Every member of the Arizona Wildcats baseball team works hard. No one works harder than junior first baseman JJ Matijevic.
“He sets the bar,” UA coach Jay Johnson said. “He lives here at the field. Early in the morning, late at night.
“When you commit yourself to working at your craft like that, you’re eventually going to get some good results. That’s what’s happened with him.”
“Good” doesn’t begin to describe Matijevic’s results so far this season. “Spectacular” is a more appropriate adjective.
Matijevic leads the Pac-12 in batting average (.410), slugging percentage (.694), hits (55), RBIs (39) and total bases (93) heading into this week’s series against Oregon starting Thursday at Hi Corbett Field. He ranks first in the nation in doubles (20).
On Monday, the left-handed batter from North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, was named Pac-12 Player of the Week. On Wednesday, he made the midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, presented to the top amateur baseball player in the United States.
“They’re both humbling achievements,” Matijevic said. “It’s something you work for as a player. You set goals every year. I set goals of getting better every single day. That’s something I’ve been doing, just trying to stay consistent.
“I block out that stuff. I just show up to the field and try to get better for my teammates.”
Matijevic has gotten better every year. He hit .238 as a freshman and .287 as a sophomore. About halfway through the regular season, he has established career highs in doubles, home runs (six) and RBIs.
Getting to this point has been a process. Although blessed with natural bat speed and hand-eye coordination, Matijevic’s swing needed an overhaul. He had to fully commit to the changes Johnson and batting coach Marc Wanaka urged him to make.
When they first started working with him in the fall of 2015, Matijevic had a high leg kick. He also moved his hands too much.
“The big thing was just trying to get him to quiet down,” Wanaka said. “By quieting down his body, it would allow his eyes to work better. Once you’re able to see the ball better, you start to swing at the right pitches.”
Matijevic has lowered his strikeout rate from 17.7 percent to 16.3. He’s hitting lefties (.442) even better than righties (.390). In his last 10 games, Matijevic is batting .465 with seven doubles, four home runs and 15 RBIs.
“Everything’s more controllable now,” Matijevic said. “I’m nice and smooth at the plate.”
Mastering that approach required countless hours of batting practice. There’s no place Matijevic would rather be. Every team has a first-one-in, last-one-out guy. For the 2017 Wildcats, that’s Matijevic.
He credits his work ethic to two sources. One is his parents. Dad Joe is a fire chief by day, disk jockey by night. Mom Erin is an office manager who has run several half-marathons and is about to run her first full one.
The other is former teammate Bobby Dalbec, who’s now in the Boston Red Sox organization. Dalbec and Matijevic are kindred spirits when it comes to hitting. They regularly text each other with tips.
“I want baseball to be my job one day,” Matijevic said. “You’ve gotta be here early. You’ve gotta be here late. I live by that, and I take a lot of pride in it.”
Baseball will become Matijevic’s profession soon enough. D1Baseball.com ranks him as the No. 41 college prospect for the 2017 MLB draft. Baseball America’s Michael Lananna projects him as a second- or third-round pick.
Matijevic said he isn’t thinking about any of that right now. His sole focus is coming to work every day and setting an example for the younger Wildcats, as Dalbec did for him.
“He always wants to hit,” Wanaka said. “He always wants to come back in, stay after or go early. His mentality is, put your head down and go.”
Cloney update
JC Cloney, Arizona’s No. 1 starter, is day-to-day, Johnson said.
Cloney faced only one batter against Washington State last Friday before coming out of the game because of a biceps issue. Johnson said the senior left-hander is “doing great” and that there’s “a lot to feel positive about.” But the coaches planned to evaluate him further Wednesday before determining his availability for the Oregon series.
“I can’t make that call right now,” Johnson said before Wednesday’s practice. “We’re in the process of evaluating what he can and cannot do, and we won’t pitch him until he’s ready. We’ll know more about that in the next day or two.”
Cloney is 6-0 with a 1.74 ERA.
Inside pitch
- Junior left-hander David Peterson is scheduled to start for Oregon on Thursday. Peterson is 7-1 with a 2.06 ERA and a 77-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 52ª innings. He’s also on the Golden Spikes watch list.
- The Ducks (22-8, 5-4 Pac-12) rank last in the conference in batting average (.256) but second in on-base percentage (.371). The Oregon pitching staff is second in ERA (3.05) and first in strikeouts (271).
- No. 7 Arizona (24-8, 7-5) has won eight of nine since being swept at Oregon State. Thursday’s game is the first of seven in a row at home for the Wildcats.
- The start time of Saturday’s series finale has been moved up one hour. First pitch is scheduled for noon.
