Good article in The Oklahoman about the possibility of an Andy Van Hekken call-up, which Astros County completely endorses.
OKC manager Tony DeFrancesco:
“Hopefully, he will get a chance in September and help the Astros down the finish line."
Van Hekken - who has the PCL's 2nd-best ERA - understands that Ed Wade can be kind of a douche about call-ups, though:
“There just hasn't been a whole lot of opportunity (at the major league level). I know from the past they don't reward guys, just calling guys up because they've had good years. They want to get guys up there that can help them out (long-term).”
FanGraphs notes that Van Hekken's FIP is 3.26 (not sure when it was last updated), and that he's suffering from a .361 BABIP - so he's probably been better than his mainstream statistics indicate.
Working against Van Hekken is that he's not on the 40-man roster, which currently stands at 40. It's possible, I suppose, that the Astros could put Del Rosario or Escalona on the 60-Day DL to free up a spot. But it's ridiculous to me to think that the Astros wouldn't reward Van Hekken with a call-up for being one of the very few bright spots at OKC in 2011.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
