There is nobody who is happier for Erik Kratz than Pat Trettel, even through the two have never met.

Kratz, who was tabbed as a career minor-league catcher, was called up to be the Pirates' backup catcher two weekends ago after laboring 81/2 years in the minors. He is 30, which is old for a rookie, but more importantly he is proof that it can happen ... that a baseball player can go from anonymity to the majors.

That's what Trettel, a North Allegheny High School graduate and Seton Hill University All-American, is trying to do. Go from being a player no major-league organization wanted to a player some organization will take a chance on.

He got his break a little more than two weeks ago.

A catcher, Trettel did just about everything humanly possible to get scouts to notice him this past spring. He hit .420 for the Griffins, with 16 home runs and 81 RBIs. He scored a team-high 54 runs and showed good base-running skills by stealing 11 bases in 13 attempts.

All of that earned him a first-team spot on the Daktronics Division II All-American squad. Trettel is the first male athlete at Seton Hill to earn first-team All-American honors.

What those numbers didn't earn him was a spot in any major-league organization's farm system. He was not selected in the June amateur draft.

"Yes and no," he said when asked if he was surprised he wasn't picked in a late round of the draft. "I thought I played well enough my senior season [to be drafted], but because I didn't get any calls before the draft, I thought that might happen."

Never one to give up, Trettel kept his equipment ready and his options open.

He is playing professional baseball for the Lincoln, Neb., Saltdogs of the American Association. The Saltdogs are like the Washington, Pa., Wild Things of the Frontier League. The Lincoln team is not affiliated with any major-league club and the American Association is an independent league that comprises 10 teams.

It is not a dead end for Trettel, however. He is with the Saltdogs because the team's starting catcher at the start of the season, Shawn McGill, signed with the Atlanta Braves.

"I went to a showcase in Detroit and somebody there liked what they saw of me and called Lincoln," Trettel said. "They needed a catcher because the Braves signed their guy. So, I get a call from their GM and that's how it happened."

It didn't take Trettel, who holds the Seton Hill career mark of 37 home runs, to move into the starting lineup.

Going into Wednesday's action, he was hitting .279 (19 for 68) in 18 games with 3 doubles, 4 home runs and 9 RBIs. He smacked a home run in a 5-3 win against Sioux Falls Saturday and hit a two-run homer in a 3-2 victory against Wichita.

The Saltdogs are 9-11 in the American Association's North Division -- which includes Sioux Falls, S.D.; St. Paul, Minn.; and Sioux City, Iowa -- the second half of the season and 38-30 overall. They finished the first half in second place.

"So far, it's been good," said Trettel, who is living with a host family in Lincoln. "The thing you have to deal with in playing out here [Midwest] is the heat. It's in the mid-90s just about every day and stays that way until about 8 at night.

"But this is what I wanted -- a chance to play pro baseball. Now it's up to me to see how far I can take it. The fact the Braves picked up their catcher before I got here shows that it can happen, and this team has sent a number of players to [major-league] teams."

He said it took him a little time to adjust to hitting with a wooden bat. But this isn't the first time Trettel has taken his hacks with wood instead of a metal bat.

"You just don't get any cheap hits with a wooden bat," he said. "You have to make sure you make good contact."

And he is adjusting to the pitchers on the Saltdogs, learning what pitches they like and don't like to throw.

"Like playing for any new team it just takes time," Trettel said. "I'm doing what I love."

After what happened with Kratz, the dream is still alive.

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