His Division I college baseball career is only 17 games old, but the word is already getting out on College of Charleston's new first baseman. You don't want to pitch to D.J. Wabick.
"You can already see people making adjustments to him," said coach John Pawlowski, whose 18th-ranked Cougars play host to Western Carolina in Southern Conference play this weekend. "They are starting to walk him more and to pitch around him, so the word has spread already."
And why not? Through 17 games, the 6-2, 215-pound Wabick is the leading hitter in the SoCon, averaging .479 with four home runs and a league-best 27 RBIs. From the left-handed batter's box, Wabick likes to choke up on the bat and drive the ball into the gaps, and already has had two five-hit games.
"He doesn't take a huge swing, and he's tough to pitch to," Pawlowski said. Adding a bat like Wabick's to a Cougars offense that was the most productive in the SoCon last year is adding fuel to the fire, and he freely admits to benefiting from being the new guy in the Cougars' lineup. Opposing pitchers already know about preseason SoCon player of the year Byron Barber and all-SoCon hitters such as Brett Gardner, Brett Anderson, Phillip Coker, Jess Easterling and Chris Campbell. So they figure, "Let's try the new guy."
"That definitely has helped me," said Wabick, the latest Cougar to traverse the pipeline from Okaloosa-Walton Community College in Florida to College of Charleston. "There are so many hitters in the lineup they are scared to face, so I've seen a lot of fastballs because of the guys in front of me and behind me.
"They know what the other guys can do, but they are not sure of what I can do. So they've been given me more things to hit."
And one thing Wabick can do is hit. His father Dave, himself a former college player, had him hitting off of a tee as soon as D.J. could stand, and he began playing with a travel team in Palos Park, Ill., when he was just 10 years old.
Wabick was all-state as a senior at Stagg High School, and was picked in the 38th round by the homeetown Chicago White Sox in 2002.
"They basically told me to go to junior college first, because they thought I needed a year or so of college ball," Wabick said. "But after my freshman year, I wanted to stay in school and get my college education in."
Wabick batted .330 as a freshman and .340 with six homers as a sophomore at Okaloosa-Walton, where Cougars assistant Rob Renistetle coached. Barber and catcher Brian Hastings also started their careers at Okaloosa-Walton.
"You never know with junior-college guys," Pawlowski said. "They all want to step in and play, and if they don't sometimes you don't know how it will affect team chemistry. But these guys have all come in and brought great team chemistry with them."
With Kevin Bulger having transferred and Anderson moving to designated hitter, Wabick filled a hole at first base for the Cougars. But as the scouting reports circulate through the SoCon, he could find hittable pitches harder to find.
"Early in the season, you sometimes see guys have a lot of success as people are trying to figure out how to pitch a guy," Pawlowski said. "He's going to have to make some adjustments, but I think he will. Junior college baseball in Florida is very tough. They have some of the best players in the country down there."
WEEKEND BASEBALL Western Carolina (11-4, 3-0) at College of Charleston (13-4, 3-0)
5 p.m. today; 1 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. Sunday
BY JEFF HARTSELL
Of The Post and Courier Staff
