Hosmer Paying Early Returns

SPRINGDALE — Eric Hosmer asked Mike Moustakas about his impressions of Arvest Ballpark and the Texas League before arriving in Northwest Arkansas.

So far, Hosmer has done his best impression of Moustakas - even batting in the No. 3 spot in the order left vacated when Moustakas was promoted to Triple-A Omaha last week.

Hosmer, who was drafted third overall by Kansas City in the 2008 draft, entered Thursday with a .318 average and three home runs and seven RBIs in his first six games for Northwest Arkansas.

While his early power numbers have been impressive, so hashis overall hitting ability - such as when he took Springfield left-handed reliever Tyler Norrick to the opposite f ield for a double and the game-winning RBI in a 4-3 Naturals win on Sunday.

“He can use the whole fi eld,” Naturals manager Brain Poldberg said. “I think he’ll use the center of the field more than he’ll pull the ball.”

Hosmer started this season at Class-A Advanced Wilmington, where he hit .354 in 87 games. The left-hander had just seven home runs in 325 at-bats there, but he did have 29 doubles and six triples with a .429 on-base percentage.

Those numbers earned Hosmer a selection to the Futures Game during the All-Star break, and his play in that game earned him plenty of national recognition. Hosmer was 4-for-5 in the game - leading to one scouting report on mlb.com that said, “As far as pure hitters go, Hosmer was the best bat out there.”

Hosmer didn’t appear to even be the best hitter on his own team last season while splitting time between Class-A Burlington and Wilmington.After arriving in Wilmington, Hosmer - then a teammate of another former fi rst-round pick, Moustakas - hit only .206 in 27 games.

So, when he got the call following the Futures Game that he had been promoted to Northwest Arkansas, it only made sense that Hosmer called Moustakas, who had just left the Texas League on his way to Triple-A Omaha.

Hosmer liked what he heard.

“He gave me a heads up about how it’s a great place to play, great fans, great facilities,” Hosmer said. “He said it’s a hitter’s league, and the ball jumps off here pretty good.”

The ball did jump when Hosmer hit a home run in his first at-bat for the Naturals, and he hit his second in his third game in Northwest Arkansas. It was later in that same game that Hosmer truly showed his maturity at the plate, waiting for a pitch from the left-handed Norrick he could take the other way rather than trying to pull the ball.

The result was the doublejust inside the left-fi eld line that scored Jarrod Dyson and gave the Naturals the win.

“That was a different approach with a guy on second and two outs,” Hosmer said. “When you have the winning run on second base, you might not see a good pitch to hit. I just told myself that I was going to see everything long and take it that way.

“I just stuck (the bat) out right there and got a a lucky hit, but whatever it takes to win.”