Hague’s a major hit in the minors
Matt Hague is a Triple- A star, but this is the big leagues. So on his first day as a Blue Jay, he wondered: Should I be buddying up to a Cy Young winner for an X- box hockey showdown? No problem, said David Price. And Hague did have the good sense to lose.
“I asked if I should be up here playing video games with you on the first day,” Hague said. “He said it's all right, so I just went with it ... We went at it and he crushed me.”
Wearing his cap backward, Hague looked supremely comfortable sitting next to Price in the visitors' clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park as the two played a few games of NHL 15. Hague, who turns 30 on Thursday, is not your ordinary rookie. He enjoyed brief call- ups to the majors twice before, with the Pirates in 2012 and 2014, and there's no telling how long he'll stay this time.
He's a Blue Jay for now because the club wanted to deepen its bench for its two- game series in Philadelphia. Pinch- hitting is prevalent under National League rules.
“Hague's tearing it up down there ( in Buffalo),” manager John Gibbons said. “He may come in, get a chance to pinch- hit, do something for us.”
Hague was leading the International League with a .348 average. He is in no danger of falling into second place; the runner- up is 56 points behind. Hague also leads the IL in hits ( 161), RBIs ( 83) and OPS (. 909).
“When you're down there, you see the stuff that's going on up here and you're kind of just itching to get up here and help in any way,” he said. “It's fun to be part of something like this.”
Hague, from Bellevue, Wash., credits his success at Buffalo with “a lot of truthful self- analysis — trying to learn from my mistakes in the past.”
He is a .302 hitter in eight minorleague seasons.
His past also includes a link to Toronto, something he learned only recently. His father, Paul Hague, was born there.
His grandfather, Donald Hague, was a NASA employee who spent two years in Toronto working on an aviation project, he said.
“He was helping do some stuff with airplane wings. I don't know the full story,” Hague said.
With the arrival of Hague and extra outfielder Ezequiel Carrera, the Jays have the luxury of a six- man bench. The club may not need to create a roster vacancy until Aug. 29, when starter Drew Hutchison is scheduled to return from Buffalo.