There are always three questions that I receive throughout the Spring…

1. You doing the Hawks again (which is funny, when you’ve been calling games since 2003)…

2. When’s the Hawks season start (June 13)

3. Who is on this year’s Hawks team? (These questions start in January)

As you can see, I can answer the first two questions, but that third one is always something that I am seeking out up until the front office receives the email (used to be a fax) from the Cubs with the initial roster – somewhere during the second week of June.

With the MLB First Year Players Draft set again just one week before the short-season clubs begin play, expect initially, a roster of 24-26 players, made up of either repeat Boise players, or young prospects making their first-ever trip to an affiliated club – last year, there were a total of zero 2014 draft picks on the initial.

The biggest question, to me, is which of the former players will survive Extended Spring Training. One of the toughest things I watch all season (and off season) is the Baseball America minor league waiver wire – to see which players are traded and/or released. With six players currently in Mesa that have been to Boise before, some already with two years of MILB experience, the thought to me is that they will either be the veteran guys to start the year with the Hawks, or will be released.

TheCubReporter.com writer Arizona Phil provides the only in-depth coverage of Extended Spring Training on the web – and gives a great assist into who is progressing/regressing in Mesa – and confirmed a lot of the speculation that I had.

On the mound, look for Trevor Graham, Tyler Ihrig, Trevor Clifton to break with the club to the Northwest League – all have been solid all Spring (and all are candidates to jump to Kane County, as Josh Davis, Zak Hermans, and Michael Wagner have, however Davis has been returned to Extended and may be a candidate to head to Boise). All are 2013 draft picks (Graham in the 12th Round, Clifton in the 13th, Ihrig in the 23rd) and pitched in the AZL. A 2013 Top-10 pick, David Garner, of Michigan State may be a candidate as well as former Hawks Scott Frazier (pictured right), Corbin Hoffner, Trey Lang, and Jasvir Rakkar. A bevy of players from Latin America are also in the mix, including Carlos Llano (DSL-Cubs closer last season, 6-1 2.95 6 SV), Francisco Carillo (8-3 2.09 ERA in VSL), and lefty Alberto Diaz (3-0 2.18 ERA in VSL). A lot can change down in Mesa (call-ups, injuries, being released) in the final three weeks of Extended.

On paper, it looks as if Justin Marra (pictured left) will make a third tour of Boise, as he is the most experienced catcher currently in Mesa – though Ben Carhart (a player who is converting to catcher in Kane County) could move down to get more reps. Prospect Mark Malave, another player who the Cubs have moved around (has caught and played corner infield spots) would be in the mix, with the wild card being 2013 draft pick Tyler Alamo (similar build to 2013 Hawk Cael Brockmeyer) – though most feel Alamo will being in the AZL (but could be a mid-season call-up – similar to Dan Vogelbach).

It’s a safe bet that there will be returners on the infield, including Jesse Hodges – who never actually got an opportunity to see Boise. The third-baseman had two tours of duty with the Hawks – both series’ in Vancouver, just across the water from his home in Victoria, B.C. Another former Hawk, Rony Rodriguez (pictured right), has been playing a lot of first base in EST, joined by Roney Alcala, who won the 2013 Venezuela Summer League batting title. 2013 draft pick Zak Blair has been playing second base all spring and would figure to be the Hawks everyday second baseman to start, while shortstop could be interesting.

From reports in Mesa, Gleyber Torres is the top shortstop of the group in EST, but he is just 17 – which was the same age Jurickson Profar was when he played in Spokane – but I don’t see the Cubs pushing the talent. I could see Giuseppe Papaccio, who has been the roving utility middle-infielder this spring (time in both Daytona and Tennessee) bridging the gap until a 2014 college draft pick arrives – as I don’t see any infielders up the ladder (KC/DAY) returning to repeat Boise.

