A Former Okotoks Dawg is wasting no time, working his way up the Minor Leagues.
Left-handed pitcher Mark Hardy spent the summers of 2008 and 2009 with the Okotoks Dawgs collegiate team while going to school at the University of British Columbia. In his 2 seasons with the Dawgs, Hardy posted a 2.00 ERA in 54 innings, while being an important piece of two championship runs.
Following his 2010 spring season at UBC, the San Diego Padres drafted Hardy in the 43rd round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft. Being taken in the 43rd round was later than Hardy was expecting, but it did give him a chance to take his game to the next level. Once he got on the mound in the Padres system, it didn’t take long for Mark to assure San Diego that they made the right decision, while making the other 29 organizations question why they didn’t take him earlier.
After throwing 76 innings for UBC from February through May, Hardy made his professional debut in June for San Diego’s rookie affiliate in Arizona. It didn’t take long for him to make the adjustment. In 6 appearances, 5 starts, at Rookie, Hardy held a 3.06 ERA with a strikeout to walk ratio of 31-4. That was enough to earn a start with San Diego’s high-A affiliate in Lake Elsinore, California. After a start in Lake Elsinore, Hardy went to the low-A Eugene Emeralds in Oregon for his next 5 starts. Mark posted a 3.00 ERA in 27 innings while striking out 28 in Eugene.
At this point it had already been a great season for Hardy, starting at UBC in the spring, making his way to low-A by July. But the year wasn’t over yet. With Mark posting a combined minor league ERA of right around 3.00 in 60 innings over 3 levels, Padres management were taking notice. The Padres figured he had proved enough at the single-A level, so on Saturday, August 28 with 10 games remaining in the minor league season, Hardy was promoted to the AA San Antonio Missions.
They wasted no time getting him on the mound, giving Mark the start on Sunday. Again, he took the promotion in stride and continued to just do his thing on the mound. In his AA debut, Hardy threw 5 innings allowing 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 2. His job is to get hitters out, but maybe just as impressive about his outing was what he did at the plate. Being in the minor league system of a National League club, Hardy gets to hit for himself, and he took full advantage, going 2 for 2 with an RBI base hit in his team’s 5-3 win.
With just one more start left in his season, it appears that Mark will finish the year at AA. 2010 has been an amazing year in the baseball career of Mark Hardy. This year alone, he has worn the uniform of five different teams. It started in early February in Vancouver, BC with the UBC Thunderbirds, and will likely end in early September, in San Antonio, Texas with the AA San Antonio Missions, just 2 steps below the Major Leagues. In between were stops in Eugene, Oregon, and Lake Elsinore, California.
The Dawgs are very excited to see the remarkable progression for Mark this year, and hope next year goes equally well. We are very proud to have him in the Dawgs family.
Hardy joins four other Dawgs alumni now playing at the AA level, including Jim Henderson, James Avery, Emerson Frostad, and Kyler Newby.
Keep it going Mark; hope to see you on the mound in San Diego some day soon!
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