Blake Hawksworth’s baseball career has been a roller coaster ride, to be sure.
Background
Drafted in the 28th round in the 2001 draft, Hawksworth a consensus 1st round pick alongside high school teammate Andy Sisco. He fell as far as he because of a commitment to Cal State Fullerton, but Hawksworth’s grades weren’t up to snuff…and back then, if you didn’t have the grades to play college baseball, you didn’t have the grades to be a drive-thru cashier. Yeah. I’m not throwing stones, I can relate to being a fellow former unfocused high school punk, but that’s another story for perhaps another day. As a draft and follow, the Cards signed him for $1.475 M. As an aside, for my young single readers, and I know you all are out there-his sister is a sports reporter for a local TV station in Dallas who also happens to be pretty easy on the eyes. I’m not sure what her status is so don’t start revving up your engines, fellahs.
Injuries
Hawksworth pitched most of the 2003 season with a bone spur in his right ankle and was shut down mid August. After only 2 starts in 2004, he was shut down again and had surgery repair a partially torn labrum and he didn’t see any action until late in the 2005 season for New Jersey. Because of that, Hawksworth will always come with a warning label attached.
Scouting
Hawksworth was thought to have the highest ceiling of any Cardinal pitcher since they had Rick Ankiel in the farm system. When he was their #1 back in 2004, he was at 90-95, now he’s throwing 88-91, and can touch 92 on a good day. He will mix in a curve and a slider. His 12-6 curve can be a nice offering at times, but it lacks consistency in its rotation at times. The changeup is his best weapon, it has good descending movement, and Hawksworth has nice deception in his ¾ delivery. Here’s a video of him setting the Royals down in order.
Seems pretty smooth mechanically to me, maybe some of you amateur scouts can weigh in. His curve looks sharper then advertised, and for the most part he was hitting his spots with the fastball.
Stats
The K’s have expectedly declined after the surgery, but it’s the gopheritis that burned him last year. Let’s say he gave up 5 less homers last season; we’d be talking about what a successful year he had rather then him falling off the prospect map. His HR/air ratio was 10%, the 3rd highest in the PCL, and the PCL is a homer happy league. Maybe some of that was some hard luck. Overall, this is a Suppan-like skill set here, and Suppan’s a comparison a lot of people have drawn with Hawksworth, including some Cardinal insiders. Larry Borowsky interviewed his coach Dyar Miller not long ago, and he had this assessment on Hawk’s funky season:
Lboros: Was he getting beat on mistakes, or were they hitting his best stuff?
Miller:I think he started to get some pitches up, and maybe his pitch selection was a little off. They were looking for his sinker, and they hammered some of those. He pitched in some bad luck, too. He almost overanalyzes. He wants to be too fine, kind of like throwing darts. I tried to get him to just let the ball go. I just think he needs to get a little momentum going and not worry so much about being perfect. He’s got a pretty decent curve, his changeup’s one of his best pitches, and his fastball’s getting a little better. It’s starting to come back. There were a couple games toward the end of the year where it averaged 92, which is pretty good. My hope is that he’ll be 100 percent healthy this year. He can pitch in the big leagues.
Predictable patterns… over analyzing… “dart throwing”…getting the ball up. I could see why he was getting tagged. One thing Suppan was good at was out thinking the hitter, but you would see him “think too much”, if you can forgive me making a baseball cliché’.
The Future
I’m willing to bet that Blake’s problems are mental more then anything else. My initial concern was fatigue, and maybe there is some of that but there was no clear indication from that it was “the” issue. His K% actually spiked the last couple and Miller said his velocity was improving. My stupid hunch, for whatever it may be worth, is that his confidence eroded over time, he was pressing a little too hard, and getting into “don’t be a doofus” mode. Memphis is a depressing place to play baseball, they’ve been the Pittsburgh Pirates of the PCL for way too long and losing gets old, I don’t care who you are. He’s not coming fully back, but optimistically he could be a decent enough back of the rotation option along the lines of Ryan Franklin, Brian Bannister or your current day Matt Morris. But based on last year’s stats, he looks like a run of the mill swingman. No matter what, the dude’s name is Blake Hawksworth. That in and of itself is pretty cool.
Filed under: Blake Hawksworth, prospect profiles
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I really like the Hawk personally; it’s really a shame things have gone the way they have for the guy. It begs the question: how have teams not learned, in the 70 or so years since Dizzy Dean’s career was ruined, not to let a pitcher play through a leg/foot problem? Hawksworth had a tremendous ceiling, with a solid, repeatable, fairly low stress delivery that should have kept him healthy and consistent for years. He has an ankle issue, tries to pitch through the problem, can’t repeat his delivery properly, blows out his shoulder, and now he’s a no. 5 at best. How can organisatiopns be this stupid when it comes to the health of their investments? My mind is absolutely boggled.
As for his mechanics, as I said above, I like them. They’re simple. A guy with a delivery he can repeat can throw strikes. There isn’t a whole lot of extraneous motion, and he has a pretty good arm action, although it is a little choppy. Still, without the ankle problems, I think Hawk should have been able to stay healthy and maintain his stuff.
