Hunter Strickland makes it to the major leagues

Hunter Strickland is living the dream of many young baseball players after pitching his first innings in the major leagues for the San Francisco Giants. He grew up playing recreational baseball in Pike County and pitched for the high school Pirates before graduating in 2007. Strickland was called up Aug. 31 from the minor league and played his first game for the Giants as a relief pitcher Sept. 1. In his major league debut, he threw some scorching fast balls ‘“ even a 100 mile per hour pitch ‘“ despite having had a recent elbow surgery.’You have to like the way that after the first two guys got on base, he kept his poise,’ said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. ‘It’s pretty impressive how he throws the ball because it hasn’t been that long since he had Tommy John.’Strickland underwent Tommy John or ulnar collateral ligament surgery while playing in the minor leagues.His second major league game was played Sept. 7 against Detroit and he struck out two batters and the third batter hit a ground ball for an out. In his first ever major league inning Strickland allowed two hits but no runs scored. He threw 12 fastballs that were 98 mph, three 99 mph fastballs and his top speed of 100 mph.His teammates were pleasantly surprised by this first outing. ’He hit 100?!’ said Giants outfielder Hunter Pence. ‘It looked like he was throwing hard. He made a pretty good impression on everybody in spring training. He’s an absolute animal of a workout guy. We’re not really too surprised to see him here.’