I really like the possible look of the Hawks outfield and could be one of the better defensive groups in a while. Two returners – Jeffrey Baez and Kevin Brown should make the trip North, along with Top-10 draft pick Charcer Burks. All can swing the bat, provide gap power, and run – which are all things needed early in the NWL season. A name that I’ve been intrigued with is Shamil Ubiera, a young player from the Dominican Republic, who put up huge numbers the past two summers in the DSL (.297 4 HR 41, 24 2B in 2012; .301 4 HR 56 RBI, 18 2B in 2013) and will be an asset either in Mesa or Boise.

I will chat soon with skipper Gary Van Tol, so look for that interview and plenty of pre-MLB draft coverage in the next three weeks.

A total of 76 former Boise Hawks players and coaches are still active at the Double-A, Advanced-A, Class-A, and Independent Leagues of professional baseball.

Alumni Report – Indy/A/AA

Leading the group is 2013 alum, Kris Bryant, who is leading the Southern League with eight home runs for the Tennessee Smokies, with ’12 alum Stephen Bruno having a big start to May with Tennesse, as his batting average has climbed to .302 with a Southern League leading 11 doubles

At High-A, ’07 alum Marquez Smith is having a banner start for the Bakersfield Blaze of the Cal League, hitting .313 with six homers and a league-leading 35 RBI.   ’12 Hawk Bijan Rademacher is hitting a team-high .366 with three homers and 13 RBI in Daytona, with ’13 Hawk Zack Godley getting a promotion to Daytona after going 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA and seven saves at Kane County.

Speaking of Kane County, ’13 alum Jordan Hankins is off to a quality start, hitting .290 with 11 RBI, with another ’13 product, Yasiel Balaguert, hitting .293 with a team-high 21 RBI.

And seven players are in the independent Atlantic League – including Ty Wright, Lou Montanez, and Matt Iannazzo.

A total of 19 former Boise Hawks players are currently playing in the Major League, while a record number of 34 players are currently at the Triple-A level through games played on Sunday night.

View the Boise Hawks MLB/AAA Alumni Report

At the big league level – two of the oldest former Hawks are having an amazing start to 2014.  John Lackey is 4-2 with a 3.72 ERA for the Red Sox, while Francisco Rodriguez has returned to K-Rod fame, having converted 14-of-14 save chances for the resurgent Brewers.  Josh Donaldson has rebounded from a 1-for-19 start, hitting .277 with seven homers and 23 RBI.

At AAA – Justin Bour is off to a hot-hot start with New Orleans, hitting .330 with four homers and 22 RBI, with his former teammate Arismendy Alcantara pushing for a call-up to Chicago by hitting .275 with two homers, eight doubles, four triples and 15 RBI at Iowa.

During the off season, I work as the sports information director and associate athletic director at the College of Idaho – 30 minutes west of Memorial Stadium.

On Saturday, I was working one of our baseball games – and happened to pick up a hand-held digital camera when our shortstop came up with the bases loaded in the 11th inning of a tie game.  This is what I captured.

A walk-off grand slam homer…but watch the video again…notice the bat flip, which social media jumped all over.

Starting with the Bleacher Report, then CBS Sports.com, and even the MLB Fan Cave.

In all, over 160,000 views of the video has occurred since Saturday night.  Hopefully just a start to a great summer of baseball in Boise!!!

A couple weeks into the Major League season and a week into the Minor League season – there have been a lot of MLB games listened to (Pat and Ron on WGN, Bob and Joe on WTMJ, Rick and Aaron on KIRO just to name a few), but also to the I-Cubs, Smokies, D-Cubs, and Cougars.

First and foremost – the Cubs bats are in need of a witch-doctor to get them going. The big league club is hitting .241 (10th in the NL), Iowa is hitting .210 (last in the PCL), Tennessee is hitting .223 (8th of 10 teams in the Southern League), Daytona is hitting .243 (7th in the FSL), and Kane County is hitting .228 (13th of 16 teams in the Midwest League). Maybe the recently retired Bill Buckner needs to come to the rescue – remembering that a lot of these guys worked under Buck in Boise the last two years, where the Hawks hit .269 and .278 as a team for an entire year. Though Buck is probably getting plenty of fishing in and ready for Lucky Peak to open for the season.

