James Hoey has a major league-caliber fastball. Just ask the guys who face him.
Hoey?s fastball is so difficult for his peers to hit, he has been throwing it exclusively in recent weeks.
“I?ve gotten away with a lot of fastballs,” he said. “I haven?t even thrown sliders the past couple of games.”
Hoey, 23, is a 6-foot-6 right-hander who played sparingly the past two seasons due to ligament replacement, or “Tommy John” surgery. While the setbacks from the operation held Hoey out of baseball for over a year, his rehabbed arm is better for the long haul.
“Between Tommy John and maturing, [his fastball] has gained three miles an hour,” said Hoey, who recently touched 100 mph on the radar gun after previously topping out at 96. “And it?s still going up.”
He began the year at Single-A Delmarva before jumping to Single-A Frederick. He was recently promoted to Double-A Bowie, where he is closing games while working with Baysox pitching coach Scott McGregor.
“I just like the way he looks on the mound,” McGregor said. “He looks very comfortable out there, very competitive, very emotionally controlled. And his motion is a nice, easy motion.”
After closing in college, Hoey had not earned a professional save coming into the 2006 season. He is 2-1 with a 2.01 ERA and 32 saves in 47 games between three levels this year.
“It was just a matter of him getting it healthy,” McGregor said. “He?s on a fast track now.”
David Stockstill, the Orioles? director of minor league operations, also thinks Hoey has a future in the majors.
“I think he?s definitely a late-inning reliever in the big leagues,” Stockstill said. “I don?t know that he?s a closer, but he?s definitely going to be looked at in that respect some day.”
As Orioles fans dream of Hoey setting up for closer Chris Ray, the Trenton, N.J., native has his sights set on 2007 spring training.
“That?s my main goal,” Hoey said. “I?d like to go to big league spring training. Just prove myself there and see what happens.”
The Hoey file
» Age: 23
» College: Rider University
» Pitches: Fastball, slider, changeup
» Did you know? The Orioles? 13th-round pick in the 2003 draft, Hoey had not progressed above short-season Single-A prior to this season ? Hoey had 11 saves and a 0.64 ERA in 14 games at Frederick ? Batters are hitting just .197 against him in 2006.
