Episode 59
Blake Hawksworth knows what it's like to experience the highs and lows of athletics. Rated as one of the top high school pitchers in the 2001 Major League Baseball draft class, Hawksworth was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in 28th round that summer. He instead enrolled at Bellevue Community College in Washington state, where he played for one season before signing with the St. Louis Cardinals. After just two seasons, Baseball America rated him as the top prospect in the Cardinals' organization.
Injuries plagued his career, though, and limiting him to three seasons in the major leagues from 2009-2011 with the Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he's remained heavily involved in the game since retiring in a coaching capacity. He serves as the pitching coach at JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, California, but before that he was the pitching coach at Grand Canyon University, an assistant coach at California State-Fullerton, and an assistant basketball coach at Eastlake High School in Washington, where he graduated from also and starred as a basketball player.
Hawksworth was a talented basketball player as well, and he talks about his love of hoops and sharing that with his son, Jackson, in this conversation with Matt and Leslee Holliday. He talks about the pressure he felt as a high school athlete, feeling like he needed to perform and focus on statistics instead of just helping his team. He also shares how he dealt with the disappointment his injuries brought and how his faith in God was shaped throughout the struggles and joys of his life and athletic career.
Table Forty is part of the Sports Spectrum Podcast Network.
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