Meet the JetHawks

The 25 members of the JetHawks come from all over the Western Hemisphere and range in age from 21 to 26. Some will struggle to get by on their $1,200-a-month salary, while others have six-figure bonuses in the bank. The only common denominator: They are all trying to get to the major leagues.

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Dave Brundage #45

Manager

Age: 31

Brundage was slated to manage in the rookie-level Arizona League last season before a last-minute organizational shake-up resulted in his getting the job at Riverside.

As the youngest manager in organized baseball, Brundage led the Pilots to a 72-67 record and a spot in the California League playoffs, where they lost in the first round.

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Juan Eichelberger #39

Pitching Coach

Age: 42

Eichelberger, a former major league pitcher with the San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves, is in his third season as a pitching instructor in the Mariners’ organization.

At Appleton in 1994, his pitching staff had a 3.79 earned-run average, fifth-best in the 14-team Midwest League. Last season at Riverside, Eichelberger’s staff had a 4.53 ERA, eighth-best among 10 teams.

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Delwyn Young #11

Hitting Coach

Age: 32

Young, who resides in Palmdale, played at Belmont High before starting an 11-year professional career in which he rose as high as triple A. He is in his third season as a coach in the Mariners’ organization.

In 1994, as a player-coach at Appleton, he had 11 hits in 36 at-bats. Young was the full-time hitting coach last season at Riverside. The Pilots batted .274 and had league triple-crown candidate Raul Ibanez, who batted .332 with 20 home runs and 108 runs batted in.

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Andy Augustine #14

Position: Catcher

Age: 23

Augustine, a former high school baseball and hockey standout in Wisconsin, was a 29th-round draft pick out of Triton College in River Grove, Ill. in 1993.

The Mariners like Augustine because of his defense and clubhouse presence. In 1994, he played at Bellingham and hit .225 in 49 games. Last season as the backup at Wisconsin, he hit .171 in 56 games.

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Chris Beck #41

Position: RHP

Age: 23

A former standout pitcher at The Master’s, Beck is the only JetHawk who played in the Valley region. He led the NAIA District 3 with 143 strikeouts in 98 innings in 1994, and was drafted in the seventh round by the Mariners.

In two pro seasons, Beck has split time between starting and the bullpen. Last season at Class-A Wisconsin, he was 12-8 with a 3.88 ERA. He pitched shutouts in his only two complete games.

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Shawn Buhner #19

Position: 1B

Age: 23

Buhner, the younger brother of the Mariners’ right fielder, Jay Buhner, was drafted in the 29th round out of Lewis-Clark (Ida.) State in 1994.

In his first pro season, he hit .288 with four home runs and 19 RBIs at Bellingham. Last season at Wisconsin, he hit .240 with two home runs and 36 RBIs in 87 games.

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James Clifford #40

Position: 1B

Age: 26

Clifford, a 24th-round pick in 1992, played four years of football and one of baseball at Washington. A former linebacker, Clifford (6 feet 2, 225 pounds) led the Pacific 10 in tackles in 1989.

His best pro season was 1993 at Bellingham, where he hit .269 with nine homers and 40 RBIs in 62 games. Clifford spent the past two seasons at Wisconsin, hitting .240 and .244, with 10 home runs each season.

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Ken Cloude #29

Position: RHP

Age: 21

Cloude, the Baltimore Sun high school player of the year his senior year at McDonough High in Baltimore, turned down a full scholarship to the University of Richmond to sign with the Mariners, who took him in the sixth round of the 1993 draft.

Perhaps the ace of the JetHawks, Cloude is a combined 12-12 with a 2.95 ERA in his two pro seasons. In 213 1/3 innings, he’s given up 173 hits.

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Jason Cook #7

Position: 2B

Age: 24

Cook, a former all-state player in high school in Virginia, was drafted out of the University of Virginia in the 55th round of the 1993 draft.

In his first summer of pro ball, at Peoria, he finished fourth in the Arizona League with a .319 average. After an injury-shortened 1994, he hit .269 with 64 RBIs at Wisconsin last season.

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Jose Cruz Jr. #21

Position: OF

Age: 21

The son of the former Houston Astro star, Cruz is considered the top prospect in the Seattle Mariner farm system because of his speed and power. After a stellar three-year career at Rice University, he was taken with the third pick in the draft last June and signed for $1.25 million.

Cruz began his pro career last summer with three games in Everett. He was then promoted to Riverside, where he hit .257 with seven home runs and 29 RBIs in 35 games.

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John Daniels #32

Position: RHP

Age: 22

A Covina High graduate, Daniels played two seasons at Mt. San Antonio College before the Mariners picked him in the 16th round of the 1993 draft.

Daniels has been a relief pitcher for much of his three-year pro career. Last season at Wisconsin he was 4-5 with a 2.66 ERA and seven saves. He allowed 63 hits in 74 1/3 innings.

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Brett Hinchliffe #22

Position: RHP

Age: 21

A 6-foot-5 power pitcher, Hinchliffe was an all-state selection at Bishop Gallagher High in Detroit before the Mariners took him in the 16th round of the 1992 draft.

The best of his four pro seasons was 1994, when he went 11-7 with a 3.21 ERA at Class-A Wisconsin. Last season at Riverside he was 3-8 with a 6.61 ERA and gave up 110 hits in 77 2/3 innings.

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Mike Lanza #3

Position: IF

Age: 22

Lanza, from Port Chester, N.Y., was signed by the Mariners as a free agent in September 1993 after playing at Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y.

In 1994 he played at Bellingham and led all Northwest League shortstops with a .931 fielding percentage and 27 double plays while hitting .274. Last season at Wisconsin he hit .204 in 101 games.

