St. John's University Athletics
Hansen Makes Big League Debut with Red Sox
9/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Sept. 20, 2005
Queens, NY - Former St. John's closer Craig Hansen (Glen Cove, NY) made his debut with the Boston Red Sox last night against Tampa Bay. The hurler tossed a scoreless fifth inning striking out Toby Hall and Julio Lugo in the process. His fastball registered as high as 97 mph.
``The past couple of days, I visualized myself out there and what it would be like,'' Hansen said. ``It was a great experience. I wish the team came out on top. It's very exciting to come up, especially around this time with the Boston Red Sox being in the playoff race, and to come down here and be a part of it.''
Hansen was selected by Boston in the first round of the 2005 amateur draft this past June and spent the summer playing with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs. Despite Boston's 8-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in last night's game, Hansen's performance, combined with the 12 scoreless innings he posted for Portland, has gotten the attention of many members of the Red Sox organization, including manager Terry Francona.
``He's going to be a huge part of the Red Sox,'' said Francona. ``I think it's important for his development to be here now. Anytime he pitches can't hurt his development. Being here for two weeks will do nothing but help in the spring. Regardless of how much he pitches, this is going to be good for him.''
Francona was not the only one to take note of the rookie right-hander as Red Sox pitcher David Wells had a few words for Hansen.
``The guy pitched pretty stellar,'' said Wells. ``If he pitches in(side) like that, guys aren't going to lean in, and he's going to have a pretty good career. One game doesn't do anything, but if he keeps doing it on a consistent basis, he's going to be fun to watch for a long time.''
Before entering the draft in June, Hansen was named the BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year, the first St. John's player to earn the award as the league's top hurler since C.J. Nitkowski won it 1994. The junior closer saved 14 games - which ranked second in the nation - for the Red Storm last season, extending his school record for career saves to 26. He finished the season with a 3-2 record and a 1.68 earned run average. Hansen notched eight saves last year in league games, tying the BIG EAST single-season record and also became the league's all-time saves leader with 14 saves in BIG EAST contests. Hansen struck out 85 batters in 64.1 innings of work, while registering an opponent batting average of .173. In his last appearance for the Red Storm, Hansen started against Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, his first start since his freshman year, going seven innings and allowing three runs on eight hits with three walks and eight strikeouts.
St. John's finished the 2005 season with a 41-18 record and was ranked No. 30 in the country by Collegiate Baseball. The team was selected as an at-large representative to the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year and advanced to the Regional Championship, where it lost to third-ranked Oregon State. St. John's won the BIG EAST Regular Season Championship with a 19-4 mark in league play and posted a school record 41 wins, the most since the 1978 Frank Viola-led team advanced to the College World Series.
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