Juan’s Dawn

Juan Silvestre is running up the phone bill to the Dominican Republic.

“Every time I hit a home run I call home,” Silvestre said. “My family says I’m going to catch Sammy [Sosa].”

Silvestre, the left fielder and cleanup hitter for the Lancaster JetHawks, has a long way to go before reaching the level of his slugging countryman. But he is quickly moving in that direction.

Only a few games into the second half of the Class-A California League season, Silvestre leads the JetHawks with a .335 batting average and the league with 21 home runs and 86 runs batted in.

He had two run-scoring singles and was selected most valuable player of the Cal League’s all-star team in a 5-4 loss to the Carolina League in June.

Every ball he launches over the fence is exciting for Silvestre, powerfully built at 6 feet and 200 pounds.

“I love it when I hit a solid shot and I’m running the bases,” Silvestre said. “It’s pretty thrilling.”

Silvestre showed plenty of pop as a youngster in San Pedro de Macoris, a city on the island’s southeastern coast, about 40 miles east of Santo Domingo, and a baseball hotbed that has produced several major league players.

He was discovered at age 17 by a Dominican scout, who set up a tryout with the Seattle Mariners.

“I cleared the fence eight times and ran 60 yards in 6.8 [seconds],” Silvestre said. “They invited me to their complex in Santo Domingo. I signed with them about two weeks later.

“My mom went with me to sign the contract. Everybody was back home waiting for us to return. I came home wearing a new Seattle hat.”

Silvestre, 22, played at three levels in 1997, his first pro season. He batted .341 with seven home runs for the Mariners’ rookie team in the Arizona League, .315 in 14 games at Class-A Everett and .250 in eight games at triple-A Tacoma.

He spent 1998 and 1999 at Wisconsin of the Class-A Midwest League, batting .288 last year and leading the Timber Rattlers with 21 home runs and 107 RBIs. Then came the promotion to the JetHawks and the strong Cal League.

“He’s one of the strongest guys in the league,” JetHawk Manager Mark Parent said. “Now as we go around the league [in the second half], teams are going to bear down on Juan.”

Silvestre plans to bear down on pitchers just as much. His goal is to play in double A next season and continue to improve each year, with Seattle the ultimate destination. He’s focused and determined to join Sosa in the big leagues.

“Juan is always ready to go,” Parent said.

Especially from frosty Appleton, Wis., to scorching Lancaster. The warmer climate, and the large Latino population in Southern California, make Silvestre feel closer to home. Which is a welcome change, because adjusting to life in a foreign country hasn’t been easy.

Before signing with the Mariners, Silvestre had never wandered far from San Pedro de Macoris and his parents and five siblings. He relied on his mother, Ramona, for meals and clean clothes. Not anymore.

“I wanted to go home after one week [in the United States],” said Silvestre, whose English is improving but is far from fluent. “Good thing this team has a few players who speak Spanish.”

Good thing for those players--two Dominicans and one Nicaraguan--that Silvestre is on the team. The four live at the home of a Lancaster family and get to eat Dominican meals courtesy of Silvestre, who learned to cook out of necessity.

“He’s a pretty good cook,” shortstop Antonio Perez said. “I get tired of hamburgers. He makes good meat [dishes] with white rice.”

Silvestre won’t challenge Chef Emeril in the kitchen, but his home runs certainly are worthy of a “Bam!” Even at The Hangar in Lancaster, where the wind often blows out, batters have to hammer a ball at least 350 feet for a home run.

Funny thing is, Silvestre doesn’t consider himself a power hitter.

“I’m more of a contact hitter,” Silvestre said.

Good thing, or he could go broke with all those phone calls.