Those struggling with the lumber aren’t just limited to the Cubs system, it’s happening to former Hawks – Ryan Flaherty (’08) is hitting .152 for the Orioles, Josh Donaldson (’07) started the season 2-for-22 for the A’s, before finding his groove – going 9-for-28 with three homers on a recent six-game road swing, and Josh Harrison (’08) is 0-for-7 – all in pinch hit opportunities, for the Pirates.

But there have been bright spots. Welington Castillo (’06) slugged a go-ahead three-run home run on Friday night in the Cubs 11-inning win over the Cardinals; Robinson Chirinos (’02) hit his first MLB homer in three years for the Rangers at Boston, then added a walk-off RBI single in extra innings to beat the Astros on Thursday; Andrew Cashner (’08) threw a one-hit shutout for the Padres against the Tigers, and has a 1-1 record and a 1.29 ERA through three starts; and Francisco Rodriguez (’99) is a perfect 4-of-4 in save opportunities for the resurgent Brewers.

Other notes – Javier Baez has been put on the 7-Day DL by Iowa after turning an ankle fielding ground balls in Memphis. The revolving door of former Hawks to the big leagues has started – as Chris Rusin (’09) was promoted to the Cubs, pitched five innings of one-run ball in St. Louis, then sent back to Iowa in favor of another former Hawk, Blake Parker (’07). Same goes for Jeff Beliveau (’08), who was called up by the Rays, sent down the next day, then recalled on Sunday afternoon. Kris Bryant (’13) leads the Southern League with three home runs, while Duane Underwood (’13) made his Midwest League debut for Kane County yesterday, allowing a run on three hits in a win over Lake County.

Finally – I saw an online post about a broadcaster hitting a milestone in his career, calling his 2,000th game – and it harkened (when I use the word, I think of Ed Harken from Anchorman) me to longevity in the industry. My friend and colleague, Pat Dillon of the Everett Aquasox, has called well over 1,000 games in the Northwest League, and I will push past the 700 game mark this season – and we only have the luxury of a 76-game season (not the 140 game marathon of the long-season affiliates). But what caught my eye was the fact that we as broadcasters in the NWL are lifers – yes guys like Ben Ingram (Braves), Dennis Higgins (Giants), and Jon Sciambi (ESPN) have their roots from our league – but the majority of us love what we do and aren’t using the league as a stepping stone.

Of all the Class-A leagues (FSL, Cal, Carolina, Midwest, Sally, NYPL, Northwest, Pioneer, and Appy) – over half of the radio guys in the league are long tenured – with the highest percentage of veterans in the game. Mike Boyle has been with Spokane for now four years, but was with Tri-City for the four years before that; Rob Fai has been with Vancouver since the 2006 season (and had time with the C’s before that); Rich Burk was a tenured broadcaster for years-and-years with the Portland Beavers in the PCL before the team moved, and is now with the Hillsboro Hops; and Bob Robertson, who still sits in with Boyle in Spokane on the west side of the mountains, has been calling minor league games since the early 80s.

No one, however, has done it longer that Dillon, who began his time in the league with the Bellingham Giants and now with the Aquasox – all the way back to 1995. The only other Class A broadcaster with a similar timeframe is former Hawks broadcaster Sean McCall (who was in Boise from 1991-95), who has been the radio guy at Lake Elsinore (Cal League) since 1996. No one else in Class A has a 199- by their name.

