I just have to know what Shea Hillenbrand's reaction was when he heard that he was replaced by a guy who is hitting .220 this year at AAA.That "guy" is Nick Gorneault and his call up came as a surprise to me. Why not call up Tommy Murphy or Terry Evans - Two guys who have Major League experience and are playing well at Salt Lake.
It's not that Gorneault (28 years old, 6'3" 220) doesn't have some talent, it's just that he's been having a lousy year so far. In 291 at-bats (78 games), he has 10 home runs and 29 runs batted in to go along with the .220 batting average and a .672 ops.
Gorneault was the Angels' 19th round pick in 2001 out of U Mass where he was an Atlantic 10 Conference All-Star his senior year. He made a quick ascent to AAA in late 2004 but has been stuck there for three years with his productivity going down each year.
In his first full season of AAA in 2005, Gorneault batted .293 with 26 home runs and 108 rbi. Last year he hit .283 with 15 home runs and 78 rbi while playing in 23 fewer games.
Gorneault had a good spring for the Angels this year and it looked like he might get the last outfield spot which eventually went to Reggie Willits. He saw action in 23 games and hit .395 (15-for-38) with one home run and an ops of 1.008.
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