Tuesday, June 12, 2001
Pirates call up Moeller product
Hyzdu hits .333, has two homers in four games
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
This is Adam Hyzdu's 12th year in professional baseball. He knows better than to watch the major league roster and hope.
“My whole gig in this game is to relax and play,” he said. “I don't worry about roster moves. I just try to be successful. I don't concern myself with anything I'm uninvolved in. Whatever happens happens.”
A good thing happened to Hyzdu, the former Moeller star, thanks to all the bad things that have happened to the Pittsburgh Pirates this year. When John Wehner became the latest Pirate to go on the disabled list last week, Hyzdu got the call-up to the big club.
In his brief stint with the Pirates, he's played in four games, going 3-for-9 with two home runs and three RBI.
Hyzdu is 29 years old. He knows that his chances of getting in the big leagues to stay diminish some every year.
“You certainly have to fight that emotion,” he said. “If you have the feeling you're not going to get a chance to play at this level, it gets kind of mundane.”
Hyzdu was once on the fast track to the majors. He broke Ken Griffey Jr.'s career home run record at Moeller. He was the San Francisco Giants' No. 1 pick in 1990 (the 21st pick overall).
He nearly made it to the big leagues four years later when the Reds made him a Rule 5 draft pick. He made a run at making the Reds out of spring training. Under Rule 5, the Reds had to keep him on the big league roster the entire year or sell him back to the Giants. Instead, the Reds worked a trade to retain him.
After two years at mostly Double A, the Reds released him. He bumped around the minors for the next five years with Boston, Arizona, then Boston again, and finally Pittsburgh.
Hyzdu has been particularly good since surgery corrected a back problem in 1998. In 1999, he hit .302 with 30 home runs and 97 RBI. Last year, he dominated Double A Altoona, hitting .290 with a league-leading 31 homers and 106 RBI.
It earned him a September call-up to Pittsburgh.
Hyzdu made the most of it. He hit .389 with a homer in four RBI in 12 games.
That brief bit of success probably had something to do with his promotion this year.
The Pirates are struggling this year — they have the worst record in the National League. They fired their general manager Cam Bonifay on Monday.
“There's a lot of stuff going on,” Hyzdu said. “None of it should affect me in any way.”
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Pirates call up Moeller product
