One month into the major league season and three weeks into minor league ball, and former Boise Hawks are excelling around the game.

Although the parent club, the Chicago Cubs have been up and down so far, many possible future Cubs have been outstanding – including Jay Jackson at AAA, Andrew Cashner at AA, and Brett Jackson at A.

Away from the Cubs organization, Joel Peralta continues his dominance of the AAA ranks, now with the Syracuse Chiefs in the Nationals organization, and Brian Dopirak seems to be an injury away from becoming the next former Hawk to reach The Show.

But for me, the feel good story is Darin Downs, the likable former Hawk from 2004-06, who had a breakout season last year at Advanced-A Charlotte, but was nearly killed by a line-drive in his second start with AA Montgomery.  Downs has recovered from a difficult offseason to start off just as he left off last year (when he was MILB’s Class A left-handed starting Pitcher of the Year), going 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA in the Southern League.

A total of 107 former Hawks are playing ball as of tonight – not including those down at Extended Spring Training.  For a complete look a the former Hawks – click here –
HawksAlumniReport4-29-10.pdf.