I’m rooting for the guy. I would really like to see him get a chance to compete for a long relief/ swingman type role with the big club this year, but there are an awful lot of those guys hanging around already. Good luck, Hawk.
The injury thing still pisses me off to no end. I just can’t get over the lack of care that teams take with valuable assets. Bahh. I’m done.
Looking at the video I think I see where some of his problems come from. He looks like an easy guy to pick up the ball on because he breaks his hands so early and shows the ball throughout his delivery. No deception.
She’s pretty, but that smile is a little frightening.
Oh, great rundown on Blake, by the way.
I’m no judge of mechanics but the motion does look smooth and efficient. I know what you mean about the name. When I was younger I was sure that there were baseball names that insured success. I re-evaluated after Blaise Ilsley didn’t make it. Still if somebody named Jimmy Gobble can pitch in the majors it seems that a guy named Blake Hawksworth should be able to.
I would like to see Hawksworth make it just because he has been a guy I have followed once I kinda started paying attention the the minors. He has battled and to see him make the bigs would be nice.
If he becomes a No. 4 starter then that ain’t all bad. He’s still young enough that there is hope.
Ahem:
http://www.o8sis.com/sharedcontent/dws/o8sis/powerwomen/stories/o8sis070822_kd_8womenerin.5d8235ae.html
————————————————————————–
name:
Erin Hawksworth
Is that your real name?
Yes
Are you single? Married? Seeing someone? Kids?
Single
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<3!
That aside, thanks for the profile. I’ve been pulling for the kid since he was drafted. Let’s hope you’re right and he can put everything together this year.
-RBB
easy,
My favorite is still Storm Davis.
Red Baron, didn’t Hawksworth hurt his shoulder in the weight room? Or am I thinking of someone else?
From the “creepy internet stalker” department, I proudly present: “getting to know erin hawksworth”. She’s single
On a somewhat related note, I sat next to Adam Ottavino’s cousin at a game in Tucson last year. She’s very cute, with long red hair, and lots and lots of freckles. Unfortunately she was there with her boyfriend, who is both a lawyer AND a cubs fan, but he was a pretty cool guy otherwise and really, really knew his baseball, so it was a good time.
Oops, redbirdbrain beat me to it. Must have been “awaiting moderation” when I posted…
At least I know I wasn’t the only one googling her
I am a Blake Believer. Dunc seemed to like him alot and hearing that he regained a bit of velo at the end of last year is good. Now do I believe he “averaged” 92? Not really, if he did you would think he would be 90-94 or 91-93 which I have not heard about Mr. Hawk in years. I think Dunc could make this guy a servicable 4… Hopefully last year was an abberation. Lord knows the god awful Memphis defense couldn’t have helped… Go Blake!
Lou-
Not as far as I know; I don’t know if I’ve ever heard any reports that mentioned exactly how hw hurt it, if it was something specific. If he did it lifting, it’s news to me.
I believe Lou is correct in the fact that Blake actually hurt his shoulder benchpressing not actually pitching. I’m too lazy to look for a link but I know I read this or heard it on the radio in an interview with Blake.
I don’t mean to denigrate Mr. Hawksworth, but whenever I hear of a player getting injured in some bizarre way — falling off a ladder while changing a light bulb, breaking a bone while carrying a slab of meat up a flight of stairs, spraining a back while getting out of a recliner while watching TV, whatever — it makes me nervous. In this particular case it doesn’t sound like a deficiency of character that’s being covered up, unlike some other prominent freak injuries, not to mention that this injury wasn’t as freakish as some. But there is a growing realization that health, i.e., the ability to avoid injury, is a skill. It sounds like it’s a skill he lacks. I hope I’m wrong and he can have a productive 2008 and beyond, but…
Does anyone know how hard it is to pitch in the PCL? He got his but kicked with the same stuff he was throwing up the year before when he was such a highly regarded prospect. After shoulder surgery, his velocity suffered as he had to learn how to pitch again. The ‘vets’ in the PCL made him pay.
He did not hurt his shoulder lifting weights. That is fact. Pitchers who throw across their body put more strain on the joint and he erdoed more quickly than most pitchers of his age. Watch Suppan. If you like comparisons. He steps towards first base which applies much less stress thans Hawks delivery. He is able to be much more consistent and thus rely on location and not velo.
The hardest part is getting his chance and I think he will get his foot in the door this year and Duncan will be waiting. This kid will succeed as his mechanics improve. They gave him enough cash to warrant 3 or 4 starts in 2008. Good demeanor, stayed aggressive through bad seasons. Good recipe for succesful major leaguer.
Probably in the Ryan Franklin mold without the ‘enhancers’
I am also a Hawk Hopeful. Blake Believer. His sister Erin, is a sports reporter in Dallas and she is gorgeous!
I found a picture of her here!
Erin Hawksworth Pic