Topic: Blake Hawksworth

Blake Edward Hawksworth (born March 1, 1983 in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is 6' 3" and weighs 195 pounds.

He grew up in Sammamish, Washington, and was drafted in the 28th round out of Eastlake High School in 2001 by the Cardinals. He played one year of baseball at Bellevue Community College before signing with the Cardinals as a draft and follow. Prior to playing at Bellevue Community College Blake played several years under Bill Caudill for the Mercer Islanders and Fox Sports. After 2 superb seasons in the minors, he was named by Baseball America as the Cardinals' top prospect in 2003. However, injuries limited him to pitching in only 9 games in 2004 and 2005. However, he got right back on track in 2006 as he went 11–4 and with an ERA under 3 between the Palm Beach Cardinals and the Springfield Cardinals. In 2007, he played for the Memphis Redbirds and ended the season with a disappointing 4–13 record with an 5.28 ERA. And in 2008, he went 5–7 with a 6.09 ERA.

He made his major league debut on June 6, 2009, pitching 2 IP, giving up 4 runs, 3 hits including a home run, walking 1, and striking out 1. Despite this, his debut was looked at as positive because of his excellent pitch command. The Cardinals had high hopes for him in the future, as he was one of the organizations' better young pitching talents.