NJCAA’s Handsome catcher part of no-hitter

Handsome Monica spent 11-plus years with just a catchy nickname.

Then Monica decided to make it official. At 12, his name was legally changed from Donald Ray to Handsome. It was only a formality, because after his mom began calling him Handsome in early childhood, it didn’t take long to catch on.

“It wasn’t a big shock,” Monica said. “Everybody called me Handsome. I don’t think anybody knew my birth name was Donald Ray. It wasn’t too much of a change.”

Monica, a catcher for the NJCAA national team, which improved on Monday to 2-0 in the National Baseball Congress World Series with an 11-0 run-rule victory over Sterling (Colo.). He caught a no-hitter combined from two NJCAA pitchers, Johnathan Goff and Jarrett Montgomery.

Monica, who will play baseball at Louisiana-Lafayette next spring, homered in the team’s win over Liberal on Saturday.

Louisiana-Lafayette will be Monica’s third college. He signed out of high school with Arizona but played sparingly in his only season. This year at Northwest Florida State, Monica batted .348 with 13 home runs, 48 RBIs and a .684 slugging percentage.

He was drafted in the 33rd round by the Atlanta Braves but opted instead to sign with Louisiana-Lafayette, near his hometown of Mandeville, La.

“I was really leaning toward the Braves. I wanted to get my career going,” Monica said. “In the end, with academics and stuff like that, I really felt like going to school was the best thing for me.”

Monica was a high-level recruit out of high school and projected to be drafted in the middle rounds of the 2014 draft, but he went undrafted. His year at Arizona, in which Monica received a handful of at-bats, didn’t help his stock or his scouring attention.

A strong year at Northwest Florida got him back on the radar of major-league teams. Though he didn’t sign with the Braves, he believes his extensive travels throughout college will tell a good story once he reaches professional baseball.

“Definitely worth it,” Monica said. “Three years in college (will) definitely get my draft stock up. Get some experience and hopefully it’ll be worth the wait. If not, I’ll go into the real world and get my degree. I think it’ll be worth the wait, though.”

Monica has already impressed on the NJCAA team with his bat, as he went 1 for 2 with an RBI in a six-inning win on Monday. But those aren’t the skills most important to Monica, who takes the psychological side of catching seriously.

“The physical part, I bring a good piece of the physical part of it,” Monica said. “But I like to brag about my mental part of the game. I like to keep my pitching staff in control, and I like to control the game. Not just physically, but mentally. That’s what I feel like I bring most to the game, just the mental aspect.”

Monica attended an all-boys high school in Louisiana. They weren’t as eager to use his first name as his mother was.

“Ugly” was the most common moniker he received, but not the only one.

“I had quite a few nicknames,” Monica said. “I understand. A guy doesn’t want to call me Handsome. I get it.”

San Diego Force 4, Valley Center 1 — Nick Vautrian allowed one run over 7 2/3 innings as San Diego moved to 2-0 in its pool.

This story was originally published August 8, 2016 at 8:17 PM with the headline "NJCAA’s Handsome catcher part of no-hitter."