Hit or miss, Van Doornum makes an impact
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Hawai'i designated hitter Jeff Van Doornum has been a pleasant surprise.
Not necessarily with how the redshirt freshman has been hitting the baseball.
Take for example:
"I'd like to consider myself the better athlete because I'm the older brother and been here longer," Van Doornum said with a chuckle.
"As far as quick-twitch muscles, it helped a little bit," he said. "As as far strength and flexibility, that's probably the main part of karate that helped me."
"She used to play softball when she was young," he said of his mother, Cathy. "She played field hockey and softball at Purdue."
That he is hitting .293 with a team-leading eight doubles and is second on the team with eight RBIs is not a surprise. His first career home run — against Northern Illinois to seal a 7-3 win at a major-league spring training complex in Surprise, Ariz. — was a monster blast to dead center, way past the 400-foot marker.
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Van Doornum is as aggressive a hitter there is. He has yet to draw a walk in 44 plate appearances. He said that will come when he starts recognizing pitches better. But UH coach Mike Trapasso is not worried.
"We put him in the 5-hole because he's there to produce runs," Trapasso said. "He's got a few more strikeouts than we'd like, but then again, he's a freshman. To have eight doubles and swinging the way he has, he's been good for us. He's going to be a real good one before he leaves here."
Van Doornum's strength isn't just his strength. He has a vicious swing, yet is not the pull hitter usually associated with power guys. The right-handed hitter's eight doubles and homer have been to either center, right-center or right.
"He's aggressive and a good low-ball hitter, which is an advantage because as pitching coaches, we teach pitchers to throw the ball down in the zone and that's the ball he hits well," Trapasso said. "He'll hit the pitch where it's pitched. He's not pull-happy and that's what made him dangerous and that's what made him a good two-strike hitter."
After sitting out last year, Van Doornum is thrilled to be back.
"Just being back on the field, seeing live pitching again is a great thing," he said.
Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.
