St. John's University Athletics
Coach Blankmeyer Talks To CNNSI.com About Craig Hansen
9/29/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Sept. 29, 2005
QUEENS, NY - With the Boston Red Sox bullpen struggling for most of the season, many have called for a youth movement involving rookies Jonathan Papelbon and former St. John's closer Craig Hansen. CNN Sports Illustrated is one publication that has been ready to put Hansen in the team's closer role since his call-up on September 19, and correspondent Matt Waxman sat down with head coach Ed Blankmeyer on Tuesday to get his thoughts. The full-length article can be found here.
In June, the Boston Red Sox selected Hansen in the first round of the 2005 amateur draft (26th overall), and on September 19th he became the third player of the draft class to reach the major leagues. He made a combined 13 scoreless appearances for the Gulf Coast League (rookie-level) Red Sox and Double-A Portland Sea Dogs before joining Atlanta's Joey Devine and Washington's Ryan Zimmerman as first-year players to make Major League rosters this season.
Hansen capped off his St. John's career last season by going 3-2 with a 1.68 earned run average and 14 saves - the second-most in the nation. He earned BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year honors and extended his school saves record to 26, while also breaking a BIG EAST mark with 14 career saves in league games. Opponents had a team-low .173 average against Hansen with just eight extra-base hits, one home run and 48 total bases in 64.1 innings - marks that equated to a .218 opponent slugging percentage. He showed a fearlessness of the inside part of the plate, hitting a team-high nine batters by pitch, that should lead to success on baseball's biggest stage, according to current teammate David Wells.
"If he pitches in like that," Wells said, "guys aren't going to lean in, and he's going to have a pretty good career."