Luke Hochevar starts tonight for the Royals against the Tigers, so why not give him some Ball Star karma with this interview?
Baseball's best Rock Band player -- that's what we hear, anyway -- appears to be on his way to a very good career with the Royals, solidifying a rotation spot behind four good pitches, particularly a nasty sinker.
He's pitched better than his numbers (2-2, 4.94 ERA) so far, and if you take away his first start, his ERA is 3.32.
Luke's been a hot topic among Royals fans since being the top pick overall in the 2006 draft. Andrew Miller and Tim Lincecum were selected behind Luke, but both made the big leagues quicker and Lincecum, in particular, looks like he's quickly becoming one of the best starters in the National League.
The comparisons will probably always be there for Luke, but right now, it looks like the Royals front office was dead on last year when they kept telling people (like me) to ignore Luke's unimpressive minor league stats, that Luke was developing at a pace they were happy with, and that his big league stats would be better than his minor league stats.
Among other things, Luke gives us the inside scoop on how he's better this year than last, an incident that involved his wife and some idiot radio guys from Dallas, and, of course, his Royals rock band.
Favorite restaurant: Wasabi. It's like a Benihana kind of place, it's in Knoxville.
Favorite baseball memory: There's a lot of them. It'd either be getting drafted by Kansas City, or going to the College World Series.
Love the College World Series. There's a lot of people from Kansas City who drive up for that every summer. What's it like for the players?
Unbelievable. Just unbelievable. It's just such a big production, you know? For me, it was something that we worked for for three years. Our junior year, we finally got it. Everybody that I played with, it was our last year there. It was a lot of fun.
Is there anything behind the scenes you guys experience that might surprise people?
We have like a host organization. Ours was an Air Force base. They'd come to the games and stuff, we'd give them Tennessee gear, tour the base and stuff.
Like a lot of guys, you're into video games, but never baseball games, right?
Not really. Baseball video games, on the Wii they're fun. But that's about it.
You're more into the hunting games?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like shooting games.
I hear you're the best Rock Band player in baseball.
(laughs) I wouldn't argue with that. I'll take it.
What's the secret?
Lots of hours logged. Banny and Davies are pretty good, too. That's our band, pretty much.
I see you as the drummer for some reason.
I can play them all. I'm not a very good singer though. Now Brian Bannister is the drummer. He's taken over that role. And he's really good.
What are you now?
Lead guitar.
Do you have a bassist as well?
I don't know if we do or not. Kyle Davies was our bassist in spring training. Let me think...Dang. We're down a bassist. That's sad.
Who you got singing?
Kyle as well. You know, Kyle was a big part of our band.
No kidding. He's like the Axl Rose of your band.
Seriously.
Do you have a name for your band?
Oh, you know what? I just realized, (Alex) Gordon. Gordon plays the bass. And Brett can play as well. He's pretty good, too.
So you guys are OK.
Yeah, I'll just have to step up the singing.
Nice. So, talk to me about that idiot radio guy from Dallas who interviewed your wife and Alex's wife during spring training. (UPDATE: a commenter correctly notes that the interviewer wasn't the only one to blame, he was egged on by others at the station who played the offensive "drop.")
When something like that happens, what's your reaction? Are you pissed off? Do you just try to let it go, say, "That guy's a moron, he's not worth it," what?
It's gone and done with, but yeah, it's gonna make you mad. Little of both. You have to take care of the issue, but then you move on.
Good enough. Who's the best athlete you've ever played with?
(long pause) Golly, that's a tough question. There's a lot of them. Shoot. I don't know. That's a good question. You stumped me.
You know, Joey Gathright jumped over a car...
Yeah, definitely Joey. He can fly, he's got a good arm. Definitely Joey.
You're pretty good friends with Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt, I assume that comes from your days at Tennessee?
Yeah, I knew him at Tennessee. His wife and my wife are really good friends. They were in the same sorority. Whenever we're in Kansas City or something, we always hang out with them.
Cool that it worked out that way. How much time do you spend online analyzing stats?
Not much. Obviously you want to address the points you want to improve, but I don't sit down and say, "against left-hand hitters I have this ERA" or whatever. I don't analyze that too much. More so what I'm focused on is executing one pitch at a time.
Do you have a favorite website for baseball stuff?
I really try to stay out of that as much as possible, just so I don't overanalyze and think too much about stuff I don't need to think about.
What about non-baseball stuff?
Quality Deer Management Association. That's my homepage. It's either that or hunting stuff.
OK, last thing here. What's the biggest improvement you've made from, say, a year ago?
I feel I control my delivery a lot better. Going through college and up through there, I'd air it out, come out of my delivery. I feel like I repeat my delivery a ton better and I stay within my delivery a ton better now.
Cool. Thanks a lot, man.
Anytime.
Need one with Greinke ASAP!