The league has become more of an extension of major league clubs, with hot prospects developing at the Double-A level.

08:14 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 14, 2004

BY JIM DONALDSON AND KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

PAWTUCKET -- They may be All-Stars, but many of the players participating in tonight's Triple-A game at McCoy Stadium aren't necessarily hot prospects.

The rosters of the two minor-league All-Star teams aren't exactly loaded with fresh-faced talent.

Of the 52 players participating, only 11 are under the age of 25, while 23 of them are 28 or older. The Pacific Coast League All-Stars have just four players on the roster younger than 25. While the International League has seven players under 25, it also has 12 who are at least 28, compared to 11 for the PCL.

"Triple-A teams now are older than they used to be," said Pawtucket manager Buddy Bailey, who'll be handling the I.L. All-Stars tonight.

Bailey, who is in his second stint as manager of the PawSox, first came to Pawtucket in 1993.

"Triple-A teams now," Bailey said, "seem to be considered more as insurance policies for the big club. In case of an injury, or a trade, at the major-league level, they can bring up a guy with experience, rather than rush a so-called prospect.

"There always are some young guys at the Triple-A level. But now there are a lot of older guys who provide a sort of supporting cast for the major-league team."

Many of what big-league teams consider their best prospects are in the lower levels of their organizations.

"You see more and more kids go from Double-A to the big leagues," Bailey said.

The experience factor is a key reason that Triple-A All-Stars tend to be older.

"All-Star teams," said Bailey, "are based on one thing -- numbers. Veterans are likely to have better numbers the first half of the year than Triple-A rookies. In the second half of the season, the younger kids put up better numbers. By then, they've been to the different ball parks, seen the pitchers, gotten more comfortable. When the voting is done, they haven't yet put up the numbers."

There is no better example of the aged, but still talented, Triple-A All-Star than the well-travelled Trenidad Hubbard, an outfielder who'll be playing tonight for the Pacific Coast League.

A 38-year-old Texan, Hubbard has done just about all there is to do, and seen all there is to see, in professional baseball.

He's played at all levels, all across America, and even in Mexico, chasing down fly balls in ball parks both large and small.

He's played for nine big-league teams over the past nine seasons. He once hit a home run in his home city of Chicago with the Cubs while dozens of family and friends watched. He has had his uniform number retired in Colorado Springs and is now starring (.327 average, 22 steals) with the Iowa Cubs, earning a spot in what will be his fifth Triple-A All-Star game.

"As long as I can compete at a high level with a degree of success, I may have to go the Julio Franco route," Hubbard said yesterday afternoon, referring to the long-time veteran major leaguer. "I might have to have them rip the uniform off of me."

Hubbard is a strong, speedy outfielder who is annually signed by a team that sees him as the perfect fourth or fifth outfielder. Cracking the top three, however, and sticking with a major league team has proven elusive for him.

He had chances to become a regular with both the Colorado Rockies and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the mid-to-late 1990's, but those opportunities didn't pan out.

Like many of the players here this week, Hubbard is long past being labeled a 'prospect' by scouts. Instead, he's a seasoned professional player.

Back in 1995, he led the PCL in hitting (.304), hits (163), runs (102) and steals (37). Almost 10 years later, he's an All-Star in the same league once again.

The Colorado Springs Sky Sox retired his number 4 in the club's Hall of Fame in 2002.

"That's probably my favorite stop," he said. "You fall in love with the scenic beauty of the place."

One place Hubbard has never been is Pawtucket. He's never played in the International League and only seen parks in that league via all-star trips.

"When I first heard Pawtucket, I had some unclear thoughts about the place," he said. "But everyone I asked told me the park was recently redone and the people here love baseball. So far, I'm impressed. I'm looking forward to Waterfire."