University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee Pitcher Prepared for Opposing Batters, Draft
April 20, 2005 | Baseball
April 20, 2005
By Dana Heiss Grodin, Sports Weekly
Fear has driven University of Tennessee ace Luke Hochevar to greatness. "Even as a little kid, I was worried that someone in California was working harder than I was," says the Colorado-born-and-raised Hochevar (HO-chay-vur). "It's been a fear and a driving motivation for a long time."
Hochevar's obsession with preparation began more than a decade ago, when his father, a former NBA player, asked him if he was serious about becoming a professional ballplayer. When his son said yes, Brian Hochevar, having played a season in 1979 with the Denver Nuggets, told his son that it would take years of grit and discipline to become a pro athlete.
Now those years have turned into mere weeks until the Major League Baseball draft June 7-8. Draft experts say Hochevar (8-2, 1.73 ERA) may be the first pitcher taken. His stuff is electric -- a four-seam fastball that touches 96 mph, a sinking fastball picked up last summer while he was pitching with Team USA, a hard-breaking slider and a great curve. So far in 2005, the 6-foot-5 Hochevar has three complete games, with 81 strikeouts and 21 walks in 73 innings.
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