David Hale is the kind of guy who does the daily crossword puzzle in ink. The Princeton graduate has been doing it every day in the Braves clubhouse this road trip, in his first taste of the major leagues. He was back at it at his locker Thursday morning in Miami, though Hale has a few other priorities now.
Hale is scheduled to make his major debut Friday night at Turner Field against the Padres. He’s making a spot start in place of Paul Maholm, who is skipping a start to rest a sore elbow.
Hale has gone from a wide-eyed September call-up, who wondered when he might get an opportunity to pitch an inning or two out of the bullpen, to visualizing walking out on the mound for his first major league start.
“Oh I’ve thought about it plenty already,” Hale said smiling. “I don’t think it’ll compare to what it’ll actually be. It’s crazy to think that I was 4 or 5 years old going to Fulton County Stadium and watching these guys play. It’s cool to be a part of it.”
Hale is a Marietta native, who grew up going to Braves games. One of his Cobb County neighbors, otherwise known as Braves broadcaster Joe Simpson, kidded Hale Thursday morning in the Braves clubhouse, tapping him on the shoulder and saying, “What did we run out of pitchers?”
Hale didn’t even become a pitcher until his senior year at The Walker School, when his coaches decided to give their hard-throwing shortstop a try on the mound after graduating some pitchers.
“At first I didn’t (like it) but as it went on, I was OK at it and I started to like it more,” Hale said.
He pitched and played the outfield at Princeton before getting drafted as a pitcher by the Braves in the third round in 2009.
Hale, who turns 25 on Sept. 27, has made a steady progression through the Braves minor league system. He earned his first invitation to big league camp in spring training and then went 6-9 with a 3.22 ERA in 22 games (20 starts) this season in Triple-A Gwinnett. He made 10 quality starts in his past 14 outings, while putting up a 2.26 ERA, after returning from a month out to rest a sore shoulder. He last pitched on Sept. 2 in Gwinnett’s season-finale in Charlotte, giving up four runs (three earned) in six innings of a loss.
As soon as the Braves announced Hale’s impending start, the text messages and calls started coming. His brother Matt, 22, is flying home from LSU and his sister Morgan, 24, is coming home from graduate school at the Medical College of Augusta.
Hale threw a bullpen session during the Braves loss to the Marlins Wednesday night. Now all he has to do is get some sleep.
“I slept fine last night,” Hale said. “Tonight might be a different story.”
