Like it or not, any Kansas baseball fan was more suspicious than excited when sophomore third baseman Travis Metcalf was named the NCAA National Hitter of the Week last week.
It was an outstanding honor. According to the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association, nobody in the country had a better week than Metcalf, who hit .588 with three big home runs, helping the once-pipsqueak Jayhawks topple No. 6 Lousiana State.
But didn’t Ryan Baty, KU’s first baseman, win this same award just two weeks earlier?
The fact that two Jayhawks, members of a team picked to finish in the Big 12 cellar, were given the honor in three weeks might be reason to question the credibility of how far they search for the best hitters in the country.
So, which is it? Were Baty and Metcalf really the best in their respective weeks, or was the association just not looking hard enough?
“The process involves the conference offices,” said Russell Anderson of the association. “They send a list of their players of the week, and we select a hitter and a pitcher based on that.”
The award has been running for three years now. Last season, Bryan Bullington of Ball State, the first overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft, received the award. So did — among others — Texas All-American Justin Simmons and Clemson’s Khalil Greene, the best player in the collegiate game last year.
The truth is, Metcalf, Baty and Tulane’s Jonny Kaplan, the three to receive the honor this season, are in great company. Two Jayhawks getting it in three weeks is even more impressive — and unprecendented.
“I don’t think that’s happened yet,” Anderson said. “There’s been a couple of players from the same team in one year, but not in three weeks.”
So why Kansas?
One reason for Baty’s honor may be that not every school had started playing when he received the honor in late January. Still, for a player to hit .619 in six games as Baty did would merit serious consideration any week of the season.
As for Metcalf, his hot stick came while Kansas was shocking the nation, sweeping mighty LSU and giving Kansas one of its finest weekends in history. Metcalf was one of the big reasons Kansas went 3-0 in Baton Rouge.
The fans of Kansas baseball may have been suspicious about the big-time honors that Baty and Metcalf received, but the award seems legit.
Can we say the same about the No. 21 Jayhawks? They’re now 11-3 after topping Eastern Michigan twice this weekend. Will they cool off and be mediocre like everyone expected?
And, can we say the same about the rowdy fan base? The 1,342 fans who showed up on Friday were fabulous. They supported the Jayhawks, and at the same time, never thought twice about giving Eastern Michigan or the umpires all the grief they could handle.
But will the fans cool off and not care in a month?
Time will tell. But like it or not, I’d be more suspicious than excited if they stuck around, especially when the team slips and loses a couple of games.
Sadly, that’s all it would take for the fans to head to the exits. No matter what kind of accolades Kansas brings in.
