Recent University of Hawaii graduates Pi‘ikea Kitamura and Corey MacDonald aren’t done playing baseball just yet.
Kitamura signed a free-agent contract with the Oakland Athletics on Monday, while MacDonald agreed to terms on a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Kitamura said he will fly to Arizona to report this morning. A four-year starter at UH, Kitamura played in 225 games for the Rainbows and finished with 205 hits, 114 RBIs and 109 runs scored.
"It was kind of not a fun feeling waiting around for the draft, and then when it came and went, it was like, ‘What do I do now?’ " Kitamura said. "I don’t want to stop playing ball, and now I’ve got somewhere I get to go play."
After hitting .311 as a junior and playing in the prestigious Cape Cod League last summer, Kitamura finished third on the team with a .257 batting average and had a team-high 24 RBIs in 2013.
He was a freshman on the 2010 team that advanced to a regional final and was on the 2011 team that won the regular-season Western Athletic Conference title.
Kitamura said he was close to signing with the New York Yankees when an offer from the Athletics came first.
"After the draft ended I talked with Coach Trap (Mike Trapasso) and he’d been helping me by putting letters out to some of the scouting directors," Kitamura said. "I had something with the Yankees but had to wait until (Monday) to hear the final word, so when the A’s opportunity came, I had to take it while it was there in front of me."
Kitamura will report with former Campbell University outfielder Ben McQuown, who graduated from Waianae in 2008.
McQuown, who was selected in the 30th round on Saturday, was the first Waianae alum selected since Dan Awana in 2002.
MacDonald came to terms with the Rays on Monday after pitching 991⁄3 innings for the Rainbows in 2013.
The 6-foot-6 right-hander went 7-6, more than doubling any other UH pitcher’s win total, and posted a 4.08 ERA with 57 strikeouts.
He said via text message he expects to sign his contract on Wednesday.
