Backs Against the Wall The Roosting Place

If there were outfield bleachers at Lancaster Municipal Stadium, that would be the place to sit.

With the desert winds that blow toward the fences, the outfield is probably the best place to get a souvenir baseball.

It also happens to be where you can get a good look at the top prospects on the JetHawks’ roster.

When the JetHawks begin their season-opening 12-game road trip with a game tonight at 7:15 against the Bakersfield Blaze, Lancaster’s outfield will include Jose Cruz Jr. and Shane Monahan, the Seattle Mariners’ top two picks in last summer’s draft.

Cruz, son of the former Houston Astro star, was the third pick in the draft after a stellar three-year career at Rice. Monahan, the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year last spring at Clemson, was selected in the second round. They were both finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, college baseball’s version of the Heisman Trophy.

After signing with the Mariners for a $1.25 million bonus, Cruz hit seven home runs and drove in 31 runs in 38 Class-A games at Riverside. Monahan hit .283 and knocked in 32 runs in 59 games at Wisconsin, also in Class A.

Cruz and Monahan will be joined in the outfield by Marcus Sturdivant, one of the fastest players in the organization.

Each will get a chance to play the three outfield positions, though Cruz may play more in left field because that’s where the Mariners would like him to play in Seattle--next to Ken Griffey Jr. and Jay Buhner.

“We’ve got a lot of speed out there, and by the looks of it, we are going to need it,” said JetHawk Manager Dave Brundage, noting the effect of the blustery wind at the team’s first workout in Lancaster on Tuesday.

The JetHawks, the top Class-A affiliate of the Mariners, are mostly players up from Seattle’s lower Class-A team in Appleton, Wis., though eight of the 25 played at least a portion of last season in the Cal League. Most have played between two and four seasons of pro baseball and are between the ages of 21 and 25.

Brundage, who managed the team in Riverside last season, when they were known as the Pilots, says that this year’s club has good defense, experienced starting pitching and speedy contact hitters who hope to take advantage of the wind to get the ball over the fence.

The weakness, as it is with most minor league teams, is consistency.

Everyone looks great. Sometimes.

Sturdivant, Monahan and Cruz, in that order, should be at the top of the batting order. Shawn Buhner--Jay’s younger brother--and James Clifford will platoon, playing first base and batting cleanup.

Filling out the infield and batting in the bottom half of the order will be third baseman Carlos Villalobos, shortstop Luis Molina and second baseman Jason Cook.

All of the infielders played last season at Wisconsin, with Villalobos posting the best overall offensive numbers--.260, nine home runs, 53 runs batted in. Cook hit .269 with five homers and 44 RBIs. Clifford hit a team-high 10 home runs.

The catchers are Scott Sealy, who played at Riverside last year, and Dusty Wathan, up from short-season Class-A Everett, Wash. Both are solid receivers who need to work on their hitting.

They will handle a starting rotation that includes four pitchers back from last year’s team.

“At first I wasn’t real excited about [the rotation], because some of the guys lacked consistency,” Brundage said. “But this year will be different because they will be in different roles. Last year they were the new guys. You hope with a year of maturity they can get over the hump.”

Ivan Montane, a hard-throwing right-hander, will start tonight’s game. Montane has had flashes of brilliance with rough spots in between. While pitching for Riverside last season, he struck out the first eight batters of a game against San Bernardino but couldn’t get the next out and was pulled in the third inning. He finished 5-5 with a 5.63 earned-run average.

“With his stuff he could pitch in the big leagues right now,” Brundage said of Montane. “His weakness is his command. But he has matured and had a good spring.”

Right-hander Marino Santana has averaged more than a strikeout an inning during his three-season minor league career because of an array of above-average breaking pitches.

Ken Cloude, another right-handed power pitcher, is the only starter who did not pitch at Riverside. He was 9-8 with a 3.24 ERA at Wisconsin, allowing only 137 hits in 161 innings. If the rotation holds up, Cloude will pitch the JetHawks’ home opener on April 16.

Right-hander Robert Worley, a sinkerball pitcher, started last season at double A, but was demoted to Riverside after the Mariners decided to move him from the bullpen to the starting rotation.

Brett Hinchliffe, another right-hander, will go fifth in the rotation because he had an elbow problem during spring training. Hinchliffe was 11-7 with a 3.21 ERA in 1994 at Appleton but struggled last season in Riverside, going 3-8 with a 6.61 ERA.

None of the seven relief pitchers have worked in the Cal League, but all will get plenty of opportunities because the Mariners have a system-wide 100-pitch limit on their starters for the first few months of the season.

The closers will be John Thompson, who last season led Wisconsin with 19 saves and Tom Szimanski, who had 32 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings at Everett. Both are right-handers.