Tomorrow will mark the first game that the Kansas City Royals Luke Hochevar (anytime I hear or say his last name I feel like I have something in my throat) has appeared in the major leagues since August of 2008. He will be opposed by Trevor Cahill of the Oakland Athletics at 10:05 pm eastern time. Hochevar is a 6'5" righthander from Denver, Colorado who played college baseball for the Tennessee Volunteers. Hochevar and Casey actually have something in common, they were both crowned Prom King in High School (although I doubt Hochevar's stirred as much speculation and outrage as Casey's).Hochevar had a very peculiar draft, or should I say three of them. He was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2002 but didn't sign and instead enrolled at Tennessee. He was drafted by the Dodgers again in 2005 and the two sides were unable to come to an agreement, for that Casey continues to thank Scott Boras to this day. This paved the way for him to enter the 2006 draft and he was selected by the Royals with the first overall selection.
Hochevar spent most of the 2008 season with the big league club going 6-12 with a 5.51 ERA in 22 appearances, all starts. He made his major league debut September 8, 2007 against the hated Yankees (booo!!). Hochevar's major league career has netted him a 6-13 record and 5.21 ERA over 26 total appearances.
The Royals made room for Hochevar by moving Sidney Ponson to the bullpen. Ponson has been very up and down this season (1-4, 5.91 ERA), he is however coming off his most impressive outing thus far when he went 7 1/3 innings and gave up only one run to...you guessed it..the Seattle Mariners. Kansas City could no longer overlook Hochevar and the amazing job he is doing for the Triple A Omaha Royals, where he has amassed a 5-0 record with a 0.90 ERA this season.
Hochevar is joining a Royals rotation that has all five pitchers aged 30 or younger and is first in the Major Leagues with a 3.45 team ERA. The average age of the starting five is 26.6 years old.
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