Julian, CA - Monday, February 19, 2007; After four years as the Pacific Beach Bombers, the Julian Javelina have undertaken something of a face lift - both in terms of uniform and personnel. After years of struggling to put together deep, competitive outfield units, Javelina GM Jamie Hoyle has been hard at work building a productive, youthful core of outfielders for his franchise. Ultimately, the fortunes of the team could depend heavily upon the numbers posted by a sweet-swinging lefty by the name of Brad Hawpe."Heading into the draft, we really placed an emphasis on finding productive outfielders," said Hoyle. "Brad was a guy we targeted from the beginning. He's patient, uses the whole field, runs well and is developing a knack for driving the ball."
Hawpe, who spent last season with the Knoxville Possums, is coming off his best season in the majors. He posted career highs in batting average (.293), home runs (22), runs batted in (84), extra base hits (61), and runs scored (67). He also led all National League outfielders in assists and stole five bases.
Even with the great numbers, Hawpe understands he has some things to improve on as he enters his fourth full season in the majors.
"I felt like I word down a little late in the season, but that's to be expected considering I hadn't played a full season at this level," said Hawpe. "I've also worked hard at keeping my front shoulder in against the lefties during the off-season. If I can work left-center [against those guys] with more regularity, I'll hit them better."
The Javelina staff make no secret about it; they expect Hawpe to take a big step toward stardom in 2007. Hoyle, who has been known to spend time in the cages with his players when he's not exploring trades, sees in his new right fielder a big-time run producer. His enthusiasm is apparent when discussing Hawpe.
"There is no reason he can't excel at this level," said Hoyle. "He really is very similar to Todd Helton, with maybe a little less pop. With some minor tweaks, we're looking at a .300 hitter with 30+ home runs; it's just a matter of time, really."
Swings and misses...
Johan Santana and Aaron Harang are said to be working together a lot early on, with Harang looking to learn Santana's change up...Josh Barfield reported to camp on Saturday, and says he has been working on increasing his flexibility in order to add speed and power...Xavier Nady seems to have added some muscle in the off-season, and is eager to compete for playing time both in the outfield and at DH.
