Oakland.Athletics.MLB.com

By Mychael Urban / MLB.com

The six-year minor league free agents signed by Oakland include second baseman/outfielder Jermaine Clark, a former standout at the University of San Francisco who played in the Cincinnati organization last year; outfielders Hiram Bocachica, Jack Cust and Shawn Garrett; and right-handed pitchers Evan Fahner, Jimmy Serrano and Billy Sylvester.

All seven players will be invited to big-league Spring Training.

The club has also announced that catchers John Baker and Jeremy Brown, right-handed pitcher Chris Mabeus and outfielder Jason Perry have been added to the organization's 40-man roster. Oakland now has 37 players on its 40-man roster.

Clark, 28, spent the majority of last season at Triple-A Louisville, where he batted .284 with 77 runs scored, 15 doubles, five triples and 10 home runs. He saw action in 33 games in centerfield, 30 in right, 15 in left and six at third base. Originally a fifth-round selection of the Seattle Mariners in the 1997 First-Year Player Draft, Clark has appeared in 162 big-league games with Detroit, Texas and San Diego. A native of Berkeley, Calif., Clark attended Wood High School and USF, where he was a three-time All-West Coast Conference selection.

Bocachica, 28, batted .244 (22-for-90) with three home runs and six RBIs in two separate stints with the Seattle Mariners last season, making 23 starts in center field and two in right. In 40 games at Triple-A Tacoma, he batted .287 with 10 homers and 25 RBIs. He has a career .222 average and 13 home runs in 222 Major League games with Los Angeles, Detroit and Seattle.

A former first-round draft pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1997, Cust, 25, spent the past two seasons in the Baltimore organization. He batted .235 with 15 doubles, one triple, 17 home runs and 55 RBIs in 102 games for Triple-A Ottawa last season and appeared in one game with the Orioles. Cust has played in 162 career big-league games with Arizona, Colorado and Baltimore, playing in a career-high 35 games for the Rockies in 2002.

Garrett, 26, is a switch hitter who split his time last season between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Colorado Springs in the Colorado organization. He batted .307 with 16 doubles, three triples, 12 home runs and 51 RBIs in 103 games for the Drillers before being promoted to Colorado Springs on Aug. 7. In 30 games for the Sky Sox, he batted .371 with three home runs and 22 RBIs.

Fahner, 27, went 2-4 with a 3.39 ERA in 58 relief appearances for West Tennessee (Chicago Cubs) last season and struck out 85 batters in 77 innings. He did not allow a run over his last 11 outings of the season and struck out 15 batters during that span.

Serrano, 24, went 4-2 with a 2.98 ERA in 27 appearances -- 12 starts - while splitting time at Double-A Wichita and Triple-A Omaha last season. He finished the year with Kansas City, where he went 1-2 with a 4.68 ERA in 10 games, including five starts.

Sylvester, 28, spent last season in the Texas Rangers organization and began the season at Double-A Frisco, where he was 4-1 with a 2.34 ERA and 12 saves in 30 appearances, striking out 62 batters in 42.1 innings. He was promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma, where he went 1-4 with a 6.05 ERA in 19 appearances, including five starts.

A's pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training on Saturday, Feb. 19, with the first workout scheduled for the following day. Position players report on Wednesday, Feb. 23. with the first full-squad workout scheduled for the next day. The A's first Cactus League game is scheduled for Thursday, March 3, against the Chicago Cubs in Phoenix, while the 2005 regular season opener is slated for Monday, April 4, in Baltimore.

Mychael Urban is a national writer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

print this page    |    email this page