The city of Sacramento just might be the best kept secret in baseball. Dusty Baker, Geoff Jenkins, Jerry Manuel and Fernando Vina are only a few major leaguers of past and present that call the capital city home.

Now four former Sacramento State players are taking their bid for a shot at the major leagues. Chris Kinsey, Mikela Olsen, Jesse Schmidt and Steve Correa all completed their first seasons in the minor leagues after signing major league contracts in the spring.

Kinsey, one of the Hornets’ top pitchers last season, was the highest selection in Sac State history going to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fourth round.The 6-foot-3 Elk Grove native began the season with the South Bend Silver Hawks but finished as a starter with the Yakima Bears of the Northwest League, the single-A affiliate of the Diamondbacks in Yakima, Wash.

“I had trouble getting used to four days in between starts. My control seemed to have left me halfway through the season,” Kinsey said. “I’m not sure if it was fatigue from all the pitching I did at Sac State, but it did come back.”

In his last season at Sac State Kinsey finished 7-6 with a 4.25 ERA, leading the pitching staff with 98 strikeouts. With the Yakima Bears he finished 3-3 with a 4.00 ERA in nine starts.

Kinsey’s repertoire of pitches includes a fastball topping out at 94 mph, a curveball, a change up and his new weapon the “cutter,” a fast ball with late sinking movement he uses to fool hitters.

“My go-to pitch at Sac State was the curve ball, but now it’s my sinking fast ball,” Kinsey said. “I would say two-thirds of my strikeouts have been on fast balls.”Schmidt was a tenth round selection of the San Francisco Giants last spring after batting .389 with 16 home runs and 55 RBIs in his final season at Sac State.

Assigned to the single-A Salem Volcanoes, the Giants’ affiliate in Oregon, Schmidt finished the regular season batting .261 with five home runs, 27 RBIs and eight stolen bases.

“I started off slow, but as the season progressed I gained more confidence,” Schmidt said. “Here you see each starting pitcher that was the best at their college.

“My strength is all around good defense,” he said after spending time in right and center field. “My weakness is that I’m undisciplined and sometimes over anxious at the plate, causing me to swing at bad pitches and get myself out.”

The Volcanoes finished on top in the Northwest League’s Western Division Schmidt led the offense in the playoffs with five hits and four RBIs in three games.

Nearly 3,000 miles away in upstate New York, Mikela Olsen is trying to make a name for himself with the Jamestown Jammers of the New York-Penn League. Olsen, a 15th round selection of the Florida Marlins, played alongside Schmidt in Sac State’s outfield leading the Hornets in batting average (.404) and slugging percentage (.734) while adding 16 home runs and 66 RBIs in his final collegiate season.

After being drafted by the Marlins he was then sent to the single-A affiliate in Jamestown.

The transition was difficult for Olsen who finished his first season batting just .206 with no home runs.

“Adjusting my strike zone has been the biggest adjustment,” Olsen said. “Pitchers challenge you more inside. I’ve been striking out on high fast balls.”While his power numbers are down Olsen finished with 21 RBIs, second on the Jammers.

“I’m getting bunts down now and I never had to do that in the past,” he said.Olsen is back at Sac State taking classes this fall and plans to begin working out for next season in October.

Pitcher Steve Correa signed a free agent contract with the New York Mets last spring and spent this summer with their single-A affiliate Brooklyn Cyclones. Correa was 1-1 with a 7.16 ERA. He was unavailable for this story.