Hynick does it all for Sky Sox

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Hynick does it all for Sky Sox
05/29/2009 12:57 AM ET
By John Torenli / Special to MLB.com

Brandon Hynick has been dominant on the mound of late. He hasn't been so bad at the plate, either.
The 24-year-old right-hander fired seven three-hit frames, ripped a pair of doubles, scored twice and drove in a run Thursday as the Colorado Springs Sky Sox rolled to an 8-4 victory over the Albuquerque Isotopes at Isotopes Park.
Hynick, Colorado's eighth-round pick in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, flirted with a perfect game before surrendering a one-out homer to Major League veteran Dee Brown in the fifth inning.
"I hit my spot," said Hynick, who struck out only one, but did not walk a batter for the third time in nine starts this year.
"It was exactly where I wanted the ball, but he was ready for it. He got another hit off me later and hit it hard. He was right on that pitch too. I thought we had him, but he's a good hitter."
MLB.com's 2007 Class A Advanced Pitcher of the Year didn't blink after the line-drive blast off the right-field foul pole. He worked around a leadoff single by Luis Maza in the sixth and a two-out double by Brown in the seventh before getting Valentino Pascucci to fly out on his 103rd and final pitch of the night.
"I was throwing strikes, more so this outing than last," Hynick said. "I didn't walk anybody this outing, which was great. I'm trusting what my catcher puts down and just sticking with the game plan."
Hynick, who tossed seven one-hit frames and ripped an RBI double during a 7-0 blanking of Round Rock on Saturday, again aided his own cause with the bat.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Birmingham Southern product delivered a run-scoring double in the third before ripping another two-base hit and coming home on Mike McCoy's sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Batting a cool .417 (5-for-12) with a homer and four RBIs this season, Hynick is glad the Rockies are in the National League, giving him an opportunity to hit on the big league level if, or when, the time comes for him to pitch in the Majors.
"I take hitting seriously," said Hynick, who batted .301 with 15 homers and 50 RBIs in his final collegiate campaign.
"I was a hitter in college, so I have something to live up to. Being a pitcher, they give you a lot of fastballs. Once they see I can swing it a bit, I might get more off-speed stuff. It's helped me get a couple of wins this year."
More importantly, the Middleburg Heights, Ohio, native appears to have found the form that saw him go 16-5 with a 2.52 ERA in 28 starts at Modesto in the California League two years ago.
Last season, Hynick went 10-7 with a 4.44 ERA in 27 outings for Double-A Tulsa, but allowed a Texas League-high 27 homers. He credits a late-season tweak to his mechanics for his success this year.
"Statistically, I took a step back [last year]," he said. "But I had a really good August and made an adjustment to get down on top of the ball. I used August to springboard into this year."
Thus far in 2009, he's 5-3 with a 4.05 ERA, but has been especially strong during his current three-start winning streak, yielding three earned runs on 11 hits over 20 2/3 frames.
"I've had a couple of good starts in a row and I'm hoping I can keep that going," Hynick said. "I felt really comfortable today, but I couldn't say that about my first few starts. We're ironing everything out."
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.