The Boston Red Sox thought they had a steal on their hands when they snagged University of Washington left-hander Nick Hagadone with the 55th pick in the 2007 draft, and the early returns suggested they were right. The 6-foot-5, 230-pounder got lit up for five runs in his pro debut that summer for the short-season Class A Lowell Spinners , then settled in and kept his opponents off the board in his final nine appearances. Promoted to the Class A Greenville Drive to begin the 2008 season, Hagadone opened the year with 10 more scoreless frames. But in his third start he blew out his elbow, necessitating Tommy John surgery and ending his season.
Hagadone returned to the Drive on June 6 with 1 2/3 scoreless innings of work against the Houston Astros -affiliated Lexington Legends and kept the Colorado Rockies ' South Atlantic League affiliate, the Asheville Tourists , off the board for 2 2/3 innings five days later. The scoreless streak he started back in 2007 came to an end when Asheville scored four runs off him in his next outing, but Hagadone has performed well despite the fact that his stuff hasn't yet returned to its pre-Tommy John levels. In 16 innings of work, the 23-year-old has posted a 3.94 ERA and racked up 22 strikeouts.
I had the chance to speak with Hagadone - Boston's No. 3 prospect, according to Baseball America - Monday night after his Greenville teammates scored a 6-5 victory over the Washington Nationals -affiliated Hagerstown Suns .
Q: You worked mostly out of the 'pen at Washington but you've been used exclusively as a starter as a pro. What do you think your long-term role will be, and do you have a preference?
A: I'm really not sure what my role is going to be because I'm pretty limited now because I had Tommy John, so I can only pitch up to three innings. I think it's probably going to depend on my changeup and how that develops.
Q: Could you talk a bit about the different pitches you throw and how you like to use them?
A: I throw a fastball, slider and change. I'm mostly a fastball pitcher, and when I get ahead in the count I like to throw my slider. Still, right now, coming back from the surgery, I've lost the feel for my changeup a little bit, so I'm still trying to get that figured out.
Q: How does your present stuff compare to your pre-Tommy John surgery stuff?
A: It's close to where it was, but not quite. My fastball is good but the velocity is probably a couple miles per hour off where it was. My slider still has a sharp break but it's still not as hard as it was. And my changeup, the feel's just not there. I'll throw a good one every once in a while but a lot of the time it's not too good.
Q: Do you consider yourself a strikeout guy, a guy who pitches to contact, or some mixture of the two?
A: I'd say more of a mixture. I don't put up huge strikeout numbers but I do strike out more than a guy an inning. So it's kind of in between.
Click here to continue reading Nick Hagadone's Q&A on The Washington Times' National Pastime
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