But it is scary to see where I fit in the universe – starting as a fill in scorer/PA guy in 2002, moving to the radio booth a year later. Only Chris Mehring of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the Midwest League bridges myself and the others – only three other broadcasters have been in Class A longer (well, that doesn’t count Nathan Baliva of Peoria, Joe Ritzo of San Jose, and Craig Deas of Lake County – part of my 2003 class). All of these guys feel the same way I do – we love our job, we love our team, we love our community – and though we’ve dreamed to sit in the ESPN chair – we wouldn’t have it any other way, being the voice of our team.

Mark your calendars – two months from yesterday – is the opening of the NWL season as the Hawks host Tri-City.

Opening Day has come and gone (if you don’t count the games in Australia) and a couple things stood out – Jeff Samardzija looked sharp for the Cubs (as did Francisco Liriano for Pittsburgh), the Angels bullpen may struggle this year, and the ball can really travel in the newly configured Citi Field.

As for the former Boise Hawks…

In the Cubs-Pirates game, Samardzija tossed seven shutout innings, allowing just five hits and striking out three.  At the plate, Welington Castillo was 0-for-2 for the Cubs with a strikeout, while for the Bucs, Josh Harrison struck out against former Tri-City Dust Devil, Pedro Strop, in a pinch-hitter role.

Al Alburquerque pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Tigers in a 4-3 win over the Royals; Jerry Blevins struck out three, but allowed a two-run homer to David Wright in his Nationals debut in New York; Francisco Rodriguez locked down the save in a Brewers 2-0 win over Atlanta; while Donnie Veal retired the one batter he faced for the White Sox in a 5-3 win over Minnesota.

Ryan Flaherty got the start at third for the Orioles against Boston, going 0-for-3 in a 2-1 victory; both former Hawks played for the Rays in their win over Toronto – Brandon Guyer scoring a run as a pinch runner and Joel Peralta tossing two-thirds innings of spotless relief; with Josh Donaldson going 2-for-4 in the A’s 2-0 loss to Cleveland.

A total of 18 former Boise Hawks are on active Major League Baseball rosters to open the 2014 season.

On that list are a pair of players who will experience the thrill of breaking with a MLB team for the first time – 2007 Hawks outfielder Brandon Guyer and 2002 Hawks infielder Robinson Chirinos.

Guyer had a quality spring with the Tampa Bay Rays and breaks camp as their fourth outfielder, while Chirinos will platoon at catcher for the Texas Rangers while another former Hawk, Geovany Soto, is out due to injury.

Another former Boise player – 2003 pitcher Sean Marshall – begins the season on the Cincinnati Reds disabled list with a shoulder issue.

Two former Hawks – Andrew Cashner (2008) and Ricky Nolasco (2002) – earn opening day starts on the mound, Cashner for the Padres and Nolasco for the Twins.

The complete list:

Steve Clevenger (2006) – Orioles; Ryan Flaherty (2008) – Orioles; John Lackey (1999) – Red Sox; Joel Peralta (2000) – Rays; Brandon Guyer (2007) – Rays; Al Alburquerque (2007) – Tigers; Donnie Veal (2005) – White Sox; Ricky Nolasco (2002) – Twins; Josh Donaldson (2007) – Athletics; Robinson Chirinos (2002) – Rangers; Andrew Cashner (2008) – Padres; Tony Campana (2008) – Diamondbacks; Marwin Gonzalez (2008) – Astros; Jeff Samardzija (2006) – Cubs; Welington Castillo (2006) – Cubs; Francisco Rodriguez (1999) – Brewers; Josh Harrison (2008) – Pirates; Jerry Blevins (2004) – Nationals.

Currently, 58 former Boise Hawks have played in at least one MLB Spring Training Game – including outstanding starts to the year by 2008 SS Marwin Gonzalez, 2002 IF Robinson Chirinos, and 2011 SS Javier Baez

Click Here to View the Alumni Report

The January Hot Stove Report looks back on the 2013 season and the Top-10 moments of the season

Here is the December edition of the Boise Hawks Hot Stove Report