Pat McAnaney Earns Promotion to South Bend

The South Bend Silver Hawks received another boost in their playoff push today as Patrick McAnaney was promoted to the Lo-A affilate. McAnaney had an 0.55 ERA in 32.2 innings with the Yakima Bears.

Late last season, the Silver Hawks added three players from the 2007 draft class to its ranks to help then make the postseason. Taylor Harbin, Clayton Conner, and Evan Scribner (now with the Padres organization) each made contributions in August and beyond after excelling at their Short-Season assignments earlier in the year,

The Hawks find themselves in the hunt for the postseason yet again this year. The affiliate had already added 2008 draft choices Collin Cowgill (5th round), Winston Linton (13th), and Bryan Shaw (2nd) to their ranks. Then on August 6th, 8th-round draft choice Patrick Mcananey joined the trio in their effort to take the first-place Silver Hawks deep into the postseason.

Diamondbacks director of player development A.J. Hinch indicated that other factors were involved in his decision to promote McAnaney.

"[One] thing you have consider is when does contentment set in?" posited Hinch. "You might leave a player who's performing at a level that's above the league's talent, but is he improving while he's there?"

McAnaney was indeed dominating the Northwest League. He had posted an 0.55 ERA in 32.2 innings with the Yakima Bears, fanning 38 batters and allowing just a .191 batting average against him. In four relief innings prior to being made a starter, no hits were collected off McAnaney. South Bend will likely move him back into that relief role, both to keep his arm healthy and because the Silver Hawks already boast a deep rotation in Josh Collmenter, Christian Beltre, Jarrod Parker, Thomas Layne, and Dallas Buck.

The Silver Hawks are currently 2.0 games ahead of the Dayton Dragons for first place in the Eastern Division of the Midwest League. McAnaney graced FutureBacks with an exclusive interview shortly after being drafted. Premium FutureBacks members may click here for that interview.