TL1 Corpus Christi Hooks

Wade To Deliver Keynote Speech

Published on January 11, 2010 under Texas League (TL1)
Corpus Christi Hooks News Release


CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Houston Astros General Manager Ed Wade is featured speaker at the Sixth Annual South Texas Winter Baseball Banquet on February 4 at the Omni Bayfront Hotel.

Doors open at 6:30, with proceeds benefiting the Corpus Christi Hooks Field of Dreams Program. Through Field of Dreams, the Hooks build or renovate youth baseball and softball fields throughout the Coastal Bend.

To purchase tickets, call 361-561-HOOK or stop by the Whataburger Field box office during business hours.

Drew Locke and Wilton Lopez will be honored as the club's player- and pitcher-of-the-year, respectively.

Wade, 54, became the 11th GM of the Astros on September 20, 2007. A veteran of 33 Major League seasons, he spent 2006-07 as a scout for the San Diego Padres after eight years as general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Jose Valverde, Miguel Tejada, Michael Bourn, Kaz Matsui, Geoff Blum, Pedro Feliz, Wesley Wright, Randy Wolf, LaTroy Hawkins and Brett Myers are among the current and former Astros acquired by Wade. Bourn, Wolf, Myers, Jim Thome, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Pat Burrell became Phillies property under Wade's watch; Philadelphia has won the last three NL East titles and captured the 2008 World Series from Tampa Bay in five games.

Wade graduated from Temple in 1977 and began his baseball career the same year as a Phillies PR intern. From 1979-81 he was PR director for the Astros and later spent five seasons in a similar capacity at Pittsburgh.

Locke, 26, was the best hitter in Double-A. He led in average (.338), hits (170) and RBIs (109). Locke missed the final eight games of the season as the result of a broken left hand. The only statistic preventing him from becoming just the third player in Texas League history to win the circuit's Triple Crown was his home run total (20), which still ranked among the top five.

Locke started in right field for the South Division at the Texas League All-Star Game in Frisco, going 1-for-4 at the plate. He was also named to the loop's post-season All-Star team.

Locke set Hooks franchise single-season records for average and RBIs after joining the Astros organization from the Dodgers. He was named team offensive player-of-the- month four times (April, May, July, August), a club first. In addition to his offensive prowess, Locke tied for second in Double-A outfield assists with 15.

A 26-year-old right-hander, Lopez made his Major League debut with the Astros on August 28 at Arizona as the second player in Hooks history to be promoted straight to Houston. In the most dramatic turnaround of fortunes within a single season in five years of Hooks Baseball, he had a magnificent second half, highlighted by an incredible August.

The Nicaraguan posted a 1.23 ERA in five August starts, allowing just 19 hits and four walks in 36.2 innings while striking out 22. Lopez held opponents to a.153 average, earning pitcher-of-the-month honors.

The reliever-turned-starter opened the month with a complete-game, four-hit shutout at Midland in game one of a doubleheader August 1. Sixteen days later at Whataburger Field, Lopez tossed 7.2 innings of shutout ball in a win over Springfield.

Lopez, a former Yankee farmhand and April waiver claim, notched nine quality starts among 11 second-half appearances. He went 3-4 with a 3.10 ERA in the second half, his record hampered by a lack of run support (3.1 rpg).

Lopez is the second Hook in history to get called directly to the Major Leagues with Corpus Christi's season still in progress. The first was pitcher Matt Albers in July of 2006.

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Texas League Stories from January 11, 2010


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