Delahoya Strengthened by Rearmament

From the depths of the Mexican League, where once-promising baseball careers have been recycled and sometimes restored, pitcher Javier Delahoya has risen to rekindle his hopes.

“It’s been pretty good the way I’m going,” Delahoya said.

Delahoya, 29, is making his most-serious run at the major leagues with triple-A Rochester, the Baltimore Orioles’ affiliate in the International League.

It is his highest level of baseball since becoming the Dodgers’ fourth-round selection in the 1989 draft out of Grant High. He reached double-A ball four times, the last with Bowie of the Eastern League this season.

The road to Bowie, where Delahoya was 9-1 with a 3.36 earned-run average, and to Rochester, where he is 2-2 with a 5.74 ERA in nine games since being promoted on June 14, has been treacherous for the right-hander.

His mail has been delivered at some of the usual U.S. bush league outposts, and some not so common, such as Minatitlan, Mexico, and Weichuan, Taiwan.

It was at Minatitlan in 1996 that Delahoya’s career took a downward turn, when he blew out his right elbow and needed surgery. He sat out 1997 and signed with the Orioles as a free agent in August, 1998.

The elbow, although tired, has held up through the season and two brief appearances with the Mexican team at the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, Canada. Mexico finished fourth, losing to Canada, 9-2, in the game for the bronze medal on Aug. 2.

Delahoya, who was born in Durango, Mexico, and lives in Sun Valley, unexpectedly got the opportunity to play at the Games.

“At first, I wasn’t really interested in going,” Delahoya said. “I thought if I took time off [from Rochester] it wouldn’t be good for me. But the [Rochester] coaches gave me the OK.

“I had a lot of fun. We had a good team. We should have contended for the gold [medal].”

Delahoya is hoping he can contend for a spot with the Orioles when the rosters are expanded in September.

“If I have a good month this month, maybe I’ll get a call-up,” Delahoya said.

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Another longtime minor leaguer, infielder Steve Sisco, also is hoping to make the show next month with the Atlanta Braves.

Sisco, 29, is batting .314 with 13 home runs and 52 runs batted in for triple-A Richmond of the International League.

His average is 10th-best in the league and his 31 doubles lead Richmond, his eighth stop in a minor league career dating to 1992, when Sisco signed with the Kansas City Royals out of Cal State Fullerton.

Sisco, who played at Thousand Oaks High, signed with the Braves as a free agent after batting .280 with 20 home runs and 58 RBIs last year for Omaha, the Royals’ triple-A entry in the Pacific Coast League.

But Sisco didn’t see the probability of moving up with the Royals.

“I don’t think I was ever in their plans,” Sisco said recently. “I was a safety valve in case something happened.”

Getting to Atlanta won’t be easy, since the Braves have Bret Boone at second base and Chipper Jones at third, the two positions Sisco plays primarily.

But Sisco feels comfortable with his situation.

“I don’t know if I’ll get a September call-up with the Braves--I would have to be added to the 40-man roster--but the Braves wanted me to play my game,” he said. “I’ve been very happy.”

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Reliever Bryan Corey is riding a hot streak for the Toledo Mud Hens, the Detroit Tigers’ triple-A affiliate in the International League.

Corey, who played at Thousand Oaks and Pierce College, has a 0.60 earned-run average in his last 15 innings, allowing 15 hits and two runs and holding opponents to a .259 batting average.

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Outfielder Mike Glendenning is feeling right at home in the bayou.

Since being promoted on Aug. 2 from the San Jose Giants of the Class A California League to double-A Shreveport of the Texas League, the former Crespi and Pierce slugger is batting .323 with two home runs and six RBIs in 31 at-bats.

Glendenning led the California League in home runs with 23 until Thursday, when Chin-Feng Chen of San Bernardino hit his 24th.

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Look for left-hander Barry Zito to continue his meteoric rise through the minor leagues when he makes his double-A debut with Midland against Wichita in a Texas League game on Monday.

Zito was promoted after posting a 3-0 record with a 2.45 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 40 1/3 innings at Class A Visalia of the California League.

He was selected ninth overall by the Oakland Athletics in the June draft after a stellar junior season at USC after he transferred after one season each at Pierce and UC Santa Barbara.

Billy Beane, Oakland’s general manager, recently told the Oakland Tribune about a report filed by Curt Young, a former A’s left-hander who works with the club’s minor league pitchers.

“If [Zito] gets ahead of you in the count, you are done,” Young wrote.

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Short hops: Pitcher Derek Wallace (Chatsworth) was traded by the Mets to his former team, the Royals. . . . Second baseman Adam Kennedy (Cal State Northridge) is batting .327, seventh-best in the triple-A Pacific Coast League, for Memphis (Cardinals). . . . Outfielder Eric Gillespie (Northridge) is sixth in the double-A Southern League at .305 for Jacksonville (Tigers) and first baseman Rich Aude (Chatsworth) is 10th at .301 for Birmingham (White Sox). . . . Outfielder Terrmel Sledge (Northridge) is second at .363 for Everett (Mariners) in the Class A Northwest League.

Staff writer Mike Terry contributed to this notebook.