St. Louis Invests in Hernandez’s Arm

Jeremy Hernandez has a windup with more mechanical problems than a ’79 Pinto and disastrous statistics to match, but today he’s quite a bit richer for it.

The St. Louis Cardinals made the Cal State Northridge right-hander their second-round selection in professional baseball’s amateur draft Tuesday and almost immediately signed him to a contract. He received a bonus that, with incentives, could reach $50,000. He will report to the Cardinals’ Erie, Pa., rookie team June 10.

Hernandez (6-5, 180 pounds) had been trailed by professional scouts all spring but didn’t expect to be taken until the fourth or fifth round after going 7-8 with a 5.62 earned-run average for Northridge. “I just didn’t have the year I thought I would,” he said.

But that made little difference to the Cardinals, who say they couldn’t care less about his record or ERA as long as their radar guns don’t lie.

“We don’t care what his numbers are,” said Steve Flores, the scout who signed the former Poly High standout. “We look for potential and Jeremy has a ton of it. On given days we clocked him at 92 miles an hour in the late innings. You just don’t find a lot of arms like that.”

Flores said he signed another big right-hander out of Biola in 1982 with the same arm strength and mechanical problems. His name: Todd Worrell, National League Rookie of the Year in 1986.

“We’re going to bring him along slow, just like we did Worrell,” Flores said. “If he works as hard as our pitching instructors are willing to work with him, he could be right there in about four years.”

Hernandez, 20, had a 6-6 record and 2.56 ERA in 1986 but was inconsistent last season.

“I don’t know if I got into bad habits or what,” he said. “We didn’t have a pitching coach so I had to basically try and work things out on my own.”

Hernandez said he went over hours of videotape with senior pitcher Dan Penner without much success. “We compared my good performances with my not-so-good games but couldn’t find much difference,” he said. “Of course, we didn’t know what we were looking for, either.”

Flores said the worse Hernandez pitched, the more hopeful he became that the Cardinals could sign him.

“I didn’t think he would last long enough for us to get him,” Flores said. “I was hoping other teams would back off. He’s a diamond in the rough. He’s got a long way to go on his mechanics, but the physical aspects are there. It’s all a matter of him learning how to pitch.”

Penner and Dan Jones, both seniors last season, have been asked by Craven to remain with the team as coaches next season. “Nothing is set yet, but we’ve asked both of them if they’d be interested and they both said yes,” Craven said.

Penner, an All-California Collegiate Athletic Assn. pitcher, will be returning to school to work on a teaching credential if he is not drafted by a professional baseball team.

Mike Kane, Northridge’s all-time leading rusher, was flown to Dallas two weeks ago for a tryout with the Cowboys. Trouble is, according to Kane, there were about 1,000 other players trying to make an impression with the National Football League team.

The All-American tailback was one of 60 players asked back for a second session, but a few days after returning home to Northridge, Kane was notified by the team that he would not be invited to the team’s camp in Thousand Oaks.

Northridge has won the CCAA Ironman and Ironwoman trophies emblematic of the best overall performance by an athletic program.

The conference awards points in reverse order of finish in the final standings. The Northridge men totaled 28.5 points to win by a narrow margin over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which had 27. The Matadors won the soccer title, finished second in track and field, swimming and baseball and finished no worse than in a tie for fourth in any sport.

The Northridge women, who won championships in swimming, volleyball and softball, won by a 32-20 margin over Cal Poly Pomona.

“We strive for a broad-based program and excellence across the board,” said Bob Hiegert, Northridge athletic director. “The trophy represents that.”

Barbara Jordan, Northridge’s three-time All-American softball player, finished second in voting for the CCAA Women’s Athlete of the Year by the conference’s sports information directors. Annie Kniss of UC Riverside, the Division II volleyball Player of the Year, won the award.

William Alexander of Cal State Dominguez Hills, the first four-time all-conference basketball player in CCAA history, was Men’s Athlete of the Year. Swimmer Jeff Kubiak of Northridge was fourth in the voting. Stan Oporski, a triple jumper from Cal State Los Angeles and formerly of Moorpark College, was third.

Jack Bishop, football coach at Southern Utah State, picks Northridge to win the Western Football Conference championship. He says the Matadors have the right people coming back in the right places.

And what does this vote of confidence mean to Northridge Coach Bob Burt?

Nothing.

“That’s fine if he thinks that,” Burt said. “I’d like to think we have a good shot, but there’s a lot that can happen between now and the first game. We have eligibility to deal with and there’s always the factor that nobody likes to think about--injuries. If we have the people we think we’re going to have in place next fall, we should have a real good football team.”

Asked where Southern Utah State might finish, Burt said he didn’t know. “I know about as much about them as they do about us and that’s not enough to make a prediction,” he said.

Bishop’s picks, in predicted order of finish: Northridge, Portland State, Cal State Sacramento, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Southern Utah State, Santa Clara and Cal Lutheran.

Cal Lutheran second baseman Becky Wolfe has been named to the All-NAIA second team in softball. The senior was the only player from District III to gain national honors. She was CLU’s top batter with a .389 average and drove in 24 runs. Wolfe also had an on-base percentage of .484 and led the Regals to a 32-16 record.

Coach Gary Torgeson has signed three power hitters to play softball for Northridge next year, including Karen Noble, a first baseman from Moorpark College.

Pam Smith of San Diego Mesa College and Anna Baumberger of Bella Vista High in Sacramento also have signed to play for the Lady Matadors. Smith plays first and third base and Baumberger plays first and catches.

“They all have one thing in common--they can hit,” Torgeson said. “We needed people for the four and five positions in the order.” Priscilla Rouse and Kelly Winn, two of CSUN’s best power hitters, completed their eligibility last season.

Left fielder Beth Onestinghel and second baseman Kim Bernstein were introduced as next year’s captains at the softball team’s banquet last week. Onestinghel also shared this season’s most valuable player award with Jordan.