Left-handed prospect rounding into shape, holding out hope for a promotion to big-league club.

By TODD JACOBSON

Date published: 5/15/2005

Nothing went right for Mike Hinckley this spring.

There was the ballooning ERA, and then the quick demotion from big-league camp. And to cap it all, Hinckley's shoulder started to hurt.

"It wasn't the spring I wanted," said Hinckley, the Nationals' third-round pick in 2001 and the top pitching prospect in the organization. "I felt like I was supposed to be there, but I didn't have the camp I thought I was going to have or they thought I was going to have."

Perhaps it was appropriate that he's getting a mulligan.

After spending a month in extended Spring Training resting and rehabilitating his sore left shoulder, the left-hander returned to the mound Monday with the Single-A Potomac Nationals.

He allowed six hits and five runs in three innings, but more importantly, after resting his sore shoulder for a month, his fastball was back near 90 mph and the pinpoint control that made him the Expos' and now Nationals' top prospect is on its way back.

He pitched again yesterday with Potomac, and is expected to be promoted to Double-A Harrisburg by the end of the month.

"We want to see how he progresses every outing wherever he is," said Adam Wogan, the Nationals' director of player development. "It's not about a line score or anything except how the ball comes out of his hand. He is healthy so that's not a worry for us anymore."

Despite the setback, the lofty goals Hinckley set for himself never left.

Hinckley entered Spring Training with just 16 Double-A starts, but wasn't shy about his goals. After being named the Expos' minor-league Pitcher of the Year in 2003 and 2004, he wanted to pitch in the big leagues--and general manager Jim Bowden was giving him a shot.

Hinckley pitched in Washington's first exhibition game, but the fairytale ended there when he allowed 14 hits and nine runs in six innings of Spring Training work.

The dream did not end, however.

"What I would like to see is sometime just a little bit before the All-Star break or after the All-Star break to have a call-up," Hinckley said. "But that's going to depend on how well I am pitching and how many innings I have and what's going on up there."

Call-up? To Triple-A New Orleans, right?

"No, the big leagues," Hinckley said.

Date published: 5/15/2005