April 20, 2010
By Josh Bowe for utamavs.com
ARLINGTON, Texas - Between walking and hitting home runs, Michael Choice has probably jogged to first base as much as he has sprinted.
The UT Arlington junior centerfielder has crushed 12 home runs and has been walked 47 times this year. Those 47 walks have him tied for first in the nation and the home runs lead the Southland Conference. Of those 47 walks, 11 are intentional.
Opposing teams across the country are making sure Choice doesn't add to his home run total against them. That includes No. 2 ranked Texas tonight at 6:05 p.m. in Austin.
"It's a little frustrating," Choice said. "I have faith in my teammates that they are going to come through behind me."
Choice has learned to accept all the walks whether he likes it or not. Since his freshman year at UTA, Choice has been the center piece of the lineup. It hasn't diminished his focus or timing at the plate though. Choice is hitting a team high .395 this season.
"I still have to put in the work in practice and stay locked in mentally so I don't lose that edge from walking a lot," Choice said.
Even though Choice is listed with 11 intentional walks, the number of `unintentional' intentional walks would be high as well if it were a statistic. Teams have been walking Choice on four straight pitches, even if it isn't an official intentional walk.
UTA coach Darin Thomas said he's more proud of how Choice has handled those walks as opposed to the intentional ones. Choice is the only Maverick to have more than 14 walks and also have more walks than strikeouts.
"I think he's handling the unintentional intentional walks well too," Thomas said. "He doesn't get a lot of good pitches to hit even when they so called `throw to him.'
"He's handled it. He tried to stay in the strike zone and that's hard to do. He's going to have a lot of walks by the end of the year."
To fix those walks and allow Choice to add to his home run and RBI totals, Thomas is looking for a reliable bat to hit behind Choice.
So far Thomas has gone through a couple of options. Senior Steffan Guest started the season hitting behind Choice at designated hitter. Guest start out hitting well over .300 but has now dipped to .294.
More recently Thomas has gone with junior catcher Chad Comer. Comer is hitting .331, second on the team. But Thomas is still searching.
"We've just got to get something behind him," Thomas said. "We talked about it at the beginning of the year and we were getting it at the beginning of the year.
"It's against good arms, I understand that. But we're going to have to find a way for a couple of guys to hit behind him in conference especially."
It's not just the hitters behind Choice, but the hitters in front of Choice. Comer said it works both ways with pitchers pitching tough to whoever bats ahead of Choice to avoid putting runners on with Choice at the plate.
Comer hit his fourth home run of the year and drove in three runs during UTA's 13-3 victory over McNeese State last weekend. Comer batted sixth in that series but said he thinks he's capable.
"If I get a couple of more chances to do it I might be able to step up into that role," Comer said.
Regardless of who's hitting in front or behind him, Choice knows the more home runs he hits, the more he expects to see four straight pitches outside. He just hopes the next day he'll get something to hit.
"There's another day, another opportunity," Choice said. "That's the good thing about baseball. You can come out the next day and start fresh."
