Angels call up Nathan Haynes

The Angels sent down Tommy Murphy and brought up outfielder Nathan Haynes who was hitting a cool .391 at AAA Salt Lake.

Haynes was tearing up AAA pitching with his average near .400 for most of the young season. In 43 games with the Bees, Haynes had 169 at-bats with 4 home runs, 6 triples and 14 stolen bases. He also was good defensively with no errors this year.

Haynes has played ten seasons of professional baseball but has not made the show until today.

The journey for Haynes has been remarkable. He was a first round pick (#32 overall) of the Oakland A's in 1997. If that does not seem that long ago, the Angels first pick that year was Troy Glaus. Other first round picks in 1997 included J.D. Drew, Vernon Wells, Lance Berkman and Adam Kennedy.

Haynes was with the A's for 2 1/2 seasons before being traded to the Anaheim Angels on July 29, 1999. Haynes was dealt with Jeff DaVanon and Elvin Nina for Omar Olivares and Randy Velarde.

Haynes made it as high as AAA with the Angels in both 2002 and 2003, hitting .283 and .217 respectively. He was granted free agency after the 2003 season and signed by the San Francisco Giants.

For most of the next two seasons, Haynes was injured. He played in only one game in 2004 and only seven in 2005.

In 2006, Haynes was healthy again and started his comeback with the Gary-SouthShore RailCats of the independent Northern League. After two months, the Angels liked the way Haynes looked and signed him to a minor league deal. He played 52 games at AA Arkansas hitting .280 and then finished the year in Salt Lake hitting .228 in 16 games.

This season has been a complete breakout year for Haynes. He hits .444 off of right handed pitchers, but only .233 off of lefties. Otherwise, his numbers have been quite consistent - .396 at home, .385 away; .387 in April, .394 in May.

Haynes probably won't start any games while he is up, but he will probably see some time as a pinch runner and possibly as a pinch hitter against right handed pitchers.

To make room for Haynes on the 40-man roster, the team placed pitcher Phil Seibel on waivers. Seibel was acquired from the Boston Red Sox in a trade for Brendan Donnelly this past off-season. He had a terrible spring training (16.89 era) and then started poorly at Salt Lake with an era of 11.25 in two starts. He then had season ending surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his left forearm. Seibel's career is potentially over after missing all of 2005 with Tommy John Surgery.