Asked to describe himself as a hitter, Jake Guenther smiled, thought for half a second and said, “Singles hitter.”
Wait. You’re batting cleanup at TCU, leading the team in slugging, and hitting over .400.
Singles hitter?
“I mean, I hit a whole one home run last year,” he said with another big smile.
Well, that’s true. As a sophomore at Sacramento City College a year ago, the left-handed hitting first baseman finished the season with one home run. Which brought his career total to three.
Yet with the Horned Frogs, facing Division I pitching for the first time, he hit two home runs in his first seven games. He parked one in the trees beyond the terraced seating on the berm in right field during a series against Grand Canyon three weeks ago.
As TCU prepares to start a three-game home set against Eastern Michigan on Friday night, Guenther is batting .412, third among Big 12 players, with five doubles and a triple. His OPS of 1.183 includes a .667 slugging percentage.
OK, singles hitter. Explain.
“It’s just working with all the coaches here and figuring out which pitches are good pitches to swing at and working in the weight room,” he said. “We’ve got a good conditioning coach here. I know it’s paying off.”
Right now, everything helps a relatively inexperienced hitter like Guenther. He’s a former high school basketball star who liked pitching but gave it up because of an arm injury that threatened to derail his career. At Sac City, it was hit or do something else.
“His arm was hurt right from the beginning. It just wasn’t healing,” said his junior college coach, Derek Sullivan. “He said, ‘You know, I used to hit.’ And he’s big and physical and left-handed, so we’re, ‘Yeah, he’s redshirting, absolutely.’ So he spent a bunch of time in the cage. He picked up some things to the point that my hitting coach said, ‘I bet you this kid is going to play for us a lot.’ “
The bet was right. Guenther became an on-base machine with a disciplined eye, fine-tuned swing and a penchant for fundamentals.
“As self-made a player as we’ve had in a long time. He had this insane work ethic,” Sullivan said. “I would think that we helped. We’re really proud of what we do. But we didn’t teach that kid to hit. We suggested some things that are important. We’ve given similar information to some really good players over the years, but Jake has done more with it than maybe anybody.”
In the Northwoods League two years ago between JUCO seasons, Baseball America tabbed the 6-foot-4, 230-pound player from Oshkosh, Wis., as one of the league’s top 10 prospects. He landed on TCU’s radar.
“Coach Mosiello called me, Coach Schloss was there two days later, and I was on a plane that Friday, staying with Luken Baker here for College GameDay and say no more,” Guenther said. “You’re staying with Luken Baker and Durbin Feltman, you’re going to commit that weekend. I didn’t want to leave. I just wanted to pick Luken’s brain. I’m trying to just learn this whole hitting thing, and that dude’s in his own world right now.”
The advice from the former TCU masher and now St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguer?
“The only thing I could really ask is what his approach is and try to take that approach,” Guenther said. Another smile crossed his face. “Basically, just see a fastball and hit a fastball.”
The Frogs are smiling, too.
“He’s really become what we thought he would become,” coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “He was basically a guy in junior college that had a great approach. He would draw walks and hit singles. But he’s so big and strong, and he’s gotten bigger and stronger since he’s been here. Coach Mo’s done some things to help get him a little more power and become a little more aggressive, and so far it’s worked out.”
Guenther has hit fourth in the order in all 15 games. He’s reached base safely in every game, by hit 13 times. His 14 runs batted in and 11 walks both rank second on the team. He leads in on-base percentage at .516.
On base, his athleticism shows. He’s 5-for-5 in steals, all of third.
In the field, he’s a prototype first baseman with height and a glove on his right hand.
“He’s an elite defender at first base,” Schlossnagle said. “I rate most of a first baseman’s defense on the number of throwing errors of the other infielders. If a guy throws one high, Jake can go get that. And he does a nice job of picking balls out of the dirt.”
Guenther showed off his defense in the Grand Canyon series, sending a relay throw to home plate perfectly to cut down the tying run in the eighth inning of a 6-5 victory that won the series.
Not bad for a former hoops star trying to make it as a junior college pitcher. But life is funny. Basketball players become baseball players. Pitchers become hitters. Singles hitters become home run hitters.
“I loved basketball in high school. That was my sport,” Guenther said. “But I didn’t think there was much of a ceiling for basketball for me. I talked to my pitching coach at the time, and he said I should head out to Sacramento and give baseball a shot. I drove out there and three years later, here I am.”
Welcome, singles hitter.
