A couple of random notes before the hustle and bustle of the next two weeks hit (Rule 4 Draft is Monday-Wednesday, Hawks Roster finalized in a week, season opens June 18)…

Big news was out of Chicago on May 31, as the first former Hawk from the 2008 season was promoted to the Big Leagues.  Andrew Cashner was called up from AAA Iowa after a stellar start to the 2010 season to fill the void of the struggling John Grabow in the bullpen.  In three appearances with the big club (one in Pittsburgh and two in Houston), Cashner has thrown 3.2 scoreless innings of relief.  Also back in the big leagues is Robb Quinlan with the Angels, called up after Kendry Morales broke his leg in a celebration following a walk-off homer against the Mariners.

Other news – Extended Spring Training has come to a close, with the Cubs going 19-27-8 in 54 games against fellow Cactus League opponents.  We will have an recap of the final “unofficial” stats from Extended in the coming days.

Also from EST, my guess is that upwards of 20 players will be heading to Boise to help comprise the 2010 Hawks – depending on how quickly the Cubs sign their Rule 4 draft picks in the next week.  I will have a full roster of the 50 or so players still in Mesa in the next couple days as well.

Things to think about – the radio broadcast for 2010 is starting to take shape, with a couple new ideas.  Hawk Talk (pregame show title for two years) has been renamed HawksTown Tonight (conceived from the new branding initiative), and the postgame show has been tabbed the Coors Extra Innings Report.  Also, our first interviews for our Wednesday GoCubsGo segment have been recorded – as have interviews with our major league correspondents.

A total of 125 former Boise Hawks will suit up in professional baseball as of Sunday night.  Of the group, 74 of the players are still in the Chicago Cubs organization – including five players with the Cubs themselves.  The oldest active player is Garret Anderson of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who played for the Hawks in 1990, while Jay Jackson, Andrew Cashner, and Casey Coleman, who played for the Hawks in 2008, have advanced to AAA.

 

This updated list also includes players from the seven recognized indepedent leagues (Atlantic, Frontier, Canadian-American, Northern, American Association, Continental, and United), of which 17 former Hawks are currently playing.

 

Here is the full list of former Hawks in professional baseball (
HawksAlumniReport5-23-10.pdf)

After hearing some discussion about how Boise professional teams have fared in placing talent in their respective “Big Leagues,” I decided to thoroughly research this history of the Boise Hawks and professional baseball in the City of Trees – and found some interesting things.

Between myself and local sports guru, Tom Scott, we had a list of 70 former Hawks in the Big Leagues since 1987 – however, we were off.  It was really 76 – two from the Mal Fitchman independent days, 47 from the Angels affiliate days, and 27 from the Cubs.

But I dug further – all the way back to 1939, the days of the Boise Pilots, Boise Yankees, Boise Braves, Boise A’s, and Boise Buckskins – adding another 48 players who went on to the big leagues.  Rickey Henderson and Bob Uecker – enshrined in the Hall of Fame, both played in Boise, as did Dontrelle Willis and Geovany Soto – NL Rookies of the Year.  As did all-stars Henderson, Willis, Soto, Gerry Staley, Sandy Alomar Sr., Garret Anderson, Troy Percival, John Lackey, and Francisco Rodriguez.

Since 1952 – only the 1987 and 1988 teams did not produce a big league talent (2008 and 2009 are still too recent), while the 1998 did not provide a new name, Greg Jones (who played for the Hawks first in 1997) did reach the majors.

Enjoy the Official List of former Boise players who have headed to the Major Leagues. (
All-TimeBoisePlayersMLB.pdf)
 

A total of 45 players remain at Fitch Park, the Spring Training Complex for the Chicago Cubs, continuing the Cactus League season as part of Extended Spring Training.

Many players have been promoted from Arizona, including former Hawks James Leverton (who was in Arizona coverting to a side-arm delivery), Larry Suarez, D.J. Fitzgerald, Jonathan Mota (who was in Arizona converting to a catcher), and Francisco Guzman.

