Hattenburg Joins Hometown Team

For the first time in 11 years, one of the Spokane Indians baseball players will truly be a Spokane product..

The ballclub officially introduced Mead High graduate Ray Hattenburg as the latest member of this year’s Northwest League baseball team during a Friday afternoon news conference at Avista Stadium.

Hattenburg, of Washington State University, will be the first Spokanite to play for the Indians since pitcher Troy Cunningham of East Valley in 1989. Gonzaga Prep graduate Kevin Koentopp played for the Indians in the mid-80s.

“We are very excited to have a hometown player,” said Indians vice president/general manager Paul Barbeau. “It is a great opportunity for fans in the Northwest to be able to see a player mature through high school and college, and now in professional baseball.”

Hattenburg, a switch-hitting utility player, hit .355 during his WSU days.

He graduated with a degree in construction management. He and his wife, Sarah, will celebrate their first anniversary about midway through the season.

Spokane also added right-handed pitcher Micah Mangrum, a free agent from Brigham Young University, to their roster. The additions of Hattenburg and Mangrum bring Spokane’s roster to 11. The Indians expect to announce several more players on Monday, three days before their five-day minicamp begins.

The Indians said California high school pitcher Mike Stodolka will not begin his season here. Stodolka, the No. 1 selection of the parent Kansas City Royals in the amateur draft, will report to the rookie-dominated Gulf Coast League in Florida.

Spokane’s Northwest League opener is June 20, at Avista Stadium against the Eugene Emeralds.

Blood back with Giants

The off-again, on-again, off-again pro baseball career of Darin Blood is on again.

And he’s back with the original team that signed signed him. Blood signed a minor league contract Thursday with the San Francisco Giants and began working out at their spring training complex in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Blood, from Post Falls, graduated from Central Valley High and Gonzaga University. He has struggled since undergoing arthroscopic elbow surgery prior to spring training last year.

Baltimore, which acquired Blood in a 1998 trade, released him earlier this year. Blood then signed with the New York Yankees, but was released again.

The Giants drafted Blood in the third round in 1995. They have yet to determine where Blood will be assigned.