Blake Edward Hawksworth (born March 1, 1983) is a baseball coach and former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played college baseball at

Bellevue Community College Bellevue College (BC) is a public college in Bellevue, Washington, United States. It is the largest of the 34 institutions that make up the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system and the third-largest institution of higher educatio ...

in 2002 and professionally for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

and

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

between 2009 and 2011.

Early life and career beginnings

He grew up in

Sammamish, Washington Sammamish ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 67,455 at the 2020 census. Located on a plateau, the city is bordered by Lake Sammamish to the west and the Snoqualmie Valley to the east. Sammamish is a resi ...

, and was drafted in the 28th round out of Eastlake High School in by the Cardinals. He played one year of baseball at

(now simply Bellevue College) before signing with the Cardinals as a draft and follow. Prior to playing at Bellevue Community College, Blake played several years under Bill Caudill for the Mercer Islanders and Fox Sports. After two superb seasons in the minors, he was named by

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

as the Cardinals' top prospect in . However, injuries limited him to pitching in only nine games in and . However, he got right back on track in as he went 11–4 and with an

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

under 3 between the

Palm Beach Cardinals The Palm Beach Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in the town of Jupiter in Palm Beach County, Florida, and play their home games at Roge ...

and the

Springfield Cardinals The Springfield Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springfield, Missouri. They compete as a member of the Texas League's North Division. The Cardinals began play in 2005. The team is owned by the 11-time Major League Baseball ...

. In , he played for the

Memphis Redbirds The Memphis Redbirds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in Memphis, Tennessee, and are named for their Major League Baseball affiliate. The Redbir ...

and ended the season with a disappointing 4–13 record with a 5.28 ERA. And in 2008, he went 5–7 with a 6.09 ERA.

Major leagues

St. Louis Cardinals

He made his major league debut on June 6,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, pitching two IP, giving up four runs, three hits (including a home run), walking one, and striking out one. Despite this, his debut was looked at as positive because of his excellent pitch command. The Cardinals had high hopes for him in the future, as he was one of the organization's better young pitching talents. Hawksworth was hit in the face near his mouth by a line drive by outfielder

Sam Fuld Samuel Babson Fuld (born November 20, 1981) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and the current general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. He played eight seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Tampa B ...

, and crumpled to the ground, in a game in September 2010. He left the field under his own power and was taken to hospital. The injury required approximately 20 stitches, and ended his season. In two seasons with the Cardinals, he appeared in 75 games, starting eight of them. His overall record was 8–8 with a 4.07 ERA.

Los Angeles Dodgers

On November 30, 2010, he was traded to the

for infielder

Ryan Theriot Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

. He appeared in 49 games for the Dodgers, all in relief, with a 2–5 record and 4.08 ERA. Hawksworth began feeling tenderness and discomfort in his elbow during the offseason and underwent elbow surgery in early January 2012. This injury caused him to be placed on the 60-day disabled list at the start of the season. He began a rehab assignment in June but was shut down after a couple of appearances due to shoulder soreness. On August 23, he underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery, which ended any chance he had to return in 2012 and the report from the team was that he might also miss the 2013 season as a result of the recovery period. On October 12, 2012 the Dodgers outrighted him to AAA and removed him from the 40-man roster. On October 17, he elected to become a free agent. Hawksworth retired in February 2014.

Coaching

After his baseball career ended due to injury, Hawksworth became an assistant basketball coach at Eastlake High School. On August 20, 2019, Blake Hawksworth was named as the Pitching Coach for

Grand Canyon University Grand Canyon University (GCU) is a private for-profit Christian university in Phoenix, Arizona. Based on student enrollment, Grand Canyon University was the largest Christian university in the world in 2018, with 20,000 attending students on ...

for the 2020 baseball season.

Personal life

His older sister

Erin Erin is a Hiberno-English word for Ireland originating from the Irish word ''"Éirinn"''. "Éirinn" is the dative case of the Irish word for Ireland, "Éire", genitive "Éireann", the dative being used in prepositional phrases such as ''"go h� ...

is a

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

sports anchor in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and his grandfather

Jack Poole John Wilson "Jack" Poole, (April 14, 1933 – October 23, 2009) was a Canadian businessman who, as the head of the VANOC bid committee, was responsible for bringing the 2010 Winter Olympics to Canada. He died of pancreatic cancer shortly afte ...

was the head of the VANOC bid committee that brought the Winter Olympics to Vancouver.

References

External links

Blake Hawksworth page at Foxsports.comOfficial Cardinals ProfileBlake Hawksworth page at Stlcardinals.scout.comCareer Profile at Mahalo.com
{{Uncited category, biography of a living person, cat1=People from North Vancouver, cat2=People from Sammamish, Washington, cat3=Bellevue Bulldogs baseball players, date=February 2022 1983 births Bellevue Bulldogs baseball players Canadian emigrants to the United States Living people People from North Vancouver St. Louis Cardinals players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Canada Baseball people from British Columbia Johnson City Cardinals players New Jersey Cardinals players Palm Beach Cardinals players Peoria Chiefs players Springfield Cardinals players Memphis Redbirds players Gulf Coast Cardinals players Rancho Cucamonga Quakes players People from Sammamish, Washington Cal State Fullerton Titans baseball coaches Grand Canyon Antelopes baseball coaches