Justin's Case
May 04, 2007 12:46 PM | General
May 4, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Justin Jenkins admits he’s broken his fair share of windows growing up in Ridgeley, W.Va., making it a good thing his dad worked in the glass industry. Today, Jenkins is still breaking things but there’s really not much his old man can do about it.
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| Senior Justin Jenkins has nearly all of WVU's major hitting records in his sights.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Jenkins has a good shot at breaking all of West Virginia University’s major batting records before season’s end, making him the most prolific hitter in school history. Jenkins already owns the school record for single-season hits (94), total bases (411), career doubles (69), consecutive multi-hit games (8) and hitting streak (38 games).
Several other major school records are all within reach, including career hits, career home runs and career batting average. Jenkins is aware of his standing in the record books but he hasn’t had much time to really think about it.
“That would make anyone proud,” Jenkins said, “… but you don’t want that to get to you during the season.”
The Dick Howser Award candidate is also at or near the top of every hitting category in the Big East, including first in doubles (21) and total bases (122), second in batting average (.418) and hits (71), and third in slugging percentage (.718).
His 38-game hitting streak that ended last Sunday against St. John’s is a Big East record and is tied for 10th-longest in NCAA history.
“He’s a natural hitter,” said West Virginia coach Greg Van Zant. “What he has is God-given ability. He’s strong, he’s got great bat speed and he is a big-time competitor in the batter’s box.”
Jenkins is so much of a competitor at the plate that it sometimes gets him into trouble. One of the running jokes on the team is to see how many pitches Jenkins will let go by before he takes a hack.
“When I’m up there I might see six pitches in four at-bats,” Jenkins said. “I just look for a pitch that I can drive … left field, right field or the gaps … I’m not that patient.”
In fact pitchers really have to work to walk Jenkins, who comes into this weekend’s series against Villanova having walked just 35 times in 641 official at-bats.
“I’ve always been aggressive at the plate,” he said. “I don’t take pitches. I go up there swinging and most of the time the pitches are there, but I kind of get too aggressive sometimes and swing at pitches that are over my head.
“I’ve just always been like that,” he shrugged.
Being so aggressive at the plate, the one pitcher Jenkins hates to see when he walks out to the on-deck circle is that crafty, soft-tossing left-hander that can’t break a pane of glass.
“The guys that are the worst are the ones that don’t throw very hard,” he said. “I’d rather see a guy throwing 92 or 93 mph with a good slider because you can get geared up a little better for them than you can with a left-hander throwing 77 with a curveball that’s 50 mph.”
Jenkins figures he’s probably going to have to hit his way out of WVU to reach professional baseball. Last year he didn’t get drafted despite putting up impressive numbers his junior season.
“I had people ask me why I didn’t get drafted last year but I didn’t really let it bother me,” he said. “I came in here this year with the mindset of I just want to push myself to try and get to the next level and help my team as much as I can.”
Van Zant may have helped Jenkins’ pro career by moving him to left field before the start of this season. Growing up Jenkins always played in the infield and the past two years he played third base for the Mountaineers, although he doesn’t project well at that position professionally.
“After last year a lot of scouts talked to coach and said that being in left field might be a better option for me,” Jenkins said. “Being at third base with me having my shoulder injury, I was kind of hesitant at diving for balls and hurting my shoulder again. A lot of scouts were saying I was quick enough - I could get to balls - and I would probably be better off playing left field.”
Jenkins says he’s still adjusting to the position.
“It’s kind of difficult at times because you’ve got to factor in the wind, who’s up – left-hander, a slap-hitter or a right-handed power guy – you’ve got to adjust to the hitter.”
Perhaps the toughest thing for Jenkins to master is taking off on a dead run to a point and then turning up and finding the baseball.
“It’s very hard, especially if you have high skies because it’s really hard to find the ball,” he said.
This weekend West Virginia is trying to find its bearings after being swept last weekend at home by St. John’s. The Mountaineers (6-11 in Big East play) are presently a ½ game behind Villanova in the conference standings for the eighth and final playoff spot with three weeks remaining in the regular season.
West Virginia’s three-game weekend series at Villanova will go a long way in determining its post-season opportunities this season.
“It’s very crucial this weekend and hopefully we can go over there and take a few games off of Villanova,” Jenkins said.
“We’ve got to go out there and do what we’ve been doing all along,” Jenkins said. “Our pitching has got to come out and be there for us. We’re going to come out and score some runs and when we don’t score runs then the pitchers have got to do a great job for us.”
Otherwise, Justin Jenkins and his West Virginia teammates may be putting the bats and gloves away a littler earlier than they want to.
And that may be the only thing keeping Jenkins from breaking all of West Virginia’s hitting records.
