CORVALLIS — As Trent Caraway bashed his method to a record-setting efficiency within the Corvallis Regional, fueling the Oregon State baseball staff’s surge by the losers’ bracket, a reassuring thought comforted him like a heat blanket.
“I really feel like persons are fairly terrified of me proper now,” he stated, cracking a wry smile.
And they need to be.
The Beavers’ beginning third baseman simply is perhaps the most well liked hitter in faculty baseball. And because the eighth-seeded Beavers (45-13-1) put together to host the ninth-seeded Florida State Seminoles (41-14) in a best-of-three Corvallis Tremendous Regional, the red-hot third baseman little doubt has the eye of FSU pitching coach Micah Posey and his gifted trio of left-handed starters.
Caraway simply accomplished probably the most prodigious stretch of his faculty profession — and top-of-the-line in Oregon State postseason historical past — hitting .530 with 5 dwelling runs, one double, 10 RBIs, 9 runs scored and 7 walks. Caraway belted in a homer in every of the Beavers’ 5 regional video games, delivering probably the most by any Oregon State participant in any postseason at school historical past.
“I feel I’m in all probability top-of-the-line hitters within the nation,” Caraway stated.
Nobody of their proper thoughts would have uttered such a phrase simply two weeks in the past, when Caraway was laboring by the worst stoop of his baseball life and combating to salvage what he may from a misplaced season. The 6-foot-2 sophomore from Dana Level, California, entered the yr with lofty expectations, touchdown on the Baseball American preseason All-American staff and at No. 21 on MLB.com’s high draft prospect record. However after a prolific opening month, the one factor he may all the time depend on — his lovely baseball swing — had betrayed him.
From March 30 to Could 15, Caraway hit .156, managing simply 14 in 90 at-bats, as he went hitless in 17 of 26 video games. Alongside the best way, his batting common plummeted a staggering 62 factors, forcing OSU coach Mitch Canham to cease him from the leadoff spot to the underside of the order. The bottom level, Caraway says, got here within the finale of a three-game sequence at Cal State Northridge in mid-April, when he went 0 for five with two strikeouts simply two days after going 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.
“I’ve by no means actually had drawback hitting the baseball,” Caraway stated. “So it was undoubtedly new. I’m like, ‘What am I doing?’ I sort of went down a bit rabbit gap. I’ve simply by no means been there. I used to be like, ‘Oh, shoot, I’m desirous about hitting, and I’ve by no means considered hitting.’ In order that was one thing new for me.”
For a participant with Main League expertise that matched his Main League potential, it spurred quite a lot of soul-searching and some heart-to-heart chats with Gavin Turley, his good buddy and roommate. Turley, who had batted his personal hideous stoop as a freshman, knew all too properly what Caraway was going by and his recommendation was easy:
Calm down.
“I simply suppose that youngsters come to school … they usually begin taking this job too severely, begin sort of taking place a rabbit gap,” Turley stated. “I imply, I’ve been there. Each child goes to go there in some unspecified time in the future of their profession. So I feel he simply sort of realized that baseball is what you do, not who you might be. He began with the ability to come dwelling after video games, regardless that he was 0 for 4 and whatnot, and he’d be simply regular TC. Earlier than, that wasn’t essentially the case. However it wasn’t his fault, as a result of he simply didn’t know any higher. I feel the expansion on the again finish, like psychologically, is the place probably the most development has been with him.”
It was simpler stated than performed for a hyperactive participant who brings such infectious and boisterous power to the sport, it’s as if he downs three Crimson Bulls earlier than he steps between the strains.
Make no mistake, Caraway fought to regain his mojo. He watched hours of video. He lived within the batting cages. He rapped commonly with Canham and hitting coach Ryan Gipson.
Alongside the best way, Caraway determined to dial issues again from three Crimson Bulls to 2.
His aggressive hitting method, which regularly featured first-pitch hacks and little plate self-discipline, was too aggressive. It wasn’t that he didn’t have good pitch choice, it’s that he had no pitch choice as a result of he hardly ever bothered to take any. So pitchers pounced on the aggression, peppering him with inside fastballs, a lot of which have been sinkers off the plate. As a substitute of watching the pitch sail by to work a 1-0 depend, Caraway swung away — and was usually jammed — stopping him from extending his highly effective arms and placing a barrel on the ball.
Caraway drew simply 9 walks over the primary 38 video games of the season. However proper across the time he endured that strikeout fest at Cal State Northridge, Caraway lastly tempered his method and began taking extra pitches.
After drawing simply 9 walks over his first 37 video games, Caraway has drawn 19 over the past 21, together with seven in 5 regional outings.
“I’ve all the time been a swinger,” he stated. “That’s additionally as a result of, I imply, when you throw it within the strike zone, I often get a barrel on it. However that’s undoubtedly been one thing new for me, as a result of I’m taking borderline pitches now, and I’m like, ‘That’s a ball.’ I do know it totally. It’s not like I’m taking my A swing on it proper off the bat. And I’m enthusiastic about that. I’ve truly been seeing pitches higher, so it’s only a growth.”
As for the out-of-nowhere energy surge, Caraway stated, he made one minor adjustment on his swing comply with by. After utilizing a one-handed end most of his life, he began tinkering with a two-handed method earlier than the regional, which, he stated, is “loosening” up his swing and making a “tighter flip” in his physique rotation.
However, past that slight tweak and his newfound plate endurance, most of Caraway’s development has come between his ears.
“I’d say it’s simply clearing my head,” he stated.
One factor that by no means modified: Caraway’s ridiculous confidence. Even when he couldn’t purchase a success, Caraway strutted across the Oregon State clubhouse like a Main Leaguer, grinding by his day by day work, caring for his physique and consuming proper, all whereas “feeding constructive power to himself” and sporting a smile, Canham stated.
When requested to explain Caraway’s confidence, the person who coached Travis Bazzana and Garrett Forester and Jacob Melton and Wade Meckler — and performed alongside Jacoby Ellsbury and Darwin Barney and Cole Gillespie — couldn’t assist however set free a hearty chuckle.
“Nearly unmatched,” Canham stated. “He is aware of he can get the job performed in any state of affairs. It’s infectious to everybody round you. When he comes within the dugout after hitting one other dwelling run, I’m taking a look at him, and he isn’t stunned. He knew, he noticed it, he felt it. Typically they get in there (after hitting one) they usually’re similar to, ‘Man, how about that?’ He’s like, ‘I anticipate that each time I’m going as much as the plate.’ He’s glowing. He virtually seems to be like he’s 4 inches taller and 4 inches wider and simply filling up some high-quality house proper now.”
And whereas Caraway’s late-season surge might need come as a shock to some, as far is Turley is worried, it was inevitable.
“It’s not stunning to me,” Turley stated. “It’s what he’s able to doing. And it’s actually cool to see a child undergo one thing and have the ability to come again out of it. It reveals so much, greater than I feel folks understand, as a result of quite a lot of youngsters will go down the dumps and sort of keep down there for good. After which that’s their profession. I feel with him with the ability to come out like he did, it reveals so much about what he’s able to doing.
“I feel he’s in a great spot proper now. He’s acquired this stream to him that not quite a lot of guys have.”
— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | @freemanjoe.bsky.social | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the most recent information and high tales.
