Hooks Outfielder is Loaded, Too

by Matt Rogers

Drew Locke isn’t a young man who seeks the limelight.

In reality, few true professionals do.

In fact, when asked recently to appear on the Hooks postgame show with Matt Hicks, he replied, “I’ll come, but get Polin, too.”

Polin is Polin Trinidad, the left-handed pitcher who’s been in the Houston organization longer than any other Hook… since he was a 17-year-old in 2002.

One of the newest Hooks, Locke is a different story.

He came to Corpus Christi as a .298 career hitter over four minor league seasons in the Dodgers system. At 26, he’d never matriculated beyond Advanced-A ball – two seasons with the California League Inland Empire 66ers in San Bernardino. The three-time Boston College All-Big East selection was a 19th round pick by Los Angeles in 2005.

Locke signed a free-agent contract with the Astros late last year after hitting .311 with 37 doubles, four triples, 11 home runs and 85 runs batted in. Those numbers came in 122 games.

The limelight has found Locke. He’s among Texas League leaders in average (.374-3rd), home runs (10-T 1st), RBIs (54-1st), hits (65-3rd), and slugging percentage (.621-1st). The outfielder has 18 multiple-hit games.

Double-A pitchers, he’s had their number.

“It feels good so far,” Locke said. “It’s been about getting in a good routine, getting to play every day. I’ve tried to find consistency in my approach and it’s been working well.

“To me, it’s about not getting too high or too low, but staying even-keeled.”

Yet, hitting night-in and night-out is about making adjustments, so what’s the biggest difference facing pitchers at this level?

“They can throw their pitches when they want to more often,” Locke explained. “They’ll find your weakness and go after it. You only have one or two pitches per at-bat you can do anything with.

“For example, I saw some of the Arkansas pitchers in High-A (Rancho Cucamonga) and can see the difference in how they pitched last year compared to now. They’re not necessarily pitching backwards, but you have to be ready for anything.” 

A year ago, Locke started 94 games at first base and 11 in the outfield. In 2009, he’s played the outfield and served on occasion as the Hooks’ designated hitter against American League affiliates.

Depth in the LA farm system and a different profile for outfielders may have caused Locke to stall with the Dodgers.

“They were looking for a different kind of player in the outfield,” Locke said. “Faster, speedy guys. I put up numbers every year and didn’t get an opportunity to move up. However, guys I played with moved up and had success. Seeing them convinced me if they could do it, I could too.”

He was right. He’s also mentally tough. Disciplined. Locke has a Finance degree from BC. He joked that if already in the business world, “I would probably be stressing out about the stock market.”

It’s hard to imagine him stressing about anything.

Hooks fans are glad he’s a professional hitter instead.