ROB KEYS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- For a guy who has been traded and spent 20 days on the disabled list -- all since spring training -- Eric Hinske is in an awfully good mood these days.
    Maybe that's because the former Arkansas Razorback is playing every day, and playing with a team that obviously wants him to be a part of its future.
    Hinske, who was drafted by the Chicago Cubs after his junior season at Arkansas in 1998, now is the everyday third baseman for the Sacramento River Cats, the Oakland Athletics' Class AAA club.
    "I love being a professional baseball player," Hinske said. "It's a lot of fun. I like getting to see a lot of the country when we travel around, and we have a new ballpark here in Sacramento. We draw more people than the A's sometimes."
    Although he plays for a team that leads the Pacific Coast League in attendance, things weren't quite as fun for Hinske when Chicago shocked him back in the spring by trading him to Oakland.
    "The Cubs had been real good to me," Hinske said. "I was really enjoying my experience and was progressing pretty good. Getting traded was kind of a reality check, I guess you could say."
    The trade was surprising to Hinske in part because he had survived enough cuts to make the Cubs' 40-man roster during spring training. But after six minor-league games, including one against Oakland, Hinske was notified that he had been traded to the A's.
    "It was hard at first, leaving the team that drafted me and leaving all the friends I had made," Hinske said. "I was on a plane to California the next day, and it was kind of strange. But I got called into the general manager's office the next day and he explained that they had traded two guys for me. The thing about getting traded that way is that it means a team really wants you."
    One of the players Oakland sent to Chicago was infielder Miguel Cairo, who has spent roughly half the season as a bench player for the Cubs. Knowing that he was traded for a player good enough to play in the big leagues, Hinske said, comforted him even more.
    Discomfort soon followed, though, when Hinske strained his rib cage and was put on the disabled list.
    But since coming off the DL, Hinske's fortunes have shown a steady turnaround. Through Thursday (60 games), Hinske was batting .271 with 12 doubles, 12 home runs and 32 RBI.
    "They like the fact that I'm hitting home runs and walking a lot," Hinske said. "It's been a good fit."
    No one who saw the burly slugger play at Arkansas would be surprised by his numbers, but like most collegians who advance to the professional ranks, Hinske had plenty of adjustments to make.
    "I was so green," Hinske said with a laugh. "I had pretty much had success everywhere I went. But the pitching, especially when you make the jump from A to AA, is a lot better.
    "In A ball, you still see fastballs on a consistent basis and guys are still throwing the ball over the middle of the plate. At the upper levels, the pitchers really work the corners and they can throw at least three pitches for strikes. And if you're not hitting a certain pitch, that's all they're going to throw you until you prove you can hit it."
    Hinske continues to fine-tune his swing, work on hitting the ball to the opposite field and work on being more consistent in general. If he can do those things, he believes, Hinske could make the ultimate jump from AAA to the major leagues.
    "You can't always cover the whole plate or guess what the pitcher is going to throw," Hinske said. "I'm still working on picking a part of the plate to protect and trying to get a pitch that I can handle. You also need to be able to consistently hit the ball out of the park the other way. Anybody can turn on a ball and pull it out of the park, but if you can hit with power the other way, then pitchers are going to be like, 'Oh God, what do I throw now?' And if you can hit enough home runs to all parts of the field, that's what opens eyes."
    Hinske gave credit to Arkansas coaches Norm DeBriyn and Doug Clark, who he said he still talks to occasionally even though he spent just three years in Fayetteville after growing up in Menasha, Wis.
    "I still follow the Razorbacks as much as I can and I owe a lot to the coaches there. Coach Clark, especially, he taught me the basic mechanics of a good swing when I was just a raw kid. I'm a Razorback for life, I guess."
    And right now, life is good for Eric Hinske.

Cheering section not enough

By Rob White
Special to The Bee
(Published July 17, 2001)

OMAHA, Neb. -- When you hail from Wisconsin and you play in the Pacific Coast League, going to Omaha is about as close as you can come to home.
So River Cats third baseman Eric Hinske had a cheering section of two Monday night when he banged out a double, two homers and four RBIs at Rosenblatt Stadium.
His parents made the eight-hour drive from Menasha, Wis., for the four-game series and also will follow the club a couple of hours east to Des Moines for a four-game series against Iowa.
"I've hit one (homer) for them before but not two," said Hinske, whose parents also have visited Sacramento twice this season. "Maybe they can sleep a little better tonight."
But Hinske probably won't, because despite his offensive heroics, the Cats lost 8-5 before an announced crowd of 2,882.
"It would have been nice to get a win out of this," Hinske said. "I was just trying to help us get some runs on the board and keep us in the game. It just didn't work out tonight."
Gregg Zaun went 3 for 5 with two doubles and an RBI, and A.J. Hinch went 2 for 4 with a long two-run homer to lead the Golden Spikes to their third consecutive victory.
Three errors, two of them on throws to third base by right fielder Mario Encarnacion, helped Omaha.
"It's the first time I can remember losing a game defensively," Cats manager Bob Geren said. "We've played solid defense all year, but tonight it was awful. It didn't even look like our team. It's just one of those nights you have sometimes in minor-league baseball."
Hinske's power surge gave him 14 homers. He has hit safely in eight of his past nine games, a stretch in which he's batting .406 (13 for 32) with seven RBIs.
"He swung the bat pretty well in Las Vegas (last series), but nothing like tonight," Geren said. "He hit those balls a long way. The second one was unbelievable."
Hinske lifted a low liner out of the park in the fourth and hit a towering three-run shot in the sixth, both off Brian Meadows.
"He threw me a fastball down and in, and I just put a good swing on it," Hinske said. "The wind was blowing pretty good, and it's a good park to hit in. There's a pretty good hitter's background, and I'm swinging the bat pretty well right now."
Ratliff cut short -- Cats starting pitcher Jon Ratliff lasted only two innings after experiencing soreness in his right forearm.
"There's talk about getting it checked out again, but we don't want to jump to conclusions about the disabled list," Geren said.

