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Kevin Hall wants to be known for more than being an acrobatic center fielder, capable of making highlight-reel plays with every baseball hit his way.
He wants to be known for more than being the really smart guy on the team, the one who is a three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference scholar with a degree in exercise science and another soon to come in chemistry.
He wants to be known for being a hitter, an offensive threat at the top of the Shockers’ batting order who gets on base a lot, steals a bunch of bases and scores a lot of runs.
He wants to be a force with a bat in his hands. He wants to prove to people that he’s more than a .250 hitter with speed who can chase down balls in the outfield.
“I want people to think of me as much as being an offensive threat as a defensive threat,” said Hall, who will be in a table-setting spot in the Shockers’ batting order for today’s season opener against Louisiana-Lafayette in San Marcos, Texas.
He’s flattered by all the comments commending him for his ability to play center field. And it doesn’t offend him when someone tells him he’s smart. But there isn’t a baseball player in the world who doesn’t want his bat to do some of his talking.
For Hall, it’s been more of a whisper.
He batted .254 last season in 65 games. He was in the lineup every day for the Shockers, but he was never able to get his bat going for a long period of time. He batted .243 as a sophomore in 2010, missed most of the 2009 season with an injury and played in 37 games as a freshman in 2008, batting .320 and making the Missouri Valley Conference all-tournament team.
“I finished that season on a hot streak,’’ Hall said. “But even in the middle of 2008 I was really struggling and not playing that much. It was kind of a grind but I stayed with it and got my shot again and rolled with it.”
Hall worked diligently during the fall and winter to refine his swing. Or perhaps a better description is that he worked to learn his swing.
“Sometimes I’m too tense at the plate, too jerky,” he said. “I’ve really smoothed things out and it’s helping me stay calm up there. There have been less strikeouts; I’m putting the ball in play more.”
Hall, who is from Springfield, Ill., isn’t a power guy, so his goal is to drive the ball through the infield and occasionally get one into the gap for extra bases.
“I’m not going to try to do more than I can do,” Hall said. “It starts this weekend. Absolutely, I believe I’m more than a .250 hitter. I can’t explain how I got into the rut I’ve been in in the first place. I don’t even know really if it’s more of a physical thing or a mental thing.”
Hall has excited his coaches with his production during practices. He looks like a player who can be a weapon offensively and not just a guy who helps his pitching staff out by making circus catches.
“I’m looking for .350 this year,’’ Hall said, unafraid to attach a number to his expectations. “You never want to chase a number, but that’s what I want. If I don’t produce and score runs this year, it’s going to be a big disappointment. I need to lead this team and it has to be more than leading inside the locker room.”
Hall is one of the team’s most experienced players.
“Though all of my experiences, I feel like I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been here,” he said. “More about the game and more about myself. In all the years we’ve had success in this program there have been a core group of guys who take those leadership roles. We should be the guys leading the way.”
But leading, Hall knows, is easier when you have some cache. And cache is easier to acquire when you’re performing at a high level.
Hall wants to be as dangerous at the plate as he is in the field. Robbing opposing players is a rush, for sure, but it’s no fun to be thought of as a .250 hitter.
If the Shockers are to exceed some of the lowest expectations in the program’s history, Hall has to provide as much of a bat as he does a glove. And while his 3.74 GPA looks nice, that .350 batting average is the number Hall is most interested in.
