Rays, Brashears agree to a deal

A composed presence on the mound this spring, University of Hawaii pitcher Tyler Brashears remained confident a deal would get done to start his professional baseball career this summer, even as the signing deadline approached.

The junior right-hander indeed agreed to terms on a contract with the Tampa Bay Rays ahead of Friday’s 11 a.m. Hawaii time deadline and will forgo his senior season with the Rainbow Warriors.

“It hasn’t really been that stressful,” Brashears said of the days leading up to the deadline. “I knew that eventually things would get worked out and I was looking forward to when this day would come.”

Brashears, an All-Big West first-team pick this spring, was selected by Tampa Bay in the 14th round of last month’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft with the 418th overall pick.

Brashears confirmed he and the Rays agreed on a $100,000 signing bonus. He said he’ll return home to California, then headshortly thereafter to Florida, where he will formally sign his first professional contract.

“It’s definitely starting to sink in that it’s becoming reality,” Brashears said.

Brashears said his first stop will be in Port Charlotte, Fla., the Rays’ spring training home, where he will undergo a physical and go through the team’s throwing program before being given his first assignment. He said he’ll likely be sent to the Princeton Rays of the Appalachian League, Tampa Bay’s rookie league affiliate. Kamehameha alum Kewby Meyer, a 37th-round pick last month out of Nevada, also plays for Princeton.

Brashears will be the third UH pitcher to embark on a professional career this summer. Junior LJ Brewster signed with the Miami Marlins after being drafted in the 22nd round. Reliever Quintin Torres-Costa, a redshirt sophomore, also signed with the Milwaukee Brewers after being drafted in the 35th round.

“If you do this long enough you’re never surprised with the draft,” UH coach Mike Trapasso said. “Obviously, when it got this close you thought there was a chance (he might return to UH). But at the end of the day our job is to graduate our players and then prepare them for professional baseball.

“We’ll wish Tyler well. We’re disappointed he’s leaving, but we’re happy for him and happy for our program.”

Brashears signed with UH out of Saddleback (Calif.) Community College and went 8-5 in 15 starts this season. He ranked 28th nationally with a 1.86 earned-run average, putting him atop UH’s career leaders, which includes pitchers with a minimum of 50 innings.

He struck out 68 in 101 2⁄3 innings, both team highs, allowed 19 walks and was the first UH player named to the All-Big West first team in the program’s three years in the conference.

In Big West play, Brashears went 5-2 and his 1.59 ERA was second in the conference. He threw back-to-back shutouts in 1-0 wins over UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State during a run of 21 consecutive scoreless innings.

“My time at UH was definitely one of the best years of my life,” Brashears said. “I just want to thank Coach Trap for everything he’s done for me. He definitely helped make me into the pitcher I am today, and to the fans who came out every game and supported us. It was definitely a fun year.”

As Brashears prepared for the next step in his career, Trapasso continued to restock the pitching staff in announcing the signing of three recruits on Friday for next season.

The ‘Bows will add junior college transfer Kyle Mitchell and incoming freshmen Troy Stainbrook and Daniel Rocha to the roster in the fall.

Mitchell, a 6-foot right-hander, went 5-2 with a 3.41 ERA at Santa Rosa Junior College.

Rocha, a left-hander, struck out 103 in 70 innings and finished with a 0.80 ERA at Narbonne High School in California while hitting .434 with six home runs.

Stainbrook is a 6-foot-7 left-hander from Golden West (Calif.) High School. He posted a 2.71 ERA and 229 strikeouts in his three-year career.

The newcomers join a staff that loses five pitchers (three draftees and two seniors) who accounted for 3241⁄3 innings of UH’s 463 last season, more than 70 percent, and all but six starts.

“In reality we had to replace our whole starting rotation this past year from the previous year and we were able to do that,” Trapasso said. “We’ll definitely be missing (Brashears) on some Friday nights, but again that’s why you recruit. So we’ll have some new guys who will have some opportunities and some returning guys who will have opportunities to step up.”