he got into a Jacuzzi. When he returned to his hotel room, he felt steadily weaker, so he canceled plans to go out and celebrate his birthday with teammates.

When he tried to leave his bed and head for the bathroom, he passed out before he got there. He said he was unconscious for about five minutes and paralyzed for about 30.

“When I came to, I had no idea how I ended up in the spot that I was,” Hughes said. “I was in a weird position in the corner. I was lucky I didn’t hit my head on anything.”

Cirillo called for the team trainer, who called for paramedics. At first, paramedics feared Hughes might have suffered an aneurysm in his brain. Hughes was taken to the hospital, where he underwent a CAT scan, which proved negative. His condition was diagnosed as severe heat stroke, caused by a lack of fluids and worsened by his using the Jacuzzi.

He was released from the hospital at about 1 a.m. and spent the next day in bed, still feeling uneasy, but slowly recuperating. “Everything was still in slow motion,” he said.

By Sunday, he was back on the field, playing third base for the final three innings of the Brewers’ exhibition game.

Hughes was suffering no further effects of the heat stroke Tuesday. That was the good news. The bad news: He was sent down to the minor league camp that day.

*

Better Brewer: Hughes’ roommate, Cirillo, was faring much better on the field. A Providence High graduate, Cirillo played almost every day for the first two weeks of exhibition games, replacing injured Kevin Seitzer at third base.

Seitzer has since returned from an injury, so Cirillo likely will soon return to minor league camp. “It’s exciting,” Cirillo said. “The novelty has sort of worn off as far as being in a big-league camp. Inevitably, I think I’m going to be sent down pretty soon. I’m just going to try to work to get back.”

He made an impression while he was up, though, batting .353 through his first 12 games. Cirillo, 24, batted .293 in 58 games at triple-A New Orleans and .341 in 67 games at double-A El Paso last season.

*

Soaring with the Angels: Left-hander Andrew Lorraine is another area player who stuck around in the major league camp through the first round of cuts.

“I’m real happy with the way things have turned out,” said Lorraine, a Hart High graduate. “I guess my expectations of myself have been rising every day.”

Lorraine was selected from Stanford in the fourth round of the draft last summer, and he finished the season pitching in Class-A Boise (Ida.), where he was 4-1 with a 1.29 earned-run average.

But he was invited to the Angels’ major league camp and has been impressive. He started an exhibition game against the Colorado Rockies last Saturday, giving up three runs in three innings.

“I didn’t feel like it was a bad outing, though,” Lorraine said. “I wasn’t intimidated by anything. I didn’t feel out of my league by any means.”

*

Still there: Matt Franco, a first base prospect in the Chicago Cub system, remained in the major league camp as of Friday. Franco, from Westlake High, had seven hits in 28 at-bats, including a homer.

Franco, 24, batted .316 with seven home runs in 68 games at double-A Orlando last season. He was named the ninth-best Cub prospect by Baseball America magazine.

Franco’s problem is Mark Grace, who is 29 and has been a fixture at first base for the Cubs since 1988.

*

Short hops: Seattle Mariner right-hander Roger Salkeld, 23, picked up his first spring training victory Wednesday against the Cubs, even though he gave up eight hits and four runs in three innings. Salkeld, a 1989 first-round pick from Saugus High, is expected to begin the season as the fifth starter. . . .

Craig Clayton was optioned to double-A Jacksonville on Monday. A former Cal State Northridge player, Clayton, 23, pitched in two exhibition games against Seattle, giving up one run in three innings. . . .

Infielder Dmitri Young, 20, was sent down to the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league camp Sunday. Young was a first-round pick from Rio Mesa High in 1991. . . .

Greg Zaun, 22, a catcher from St. Francis High, was optioned to the Baltimore Orioles’ triple-A team in Rochester on Wednesday. Zaun was two for two with the major league club. Chris Hoiles is the Baltimore starter and Jeff Tackett of Camarillo High and veteran Rich Gedman are battling for the backup role.