After wrapping up his four-year collegiate career for UC-Berkeley in late May and earning a degree in social welfare, Swanson quickly went to work for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had made the right-hander their 13th pick in June's Major League draft.

Playing for the Williamsport Cutters, the Pirates' Class-A team in the New York-Penn League, Swanson has sparkled as a closer. In 19 appearances through Aug. 26, the 2001 Los Gatos High graduate had put together a 4-2 record with six saves and an earned run average of 1.66. He had posted 30 strikeouts in 28 innings, while allowing just 16 hits and seven walks. With just two weeks remaining in the short-season league, his team was in second place, eyeing a berth in the playoffs.

Swanson's efforts have received attention from both the league and his employer. Swanson was selected for the New York-Penn League all-star game, Aug. 23 in Brooklyn, N.Y. (He struck out two batters while working a scoreless sixth inning for the victorious National squad.) And the Pirates invited him to their instructional league entry in the Arizona Fall League, which begins in late October, a few days after his 23rd birthday.

Like Swanson, several other players who attended local high schools are playing minor league baseball, but none has climbed more quickly this summer than former San José State and Bellarmine Prep standout Kevin Frandsen.

A second baseman in the San Francisco Giants organization, Frandsen has been a tough out for opposing pitchers at three different levels during his first full season as a pro.

Frandsen, the Giants' 12th-round draft choice a year ago, was a non-roster invitee to spring training prior to this season. He spent the first three months helping the Class-A San Jose Giants capture the first half championship of the California League's North Division.

After batting .351 with 102 hits, 57 runs and 40 RBIs in 75 games with San Jose, Frandsen spent six weeks with Norwich, Conn., of the AA Eastern League, before a promotion to the AAA Fresno Grizzlies. During the Double-A stop, Frandsen took a road trip to Detroit, where he represented the Giants farm system at the Futures Game the weekend prior to the MLB All-Star Game.

The 2000 Bellarmine grad hit .287 in 33 games for Norwich before moving on to Fresno. In his first Pacific Coast League game on Aug. 16 Frandsen went 3 for 4, including two doubles, and scored three runs to spark a 6-1 victory. After 13 games, he was tearing through the opposition at a .345 clip.

In total this season, Frandsen is hitting .334 (156 for 467) with 87 runs scored, 34 doubles, 64 RBIs and 21 stolen bases.

Another Bellarmine product, 28-year-old Pat Burrell, is the only local that has been in the Major Leagues all season. The Philadelphia Phillies' left-fielder entered this week ranked among the top 15 National Leaguers in home runs (24) and RBIs (92). Since his debut in May of 2000, the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder has been a fixture in left field for the Phillies. The right-handed slugger has belted more than 20 home runs in each of the last five seasons.

Scott Erickson (Homestead, 1986) and Bobby Hill (Leland, 1996) both started the season in the Majors, but were dropped to AAA after the All-Star break in mid-July.

Erickson, a 37-year-old right-handed pitcher, began the season in the Los Angeles Dodgers' rotation. After eight starts and 11 relief stints, he accepted an assignment to Las Vegas on July 30.

Working in his 14th Major League season, most of it with Minnesota and Baltimore of the American League, Erickson has 364 starts under his belt.

Hill, who reached the Majors with the Chicago Cubs in 2002 and spent most of 2003 in AAA ball, played all of 2004 with the Pirates. The switch-hitting infielder, used primarily in a reserve role, was ranked third in the NL with 16 pinch hits. Hill started this season with the Pirates and played in 58 games before being sent to the AAA Indianapolis Indians after the All-Star break in mid-July.

Brian Stirm (Saratoga, 2000) has put together a 7-6 record for the Augusta Green Jackets, the Giants' Class-A affiliate in Georgia. Used as a relief pitcher in all but two of his 39 appearances, Stirm had a 3.76 ERA and four saves in 74 innings of work.

Left-handed hitting first baseman Brett Bonvechio (Prospect, 2000) has put up good power numbers for the Lake Elsinore Storm, the San Diego Padres' affiliate. With two weeks left in the season, the 6-1, 200-pounder had 17 home runs, 23 doubles, 70 RBIs, 79 runs and a slugging percentage of .461 to go with a batting average of .271 in 451 at-bats.

Josh Kreuzer (Leigh, 2000), a 6-foot-5, 240-pound first baseman, has smacked nine homers and has 62 RBIs, while hitting .260 in 105 games for the Bakersfield Blaze, a Texas Rangers farm team.

Right-handed starting pitcher Jason Windsor (Leigh, 2000) has made two stops in the Oakland A's system, beginning the season with the Cal League's Stockton Ports before getting a promotion to the AA Midland Rockhounds.