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Nick Hundley Debuts in Style
By Chad Gramling | July 5, 2008
It must be something about Big League debuts for former Wizards catchers this year. When Luke Carlin made his, he caught Greg Maddux’s 350th career win. Nick Hundley debut last night and he served as backstop for Cha Seung Baek’s 6 innings of no-hit ball. If you’re keeping score at home, Baek was acquired from the Seattle Mariners earlier in the season in a trade that sent former Wizards pitcher, Jared Wells, to Seattle.
But it was the work of Nick Hundley and other former Wizards that nearly stole the show. Hundley went 1-3 with a walk, a run and a strikeout while playing flawlessly at the plate.
Leading 2-0 in the sixth, Baek gave up a two-out double to Stephen Drew. Justin Upton followed with a single and it appeared likely Drew would reach home safely. But Hundley applied the tag following a perfect throw from Chase Headley that killed the would-be Arizona Rally.
Paul McAnulty, another former Wizard, entered the game in place of Brian Giles in the 8th. In the top of the ninth,with San Diego up 3-1, Hundley walked off of Leo Rosales (yet another former Wizard). Edgar Gonzales hit a sacrifice fly to score Hundley (who had advanced to third after a Tony Clark walk and a Jody Gerut single). McAnulty added two insurance runs with a single to center; which knocked Rosales from the game.
Having been passed over three three times, “Hundley, 24, said he stayed focused on performing better. He responded, raising his batting average from .189 as of May to .232 on Wednesday, when he got the news” [source: SignOnSanDiego].
Hundley was sporting a throwout rate of 38 percent in Portland, which would upgrade the Padres’ worst in MLB caught-stealing rate of 13 percent; which is well below the MLB average of 27 percent. If he brought the home run stick with him too (he had 12 in Portland), he’ll undoubtedly upgrade the Padres offense too. Gotta wonder what the future holds for Michael Barrett when he recovers. I’ve seen and heard it rumored that San Diego was trying to move him even before the injury, so we’ll have to wait and see.
Photo by David Kadlubowski/Associated Press.
