Jacob Cruz

Jacob Cruz, an All-American outfielder from Arizona State and Channel Islands High, was the first area player selected Thursday in the major league baseball amateur draft. Cruz, a junior, was selected by the San Francisco Giants with the 32nd pick in the draft, which fell in the supplemental portion of the first round. Teams are given supplemental first-round picks as compensation when they lose free agents to other clubs.

He isn't dominant, like Pedro Martinez. He doesn't have a cool nickname, like "Big Unit." He doesn't use his radio show to rip an injured teammate, like David Wells. Dave Burba doesn't have a radio show. On a star-studded Indian team that features Roberto Alomar, Juan Gonzalez, Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel, Burba might not even be a preferred guest on a Cleveland radio show. Burba just wins. He won again Friday, stopping the Angels on one earned run over seven innings of the Indians' 7-2 victory before 39,177 at Edison Field.

It's time to get serious, Jacob Cruz said while yawning away an October morning. He is staying at his sister's house in until heading off to Maracaibo, Venezuela, in two weeks for his first taste of winter league. "This is a good vacation, but it doesn't last long," Cruz said. "A lot will be decided this winter. I still need to step it up."

John Halama's game plan was simple--throw strikes and curveballs to the Cleveland Indians. The rookie stuck to it, and down went the Indians. Halama took a shutout into the eighth inning and Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 25th homer Friday night as the Seattle Mariners ended Cleveland's six-game winning streak with a 9-4 victory.

To many high school baseball players, a .375 batting average is a sign of a successful season. To Jacob Cruz, it is a slump with a capital S. Cruz, a senior center fielder at Channel Islands High, is considered one of the top high school outfielders in the nation. That .375 average just had to go. Cruz, who batted .494 last season, was as due as last month's electricity bill. "He's just too good a player to stay down," Channel Islands Coach Don Cardinal said.

John Halama's game plan was simple--throw strikes and curveballs to the Cleveland Indians. The rookie stuck to it, and down went the Indians. Halama took a shutout into the eighth inning and Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 25th homer Friday night as the Seattle Mariners ended Cleveland's six-game winning streak with a 9-4 victory.

Jacob Cruz, the first area player selected in the baseball draft last month, signed Tuesday night with the San Francisco Giants for a bonus of $300,000, he said. Cruz, a supplemental first-round pick out of Arizona State, said it was a not a hard decision to forgo his senior year with the Sun Devils to play professional baseball. "(Playing professional baseball) is basically what I went to Arizona State to do," said Cruz, a graduate of Channel Islands High. "It's a steppingstone.

He isn't dominant, like Pedro Martinez. He doesn't have a cool nickname, like "Big Unit." He doesn't use his radio show to rip an injured teammate, like David Wells. Dave Burba doesn't have a radio show. On a star-studded Indian team that features Roberto Alomar, Juan Gonzalez, Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel, Burba might not even be a preferred guest on a Cleveland radio show. Burba just wins. He won again Friday, stopping the Angels on one earned run over seven innings of the Indians' 7-2 victory before 39,177 at Edison Field.

The scouts see Arizona State center fielder Jacob Cruz swing a bat and they compare him to Toronto Blue Jay first baseman John Olerud, who batted .400 or better for a majority of the 1993 season. Maybe that's because Cruz's swing is elegant, like Olerud's. Or maybe it's because the Channel Islands High graduate is batting .407 heading into a three-game series against UCLA that starts tonight.

Maybe it's called a cup of coffee because the lift is like a jolt of espresso. Making the big leagues, even for a short time, is unforgettable. In the case of Jacob Cruz, keep the coffee pot on the warmer because he vows to be back with the San Francisco Giants after a 19-day stay that ended last Sunday. The outfielder from Channel Islands High and Arizona State hit two home runs and batted .

Jacob Cruz crouches in the batting cage on a spring morning, driving away the blues brought on by the San Francisco Giants having dispatched him to the Phoenix Firebirds. Depression can almost leave an odor. Cruz takes another swing and catches a whiff of glum Chris Young walking behind the cage stabbing trash and shoving it into a plastic bag. "What's wrong?" Cruz asks. Says Young: "What's it look like? I'm picking up trash." "So you're doing what you have to do," Cruz says.

It would have been understandable had Derek Wallace lost his confidence after the right-handed pitcher began a stint with his third organization and had a 5.01 minor league earned-run average. But Wallace looked at his July 1995 trade to the New York Mets as "another chance to get to the big leagues," and he finally made good in 1996. Wallace, a graduate of Chatsworth High who pitched at Pepperdine, had his finest season since he was a Chicago Cubs' first-round pick in 1992.

Maybe it's called a cup of coffee because the lift is like a jolt of espresso. Making the big leagues, even for a short time, is unforgettable. In the case of Jacob Cruz, keep the coffee pot on the warmer because he vows to be back with the San Francisco Giants after a 19-day stay that ended last Sunday. The outfielder from Channel Islands High and Arizona State hit two home runs and batted .

Jacob Cruz, the first area player selected in the baseball draft last month, signed Tuesday night with the San Francisco Giants for a bonus of $300,000, he said. Cruz, a supplemental first-round pick out of Arizona State, said it was a not a hard decision to forgo his senior year with the Sun Devils to play professional baseball. "(Playing professional baseball) is basically what I went to Arizona State to do," said Cruz, a graduate of Channel Islands High. "It's a steppingstone.

Jacob Cruz, an All-American outfielder from Arizona State and Channel Islands High, was the first area player selected Thursday in the major league baseball amateur draft. Cruz, a junior, was selected by the San Francisco Giants with the 32nd pick in the draft, which fell in the supplemental portion of the first round. Teams are given supplemental first-round picks as compensation when they lose free agents to other clubs.

The scouts see Arizona State center fielder Jacob Cruz swing a bat and they compare him to Toronto Blue Jay first baseman John Olerud, who batted .400 or better for a majority of the 1993 season. Maybe that's because Cruz's swing is elegant, like Olerud's. Or maybe it's because the Channel Islands High graduate is batting .407 heading into a three-game series against UCLA that starts tonight.

Jacob Cruz crouches in the batting cage on a spring morning, driving away the blues brought on by the San Francisco Giants having dispatched him to the Phoenix Firebirds. Depression can almost leave an odor. Cruz takes another swing and catches a whiff of glum Chris Young walking behind the cage stabbing trash and shoving it into a plastic bag. "What's wrong?" Cruz asks. Says Young: "What's it look like? I'm picking up trash." "So you're doing what you have to do," Cruz says.