Jesse Hahn has been called up to make a spot start for the San Diego Padres Tuesday night vs. the Pirates. He impressed the Padres coaching staff and almost made the club coming out of spring training. Despite coming off of Tommy John surgery, they have really high hopes for him.
"We feel what we saw in Spring Training with Jesse was a Major League arm, big league stuff, good head on his shoulders," Black said. "Some of the other guys we considered, it just didn't quite fall on their day and maybe they hadn't pitched with the consistency that Jesse has pitched his last couple times out."
I am not sure how long this stay with the club will be, as spot starters tend to be sent back down after the start, but he will join Joe Saunders as the only other VT alum in the majors. Hopefully, this will lead to longer stints and eventually a permanent roster spot.
They should be joined soon by Austin Wates, who has been doing well in the Astros' minor league system.
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Have to admit I had lost track of the guys that helped us make our run in 2010. Glad to see some of the guys are having success at a high level. It's unfortunate Jesse had to come back from Tommy John's already. He was a dominant #1 starter for us when he was healthy.
IIRC, Hahn's draft value fell because he had either an elbow injury or forearm strain late in his last year for the Hokies. Both are often precursors to torn UCL's, which mean TJ surgery. His name was thrown around as a potential late or supplemental 1st round pick before injury. He signed for 2nd round money, even though he was taken in the 6th.
His best pitch is by far his 4-seam fastball, as it sits in the mid-90s, occasionally touches triple digits, and sinks. He mixes it in with a solid 2-seam fastball (not as fast as a 4-seam, but with more movement) and developing curveball and changeup (both currently average, but can develop into an above average pitch).
Long-term, I think Hahn has a very interesting ceiling; if he can develop both a solid curve and change, he can turn into a 2 or 3 pitcher. If everything breaks right, I can see him as an Andrew Cashner type that gets good strikeout and ground ball numbers. And if he doesn't develop his secondary offerings (more likely), he could be an excellent reliever.
Hahn has put up nice numbers in his short minor league career, with a 2.34 ERA, 1.106 WHIP and 3.41 K/BB ratio. The key is that good K/BB ratio - minor league ERA's tell you what happened already, but solid K/BB ratios can help you better predict what is going to happen. It's also worth noting that Hahn has only allowed 1 HR in 153 and 2/3 minor league innings, which is due to his ground ball tendencies paired with his strikeout abilities. That's a sexy combination of skillz.
Definitely going to be a fun guy to keep an eye on over the next few years. Go Jesse!
I hope he's not like Andrew Cashner. As a Cubs fan it never seemed like he could stay healthy, and as a current fantasy owner of him, I'm still inclined to believe Cashner can't stay healthy for an entire season since there is currently a red DL15 next to his name right now.
I've always loved Cash's stuff, and have continuously been frustrated by his injury history as well. I'd say my comparison between Hahn and Cash is more of a stuff and style comparison than an across-the-board one, so don't hold your breath yet on Hahn's future health.
Yeah I know, I think I just needed a place to vent for a second, and at least you didn't mention Mark Prior. I hope Hahn does well in the major's and hopefully has stuff like Cashner's without the injury problems.
FWIW, I was at the game and when I paid attention, his fastball was consistently around 92-93 last night on the Petco gun. As a comparison, Gerrit Coles (Pirates) was around 95, so I don't think the gun was slow.
Also his curve was in the mid 70s. Probably a little too much difference.
In addition to Wates knocking on the door for a call-up, Ben Rowen could be up soon for the Rangers. He's straight up dominated over his minor league career as a reliever. He's already on Texas' 40 man roster, so they wouldn't need to make space on the roster to call him up.
Chad Pinder, Tyler Horan and Joe Mantiply are also having solid years, all in A-level ball of some sort.
Rowen got called up today! Best of luck to him!!
Congrats to Jesse and hopefully San Diego can keep him around. Maybe he can be a reliever?
EDIT: I need to learn to read the full post. Isn't Chad Pinder in the A's farm system?
Yep, he's hitting well in A ball right now. A few years away, if he develops right.
Ugh, I went to the Padres game last night and am going to the game on Saturday as well but can't make Hahn's start tomorrow. Bummer but I'll be watching it on TV for sure.
I went to the game last night. Too bad for the outcome. He made a couple of mistakes that really hurt him.
I only watched bits and pieces of the game, but it seemed like the adrenaline was pumping in the beginning and that affected the control a bit. He pitched great the first two innings, though. The first home run was on a pretty good pitch (curveball low & away) that Walker just went with. I didn't catch much of the game after that because it was bed time.
From what I did see (in less than 3 innings) was that he doesn't yet trust himself when he gets in trouble and starts to nibble at the corners. Also, he probably needs to spend some time in the minors to work on his stamina (his goal was 90 pitches in this game) if he is to be a viable starter.
Does anyone have a link for the game? I've tried BOSSCAST and FirstRow but I can't get it to come up. TIA
The Pirates announcers just said he grew up a Pirates, Penguins and Steelers fan. AND he's a Hokie? This kid might be my new favorite non-Pirates baseball player.
The San Diego broadcasters and Analysts liked what they saw out of him. At least that's what they said on the post game show.
Hokies catcher Mark Zagunis just went to the Cubs with the 4th pick of the 3rd round in the MLB Draft (78th overall). Congrats to him!
RHP Brad Markey went to the Cubs as well in the 19th round (559th overall).
LHP/1B/OF Sean Keselica is likely to get selected before the draft ends as well.
Hahn has dominated in his past two starts... 13 IP, 0 ER, 5 BB, 14 K's. His WHIP (walk and hits per inning pitched) is down to 1.14 and his ERA 2.16
These are big time numbers if he can keep it up.
Hahn continues to dominate... last start on the road vs. the Reds: 5 IP, O runs, 3 hits, 2 BB's, 9 K's
Since first start: 24 IP, 31 K's, 8 BB's, 13 hits, 2 earned runs with a 0.75 ERA
Yea, he'll have to be that good to win games with Padres' lineup. I haven't been able to get myself down to Petco Park for a game of his, but I'll have to do it before the season is up. He's off to a phenomenal start. It'll be interesting to see if you can keep this up when he sees the same lineups again.
Hahn is still killing it.