Saturday, July 21, 2001
By Mike Capshaw
The Morning News

A groggy Eric Hinske awoke Thursday morning in another strange hotel room.
He was with his team, the Sacramento River Cats, at the Red Roof Inn in Omaha, Neb., drifting in-and-out of sleep before playing the Golden Spikes again that night.
The phone rings.
"Hello"
"Eric?" a voice says.
Hinske perks up and responds, "This is Eric".
"Were you sleeping?"
Still on West Coast time, a disgruntled and disappointed Hinske, a former Razorbacks infielder, realizes this is not the call he was waiting for.
"Sorda ... Umm ... No not really. I was thinking about where to go eat."
The 23-year-old, 6-foot-2, 225-pound third baseman from Menasha, Wisc., was waiting for the call -- the one that every player in AAA ball hopes for on a daily basis.
"At this level, you're just a phone call away," Hinske said. "You're always waiting to get called up (to the majors), since there's people getting called up and down all the time, all around you. It's the same thing every day."
And why shouldn't it have been the call, after all, Hinske has been ripping the cover off the ball the past few weeks hitting safely in eight of his last nine games and even homered twice in Monday night's game at Omaha.
Hinske's 13th and 14th blasts were part of a 3-for-4 effort which kept Hinske on pace to reach the 20-home run plateau for the fourth consecutive season since being drafted in the 17th round by the Chicago Cubs in 1998.
"I'm just trying to stay as consistent as I can," Hinske said. "Each time up, I'm looking for a good pitch to do something with and hit it hard some where."
Hinske put himself in the line for the call after hitting .342 with 3 homers in leading the West Tennessee (Cubs AA team) team through last season's playoffs and to the Southern League title. But when the end of the following spring training with Chicago came around, Hinske received a different call.
"I was called into the office on the last day of spring training," Hinske said. "They told me they drafted a Rule 5 pitcher and needed to trade me to keep him. They said they didn't want to lose me, but that they would get a pretty solid infielder in the trade as well, so the next day I was on a plane to Sacramento (Oakland AAA). It really makes you realize the business of the game."
The trade proved beneficial for both parties. The Cubs received Miguel Cairo -- who quickly made the jump to the big leagues -- and Hinske received the sun-shiny state of California, a climate he says bodes well for his game.
"You sweat and your body gets looser. It helps your swing," Hinske said. "It's always better to play warmer weather. That's why I left the cold, wet and rainy Wisconsin to play at Arkansas in college."
Despite not yet receiving the call, Hinske's still enjoying his time in the minors, especially this week when he got his first chance to play in historic Rosenblatt Stadium, home each year to the College World Series.
"It's nice because it's some where we didn't get to play in college," Hinske said. "It looks a lot nicer and bigger on TV, but it's still a great atmosphere for baseball."

By Chad Jennings
Special to The Bee
(Published Aug. 6, 2001)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- River Cats third baseman Eric Hinske celebrated his 24th birthday in style Sunday.
With the bases loaded and the score tied in the top of the ninth inning, Hinske ripped an 0-2 fastball for a 403-foot grand slam, giving Sacramento a 6-2 victory over the Memphis Redbirds.
"I got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it," Hinske said. "I was just trying to protect right there, but I got it up in the air."
After holding a 2-0 lead since the third inning, the River Cats gave up two runs in the eighth to set up Hinske's heroics.
Esteban German led off the ninth with a single to right and was sacrificed to second. Rob Ryan, who had hit two home runs in the previous three games, was intentionally walked.
With the speedy German at second, the River Cats went for a double steal to put the go-ahead run at third. The plan worked as catcher Cody McKay dropped the ball trying to throw to third.
After Jason Hart was hit by a pitch, Hinske put the game out of reach.
"It definitely felt good," Hinske said. "We play every day, so nobody ever wants to play extra innings."
River Cats starter Steve Ontiveros was throwing a three-hit shutout when he left with one out in the sixth because of muscle spasms in his right forearm.
"If he didn't tighten up, I think maybe he could have thrown a complete game," River Cats manager Bob Geren said.
Chad Bradford struck out the next two batters in the sixth and sent the Redbirds down in order in the seventh before giving up the two runs in the eighth. Chad Harville (4-0) picked up the win.
After taking three of four from the Redbirds, the River Cats will visit Nashville in a four-game series before traveling to Las Vegas for the most important stop of their 12-game trip. Las Vegas (56-60) is second in the Southern Division of the Pacific Coast League behind the River Cats (58-57).
"We left on this road trip with a half-game lead, and we just felt that if we could come back in first place, no matter what the lead was, that we would really be in a good position," Geren said.

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Page Last Updated: 8-6-01