Former BYU baseball players Paul Jacinto, Cameron Coughlan, Nick Lemon, and Ranger Wiens are looking to further progress their professional baseball careers in 2005.

All four players will report to Major League Baseball spring training, which begins on March 8.

Jacinto, Coughlan, Lemon and Wiens, have been working out with the current BYU team to get ready for the upcoming season. They have all taken different paths to the professional level, but they all feel fortunate to be playing a game they love.

Jacinto, the 2003 Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Year, was hoping to be drafted after BYU finished the 2004 season. No calls came during the MLB draft, so Jacinto went on a family vacation. When he got home, there were a few messages on his answering machine from major league teams wanting to sign him as a free agent. Jacinto contacted the teams, but they had all filled the spots that were open.

“I decided the best thing I could do was to be patient, and that I would be able to play somewhere,” Jacinto said.

His patience paid off when a scout from the San Diego Padres told him there was an open roster spot on an independent team the Padres worked with in Quebec, Canada. Jacinto was assigned to that team and quickly became one of their top pitchers.

“The team was made up of a bunch of older players, players that had played double A or triple A baseball,” Jacinto said. “I was one of the younger guys, and I think they expected me to struggle at first.”

Jacinto didn’t seem to struggle much as he finished the season with a 7-0 record and a .90 ERA. The former BYU pitcher said he now feels be belongs in the professional leagues, but he doesn’t want to take it too serious.

“I just need to take advantage of every opportunity,” Jacinto said. “This is the best road that I could have taken.”

When Coughlan reports to spring training with the Texas Rangers, he will begin his fourth season of professional baseball. Coughlan was drafted by the Rangers in 2002 and has moved up a professional level every year he has played for them. Despite his success, Coughlan said he was surprised to be drafted.

“It was something I never expected,” Coughlan said.

Although the former Cougar outfielder maintains contact with the BYU baseball program, Coughlan played in 127 games last season with the Rangers high A team and finished with a .253 batting average. He said playing that many games is tough physically and mentally.

“You are never prepared to play that much,” Coughlan said. “The key is to stay even keel throughout the season.”

Lemon agreed with Coughlan by saying that the number of games played in minor league baseball is difficult to prepare for. Lemon was drafted in 2004 by the Chicago White Sox and pitched in 15 games with the Sox’s rookie level team.

“The level of competition was similar to college ball,” Lemon said. “The nice thing is that you get to concentrate on baseball and don’t have to worry about missing classes.”

Lemon hopes to move up to a high A team for the Sox and possibly finish the year with a double A team.

Like Jacinto, Wiens was hoping to be drafted, but things didn’t work out. A few major league teams have contacted Wiens to participate in tryouts before spring training starts.

“They try to fill needs of the team in the tryouts,” Wiens said.

If Wiens is not picked up during tryouts, he plans to play in an independent league. Independent leagues are similar to rookie level minor league baseball but have no affiliation with a major league team.

“The independents are very heavily scouted, and if you play well, a major league team will pick you up,” Wiens said.