As I wrote in my first column nearly a year ago, one of my favorite features to work on in this section is the Hawaii Baseball Report.

The HBR — returning on a not-too-distant Sunday — tracks the statistics of baseball players in major league organizations who played high school or college baseball in Hawaii. Once the MLB and minor league seasons get going, the HBR appears in each Sunday’s Star-Advertiser sports section along with the major league stats. These are players with family and friends in our community, and it’s exciting to see them make their way up the pro baseball ladder.

For a while there, it looked like the HBR might be all we’d have to start the season, as the lockout by major league owners dragged on into March and delayed the start of the MLB season (the minor leagues would have gone on as normal).

Thankfully, a deal was reached and — despite the owners’ pronouncements that a week of games would have to be canceled — opening day was delayed just a week. All missed games will be made up.

The MLB season usually starts a week or two before the minor leagues, but that delay — and the late start to spring training — meant that organizations did not settle their rosters until minor league teams were about to start their seasons. I reached out to some teams to talk to Hawaii-connected players about the season ahead and the teams weren’t sure yet where the players would land.

Well, once the MLB teams set their rosters, all the lower levels fell into place. With those players from Hawaii — the healthy ones, at least — now with their teams, here are some of the players and storylines to watch among Hawaii’s minor leaguers this season:

>> Saint Louis graduate Jordan Yamamoto has had an up-and-down three years in the majors, and after a 2021 season marred by a shoulder injury, he was designated for assignment by the New York Mets on Wednesday. That’s a procedural move a team must go through when removing a player from its 40-man roster. The Mets have a week to trade Yamamoto or he will have to go through waivers before New York can send him to the minors.

Yamamoto is young (26 next month), cheap and has an option left, which means that if a team claims him, he can be sent to the minors. I’m guessing he’ll be with a new organization by the weekend. Every team wants pitching depth, and aside from a horrific, COVID-marred 2020 season, Yamamoto has been solid, so my guess is he doesn’t get past the Baltimore Orioles or Arizona Diamondbacks (the two teams with the highest waiver priority) and winds up at Triple-A, a level he skipped on his way to the majors. And that might be just what he needs.

Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2014, Yamamoto was sent to the Marlins in a package for outfielder Christian Yelich before the 2018 season. Perhaps feeling like they had egg on their face after Yelich won the NL MVP that season, the Marlins rushed Yamamoto to the bigs after a solid start to the 2019 season for the Double-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp when they needed a starter. He has been inconsistent, which is not unusual for young players, but he might benefit from extended time in AAA. I’d be surprised if he’s thrown his last major league pitch.

>> Ka‘ai Tom, also a former Crusader, is back with the San Francisco Giants organization and starts the year with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. Tom’s power surged in 2019, with 23 home runs across AA and AAA in the Cleveland Indians organization (since renamed the Guardians).

After the 2020 minor league seasons were canceled due to COVID-19, he was taken by the Oakland A’s in the December 2020 MLB Rule 5 Draft. The MLB phase of that draft basically requires teams to keep selectees on their major league rosters for a full season or offer them back to the previous team at half the price they paid to acquire them. It can be a good way for a young player whose progress is stuck to get a fresh start. Among last year’s 18 picks, outfielder Akil Baddoo got regular playing time for the Detroit Tigers and pitcher Garrett Whitlock was an important part of the Boston Red Sox’s bullpen in the 2021 postseason.

Hawaii’s most notable Rule 5 connection is Shane Victorino. The Maui boy was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1999 and selected twice in the Rule 5 draft — in 2002 by the San Diego Padres, who returned him to the Dodgers in the middle of the 2003 season, and in 2004 by the Phillies. Philadelphia also offered Victorino back to the Dodgers, but LA declined and the St. Anthony graduate stayed with the Phillies, going on to win a World Series and make an all-star team. He later signed a big free-agent contract with Boston, where he won another World Series.

Tom got a chance in the majors last year with the A’s and then the Pittsburgh Pirates. Both teams designated him for assignment and he finished the season in the San Francisco Giants organization. He did hit his first two big league homers with the Pirates and broke up Colorado Rockies pitcher German Marquez’s no-hitter in the ninth inning. He also pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the A’s in a 9-2 loss to the Houston Astros.

Tom is a few years older than Victorino was when he was last taken in the Rule 5 draft — he’ll turn 28 next month — but I wouldn’t be surprised if he has some better baseball in him and finds his way back to the majors. In fact, I’d bet he does at some point this season. He’s off to a fast start with an organization that wants him, going 6-for-15 with hits in his first four games, and it’s a team dear to the hearts of many Hawaii residents, to boot.

>> Jeremy Wu-Yelland, drafted by the Red Sox in 2020 out of UH, is assigned to the High A Greenville Drive after being promoted there last September.

The Seattle native made a memorable debut with the Drive, pitching the first five innings of a combined no-hitter, a 6-0 win over the Asheville Tourists. He starts this year on the injured list, though that is described by the organization as precautionary.

“He just wasn’t feeling the greatest coming in (to spring training),” Red Sox Director of Player Development Brian Abraham told The Athletic last week. “Just kind of building that strength back up for him to extend him out to multiple innings and start. Not expected to be long term.”

After a strong pro debut season, Wu-Yelland, who turns 23 in June, will be looking to slash his walk rate (nearly 5 per 9 IP last season) while keeping his strikeout numbers (10.7/9 IP) high and continuing his success at that level. As he comes back from back issues that started late last season, he has set promotion as his goal for this season.

“Right now I want to get healthy,” the lefty told MassLive. “That’s the main priority. I want to be more consistent. I want to go out and do everything they ask of me and hopefully finish the year at Double-A. I think that would be a good goal for me.”

Abraham offered MassLive a positive scouting report on Wu-Yelland, noting that his fastball reached as high as 98 mph last season.

“He’s got phenomenal stuff visually and numbers-wise,” Abraham said. “His fastball can get people out no matter where it is in the strike zone. As you see in the big leagues, if you can get people out in the strike zone, you’re going to be fairly successful.”

>> Finally, this season reunites two players who won an HHSAA title together at Waiakea in 2012. Pitcher Kodi Medeiros joins utility player Kean Wong on the Salt Lake Bees, the Triple-A affiliate of the Anaheim-based Los Angeles Angels.

Though they are teammates, their careers are in very different places.

Wong, who turns 27 Sunday, has proved he can hit at the Triple-A level, batting .292 with a .354 on-base percentage over three-plus seasons. His limited work in the majors (for the Tampa Bay Rays and the Angels) has been underwhelming, but it’s a very small sample size — just 78 at-bats across two seasons — and his ability to play just about any position on the field has value, as evidenced by the Angels re-signing him once the lockout ended.

He reportedly had a memorable first day of camp, facing reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani in live batting practice and hitting the ball hard back at LA’s two-way franchise player.

The Athletic’s Angels beat reporter, Sam Blum, reported that Wong joked, “Oh my God, I almost just lost my job.”

Medeiros, who will be 26 next month, joined the Angels in March, four months after choosing to leave the Chicago White Sox organization via free agency. He also garnered interest from the World Series champion Atlanta Braves.

“I received a call from the Braves … and that really got things rolling,” Medeiros told MLB.com in March. “As far as an opportunity, I was coming from the White Sox and they’re pretty stacked in their farm system, and same with the Braves. We faced them in Triple-A last year and they were pretty well off … So I think this is just a great fit. I’m really happy. This is where I wanted to sign.”