The Hickory Crawdads finished up their first 8 games of the season on Thursday with a 5-3 (.625) record and they are 1/2 game out of the lead in the Northern Division of the South Atlantic League. Hickory went 3-1 with the West Virginia Power (Brewers) and 2-2 with the Greensboro Grasshoppers (Marlins) during the opening week of the SAL season.

My early observations (still too early to really make any serious comments) are that we have a strong group of pitchers in Hickory this season, and our hitting still needs a little work. This is a 180-degree flip from last season in general. We started out the 07 season exactly opposite of that.

I went to the game in Greensboro against the Grasshoppers on Wednesday evening and got a chance to chat with Mike Felix for about 10 minutes prior to game time. Mike was the #2 pick in the 2006 draft behind Brad Lincoln. Mike’s performances this season have been superior so far and he looks strong and feels confident. He said he’s ready to play, and there are no indications so far that this isn’t the case. He’s pitched 6 frames in 2 outings so far, giving up only one hit, one run (unearned), walked 2, while striking out 6. His first outing was against West Virginia where he took the mount to start the game. His second performance was in relief on Thursday night against Greensboro. I don’t really know if his role will be as a starter or in the pen yet. I think he could go either way, and I didn’t ask when I talked to him. He’s our only lefty at the moment, so his role could shift either way.

Duke Welker (#2 pick in 2007) has also had two starts for the ‘Dads. The Duke has thrown 7 frames and only given up one earned run (a West Virginia bomb over the right field wall) in Hickory’s first game of the season (in the rain…). He has a 1.29 ERA so far and his performance also looks very strong. I haven’t seen him flinch yet. He brushed off that home run like it never happened and kept on firing. It didn’t rattle him in the least.

There are more pitchers that I’ll be discussing later. I won’t spend a lot of time looking at stats until there are at least 20 games in the books.

Hickory’s offensive efforts don’t seem as strong as we would really like to see. The best plate performance statistically so far is from outfielder Erik Huber. With 28 at-bats under his belt, he’s pulled off 10 hits, 2 walks, and only been struck out 3 times. A .357 average with a .900 OPS is the stat to beat at the plate so far in Hickory. Erik seems to have the build of a good power hitter also. His stature reminds me a lot of Brad Corley and Jason Delaney. Erik is listed at 6′6″ and 230-lbs.

Speaking of Corley and Delaney, both of them are tearing the covers off the ball in Altoona with the Curve early this season. Brad Corley is hitting .370 with a .950 OPS and Jason Delaney is hitting .333 with a .804 OPS. Corley got off to a slow start last season, but that’s not the case this year

I’m glad I stopped by Altoona’s stat page tonight also. Jonel Pacheco is really tattooing the ball. With 24 at-bats, he’s hitting .435 with 1.154 OPS. Jonel was one of the driving forces at the plate with Hickory in 2007, so I’m glad to see him doing so well early in the 2008 season.

We’ll take a look at Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker next week, and probably see what’s going on with Romulo Sanchez and Luis Munoz as well. We’ll let Jake keep up with Bixler now