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Chris Hatcher will joke about his struggles at the plate. But his arm has never been a question, and the Florida Marlins have taken notice.
While big-name free agents are busy worrying about their pocketbooks this offseason, the Marlins are busy keeping Hatcher on their 40-man roster and converting him from a catcher to a pitcher, the Kinston native told The Free Press last week.
“I think it was because I couldn’t hit,” joked Hatcher, who was an early-September call-up from Double-A Jacksonville (Fla.). “Anybody with a mid- to upper-90s fastball you want to pitch.”
Hatcher, the fourth Lenoir County native to reach the big leagues, was a switch-hitting standout catcher at Kinston High and UNC Wilmington before being drafted by the Marlins in the fifth round of the 2006 amateur draft. He struggled to hit in the minors with a career .210 average, but reached Triple-A New Orleans behind an outstanding arm that caught 88 of 133 would-be base stealers over a five-year minor league career, according to the statistics website BaseballReference.com.
A late-season injury to Florida catcher Brett Hayes called for the call-up of Hatcher, and in five games he went 0-for-6 but threw out the only baserunner that tried to steal on him in two starts behind the plate.
“I made it (to the majors) as a catcher,” Hatcher said. “I think it might be pretty cool to make it back as a pitcher.”
In 135 career games with the Jacksonville Suns, Hatcher came out of the bullpen twice and pitched a total of 1 1/3 scoreless, hitless and walkless innings. His last outing — on June 13, he said — he picked up the win in relief with a strikeout.
Hatcher said he’s been clocked with a fastball in the mid- to upper-90s, and that the news of him going from the receiving end of the battery to the giving end didn’t come as a surprise.
When he was called to the big leagues in September, joining pitcher George Suggs (1908-13), catcher Charlie White (1954-55) and pitcher Jason Roach (2007) as past Lenoir County natives to get there, the certainty that Hatcher would finish the season with the Marlins wasn’t there. But he did, and he’ll begin 2011 continuing his dream of reaching the majors, albeit a pitcher for the first time.
“It’s one of the things growing up that you don’t think you’ll reach the top,” he said. “Growing up, I always said I wanted just one day in the big leagues.”
While big-name free agents are busy worrying about their pocketbooks this offseason, the Marlins are busy keeping Hatcher on their 40-man roster and converting him from a catcher to a pitcher, the Kinston native told The Free Press last week.
“I think it was because I couldn’t hit,” joked Hatcher, who was an early-September call-up from Double-A Jacksonville (Fla.). “Anybody with a mid- to upper-90s fastball you want to pitch.”
Hatcher, the fourth Lenoir County native to reach the big leagues, was a switch-hitting standout catcher at Kinston High and UNC Wilmington before being drafted by the Marlins in the fifth round of the 2006 amateur draft. He struggled to hit in the minors with a career .210 average, but reached Triple-A New Orleans behind an outstanding arm that caught 88 of 133 would-be base stealers over a five-year minor league career, according to the statistics website BaseballReference.com.
A late-season injury to Florida catcher Brett Hayes called for the call-up of Hatcher, and in five games he went 0-for-6 but threw out the only baserunner that tried to steal on him in two starts behind the plate.
“I made it (to the majors) as a catcher,” Hatcher said. “I think it might be pretty cool to make it back as a pitcher.”
In 135 career games with the Jacksonville Suns, Hatcher came out of the bullpen twice and pitched a total of 1 1/3 scoreless, hitless and walkless innings. His last outing — on June 13, he said — he picked up the win in relief with a strikeout.
Hatcher said he’s been clocked with a fastball in the mid- to upper-90s, and that the news of him going from the receiving end of the battery to the giving end didn’t come as a surprise.
When he was called to the big leagues in September, joining pitcher George Suggs (1908-13), catcher Charlie White (1954-55) and pitcher Jason Roach (2007) as past Lenoir County natives to get there, the certainty that Hatcher would finish the season with the Marlins wasn’t there. But he did, and he’ll begin 2011 continuing his dream of reaching the majors, albeit a pitcher for the first time.
“It’s one of the things growing up that you don’t think you’ll reach the top,” he said. “Growing up, I always said I wanted just one day in the big leagues.”
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