Impressing the most has been lefty Marcos Perez, who has not allowed an earned run in 17-plus innings of work, holding opponents to a .105 batting average, with 16 strikeouts and just one walk in his first season away from the Dominican Republic (went 8-3 in two years in the Dominican Summer League).

At the plate, young middle-infielder Ping-Chieh Chen reminds many of former Hawk, Hak-Ju Lee, with outfielder Jesus Morelli recording six extra-base hits since joining the team from Class-A Peoria.

A complete look at the Boise/Mesa Extended Squad can be found here
HawksEXSpringReport5-13-10.pdf

After coming up with a final list of 20 position players from the decade of 2000-09, members of the Boise Hawks front office, along with members of the Boise Media selected the Top-10 Boise Hawks Position Players of the Decade.

Of the group, only three have played in the major leagues, while nine of the ten are currently active in professional baseball.

Let us know what you think: 
Top-10PlayersHawks.pdf

Former 2007 Boise Hawks catcher Josh Donaldson was called up by the Oakland Athletics on Friday, made a pinch-hitting appearance in last night’s  10-2 loss to the Blue Jays and is in the starting line-up at the Rogers Centre for today’s matinee against Toronto.

 

Donaldson, who was hitting .269 with four home runs and 19 RBI at AAA Sacramento, was added to the 40-man roster after starting catcher, Kurt Suzuki, was played on the 15-Day DL.  He becomes the 70th former Boise Hawk to play in the Major Leagues.

 

In 2007, the former Auburn Tiger had a big season for the Hawks, hitting .346, with nine home runs and 35 RBI.  A year later, he was involved in Cubs-A’s six-player trade that sent Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to Chicago, for Donaldson, Eric Patterson, Sean Gallagher, and Matt Murton.

 

Donaldson joins another former Hawk, Jerry Blevins, on the Athletics roster.

 

With Donaldson, there are now 19 former Boise Hawks on MLB rosters.

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.

While the four full-season minor league affiliates for the Chicago Cubs have started play, a group of 53 players remained in Mesa, Arizona, as part of Extended Spring Training – working on fundamentals and playing early morning Cactus League games against other Extended teams.

Of this group, 20 of the players are former Boise Hawks – including players learning the art of pitching (Dylan Johnston, Drew Rundle, Alvaro Sosa), while two other former Hawks are learning the art of catching (Jonathan Mota, Jae-Hoon Ha).

Thanks to Arizona Phil of The Cub Reporter – who attends every EST game, I have been able to compile statistics for the Boise/Mesa group through their first nine outings (3-4-2 during that stretch).  You can find the stats by clicking this link –
HawksEXSpringReport4-22-10.pdf

For the last few weeks, the talk of a possible new facility in either Boise or Meridian to house the Boise Hawks and other local outdoor events has picked up speed.

On Tuesday afternoon, Hawks President/General Manager, Todd Rahr, spent a half hour on 670 KBOI-AM’s Nate Shelman Show to talk about the issue and take calls from listeners.  The following day, he spent 15 minutes talking with Jeff Caves and Brian Murphy on 1350 KTIK-AM’s Idaho Sports Talk.

Click on the the following links to hear the interviews (KBOI Segment 1 –
Todd1.wma) (KBOI Segment 2 –
Todd2.wma) (KTIK Segment
todd3.wma).  Each of the segments run about 15 minutes of length.

Rahr has developed his own blog to talk about the Treasure Valley Sports and Entertainment Complex at http://rahrinsight.blogspot.com/.

After an initial group of 34 pitchers selected from members of the media, past and present Hawks staff, and fans via the Hawks social media networks, a voting panel has selected the Top-10 Boise Hawks Pitchers of the Decade (2000-09).

Of the group, two have not made their Major League debuts, while two others are currently not pitching at the Big League level.

Let me know what you think…
HawksPitchersofDecade.pdf.

(Special Thanks to Julie Takeuchi for the historical photos)