Ex-farmhand Devern Hansack got his first callup to the big leagues yesterday as the Red Sox promoted him from AA Portland. The 28-year old Nicaraguan pitcher was originally signed by the Astros in 1999, spending time in the DSL and VSL in 2000 and 2001 before moving up to Lexington in 2002 and Salem in 2003. Had one of the largest age discrepancies of any DAS sufferer (or in his case NAS) at four and 1/2 friggin’ years and was released after the 2003 season. He wasn’t in organized ball the following two years. The Red Sox signed him as a minor league free agent and his 3.26 ERA for Portland this season was the 6th-best in the Eastern League.
Hansack is the second former Astros’ minor leaguer to make their MLB debut this year as a September callup (we previously noted that C Carlos Maldonado was called up by the Pirates). Pat Misch, a 5th-round pick of the Astros who went unsigned in 2002, saw his first promotion to the bigs as a September callup of the Giants. Another unsigned pick, Jason Windsor (a DFE guy at the back end of the 2000 draft), made his MLB debut back in July for Oakland.