Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 6, 1993 TAG: 9306060126
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Therefore, Salem Buccaneers pitcher Esteban Loaiza was startled when his manager, Scott Little, told him that he had an airplane ticket for him as the team was loading the bus for a trip to Durham, N.C.
Loaiza knew he wasn't being designated for special transport; no way was he going to fly to North Carolina when the rest of his landlocked teammates were bumping along below on the bus. "What's up here?" he wondered.
"You're going back to Mexico City," Little told him. "Your old team there, the Red Devils, say they need you to try to help them win the first-half Mexican League pennant. You're out of here today."
Loaiza was stunned. Although he did start his pro career with the Red Devils, he was under contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates through a cooperative arrangement with the Mexican team. Several players from Mexico were playing in the Pirates' organization in return for a like number of older American players who would beef up the Mexican team. The Pirates paid the salaries of the Mexican players and those they had sent in return.
Now Mexico City owner Roberto Mansur Galan said he wanted Loaiza back.
"It worried me a lot," Loaiza said. "I wondered if the owners had gotten into an argument. I didn't want to go because I was afraid I wouldn't be coming back. What could I do, though? I had to do what I was told."
Galan had gone straight to the top of the Pirates' organization to get what he wanted. General manager Ted Simmons authorized sending Loaiza, Class AAA Buffalo shortstop Jose Sandoval and Augusta right-hander Francisco Garcia-Luna back to the Red Devils.
Simmons maintained the attitude of a friendly guy who just wanted to help out in a pinch. But you have to wonder how he and other Pirates officials really felt.
These three Mexicans, after all, were prospects, under contract to Pittsburgh. The loss of the three obviously caused short-term distress to their teams.
Make no mistake, Loaiza is a prospect.
"A guy like that who throws with such an easy motion and has a 93- to 94-mph fastball, yeah, I'd say he's a prospect," Salem pitching coach Dave Rajsich said dryly.
Loaiza, who grew up in the San Diego area and played amateur baseball on both sides of the Mexican border, is a converted catcher/infielder. His brother Sabino, a right-hander in the Mexican League, and his father, Luis, are pitchers. At age 42, Luis still plays amateur ball.
"He's good," Loaiza said of his father. "He still has a good arm. He has taught me a lot."
Still, the younger Loaiza had little enthusiasm for pitching until Mexico City scouts convinced him his future was on the mound.
Loaiza went into Saturday night's doubleheader against Frederick with a 3-2 record and a 3.79 earned run average for Salem. He has been one of the Bucs' most consistent pitchers.
"He throws loose, he throws hard and his future is up to him," Little said.
Loaiza returned to Salem on May 26 after being gone for 19 days. He went 1-1 in two starts in Mexico, he said.
Loaiza suspects he may be headed back to Mexico City if the Devils prove to be second-half contenders. The playoffs start in August. He's game - to a point.
"If the Pirates say I can go, I go," he said. "If they say no, I don't."
\ NAME-DROPPING: Good fortune nestles around the shoulders of some like an ermine-trimmed royal cloak. Lew Kent is one.
Kent is the assistant baseball coach at Radford University. He and his boss, Scott Gines, are doing a creditable job there, as evidenced by the Highlanders' unexpected berth in the final of the Big South Conference Tournament this year.
But Kent's coaching accomplishments aren't the story here. It's the people he played baseball with before he ever went into coaching.
Kent hails from Tucson, Ariz., where he attended Sahuaro High School and was the catcher on the baseball team. His teammates - this is a high school team, mind you - included future major-leaguers Tom Wiedenbauer, an outfielder (Houston Astros); right-handed pitcher John Butcher (Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins); shortstop Sammy Khalifa (Pittsburgh); and outfielder Jim Olander (Colorado).
That list doesn't even include a second baseman by the name of Rodney Peete, who went on to play football for Southern Cal and the NFL's Detroit Lions, and Lew's brother, Wes, the Chicago White Sox's second pick in the 1980 draft.
"[Late White Sox owner] Bill Veeck came to my house and signed him," Lew Kent said. "The scout was Jerry Krause, the Chicago Bulls' vice president."
Wes Kent got hurt and never reached the big leagues.
Five other players from that high school during that time were drafted at one point or another but never made it to the majors.
Lew Kent was one. He was taken in the 32nd round by the Cleveland Indians. He spent several years in that organization, and one of his teammates was major-league home run and RBI leader Albert Belle. A former manager was current Tribe boss Mike Hargrove.
The high school team won the Arizona state championship when Kent was a senior.
In college, he played for Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. Among his teammates were Brad Moore, who went on to play for the Philadelphia Phillies, and Kevin Wickander, traded recently from the Indians to the Cincinnati Reds. Grand Canyon won the 1986 NAIA title.
Kent also played at Arizona State. On the Sun Devils' roster were outfielders Oddibe McDowell (Texas, Cleveland, Atlanta) and Mike Devereaux (Los Angeles, Baltimore), as well as first baseman Luis Medina (Cleveland).
Arizona State finished third in the 1983 College World Series. Kent's pinch hit broke up an Alabama no-hit bid in that Series.
Another note about Kent: As a freshman, he would occasionally pinch hit for a fellow freshman against left-handed pitching.
The freshman? Barry Bonds.
\ SHORT HOPS: Randy Lawrence, the former Ferrum College right-hander and Timesland player of the year from Christiansburg was sent back from Fort Lauderdale (New York Yankees) of the Florida State League to extended spring training in Fort Myers in mid-May. He gave up 27 hits and 22 runs in eight innings at Fort Lauderdale. . . . Al Shirley, the former No. 1 draft choice of the Mets out of Danville, endured an 0-for-31 slump with 20 strikeouts for Capital City of the South Atlantic League. When he broke out of it, he was 12-for-99 (.121) for the year.
by CNB