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Jesus Marquez #35

Position: OF

Age: 23

Marquez was signed by the Mariners at age 17 out of Caracas, Venezuela. He then spent two seasons playing for the Mariners’ Dominican Summer League team.

Marquez has played at three levels of the Mariner system in his four seasons. He had consistently hit between .270 and .310 until last season, when he slipped to .237 in a full season at Riverside.

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Luis Molina #8

Position: SS

Age: 22

Born in Nicaragua, Molina was signed as a free agent at age 18 in 1992. He is a solid defensive player who earned a promotion to Lancaster because of improved hitting.

The best of his three pro seasons was 1995, when he split time between second base and shortstop at Wisconsin and hit .255 with 42 RBIs. He hit the first three home runs of his career last season.

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Shane Monahan #25

Position: OF

Age: 21

Monahan, who played at Clemson, was the Most Valuable Player of the Atlantic Coast Conference last season, when he hit .394 and led his team to the College World Series.

The Mariners picked Monahan in the second round and signed him for $315,000. In his pro debut last summer at Wisconsin, he hit .283 with six triples in 59 games.

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Ivan Montane #18

Position: RHP

Age: 22

Montane, born in Puerto Rico, played high school and junior college baseball in Florida. He was picked by the Mariners in the ninth round of the 1992 draft.

He has consistently posted high strikeout numbers throughout his four-year pro career, including a 15-strikeout game in 1994 at Appleton, Wis. Last year at Riverside, he was 5-5 with a 5.63 ERA, splitting his time between the starting rotation and the bullpen.

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Tom Niemeier #6

Position: LHP

Age: 23

Niemeier, 6-1 and only 165 pounds, pitched at the University ofSouthern Indiana before the Mariners took him in the 36th round of the draft last summer.

Niemeier made 15 starts last season at Class-A Everett, where he was 4-3 with a 2.81 ERA, fourth best in the Northwest League. He struck out 80 and walked only 26.

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Jeff Pearce #36

Position: LHP

Age: 26

A former outfielder, Pearce was a sixth-round pick by the San Diego Padres out of Pepperdine in 1990. After four seasons he was released and went to the independent Northern League, where he became a pitcher. The Mariners signed him as a free agent in February 1995.

In his only season in the organization, Pearce had a 7.03 ERA in 24 1/3 innings, mostly against left-handed hitters.

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Mariano Santana #27

Position: RHP

Age: 23

Santana was signed as a 17-year old in the Dominican Republic. He spent three seasons in the Mariners’ Dominican Summer League program before being assigned to rookie-level Bellingham in 1993.

A reliever in his first season, Santana has exclusively started for the past three years. In those years, spent at Class-A or lower, he has averaged 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings.

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Scott Sealy #16

Position: C

Age: 25

Sealy was drafted out of South Alabama by the Texas Rangers and played in their system for just one full season before suffering an injured rotator cuff in 1993.

He was released by the Rangers before the 1994 season and did not resurface until the Mariners signed him last spring. He spent last season at Riverside, where he hit .243 in 58 games.

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Marcus Sturdivant #1

Position: OF

Age: 22

Sturdivant was taken in the 28th round of the 1992 draft after playing at West Stanley High in North Carolina.

Known for his speed, Sturdivant has stolen 51 bases and had 12 triples in two seasons in full-season leagues. Last year at Riverside he hit .274 with five triples and 31 stolen bases.

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Tom Szimanski #47

Position: RHP

Age: 23

Szimanski was an All-American in 1994, when he led Florida Southern to the Division II World Series. The Mariners selected Szimanski in the fifth round of the 1994 draft.

A strained right elbow has limited Szimanski to just 48 2/3 innings in parts of two seasons. Last season at Everett, Wash., he struck out 32 in 21 1/3 innings.

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John Thompson #44

Position: RHP

Age: 23

Thompson was taken in the 45th round of the 1991 draft as a high school shortstop. After he became an all-state pitcher at Scottsdale (Ariz.) College in 1992, the Mariners signed him as a pitcher.

He has bounced between starting and relieving during his four-year pro career. Pitching mostly out of the bullpen last season at Wisconsin, he recorded 19 saves and struck out an average of a batter an inning.

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Tim Trawick #49

Position: RHP

Age: 24

Trawick, who played at Columbus (Ga.) College, was not drafted, but the Mariners signed him as a free agent last May, then sent him to Everett for the summer.

He posted impressive numbers in his only season of pro ball, going 6-2 with a 3.14 ERA. He allowed only 66 hits in 86 innings and threw three complete games, including a shutout.

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Carlos Villalobos #23

Position: 3B

Age: 23

Born in Colombia, Villalobos was signed as a free agent and played for the Mariners’ team in the Dominican Summer League in 1993.

In 1994 at Peoria, he hit .291 and was selected to the Arizona League all-star team. He was also chosen the fourth-best prospect in the league by Baseball America. Last season at Wisconsin he hit .260 with nine home runs and 53 RBIs.

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Dusty Wathan #33

Position: Catcher

Age: 22

Wathan, whose father John was a major league catcher and manager, played at Cerritos College but was not drafted. The Mariners signed him as a free agent in June 1994.

Wathan (6-4, 215 pounds) hit .209 in at rookie-level Peoria in 1994, but threw out 44% of runners attempting to steal. His batting average improved to .271 last summer at Class-A Everett.

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Rob Worley #31

Position: RHP

Age: 25

Worley, a 20th-round pick out of Ohio State in 1992, started last season at double-A Port City, but he was sent down to Riverside after going 1-7 with a 4.58 ERA.

Exclusively a relief pitcher for most of his professional career, Worley’s final five appearances in double A and all 11 in Riverside were starts.