Player: Matt Tracy
Position: Second baseman
Year: Junior
School: Mount Union
We enter our last five Division III players to watch in 2010. There is no tailing off of talent, or saving the best for last. 1-30, each of these players can play.
Earlier Mount Union’s terrific fielder Greg Ferrell was highlighted. Ferrell is no slouch at the plate as you know, but now in profiling second baseman Matt Tracy you are introduced to the Raiders most prolific hitter. Tracy a junior is coming from a sophomore season where he raised his game leaps and bounds while being recognized by league coaches.
Stepping into a role and producing as a freshman is a feat that is under-appreciated by the mass. The change of game speed, the talent opposing you, and the shoes that you’re filling as a wet-behind-the-ears player, can be mentally, physically, and emotionally draining.
From Pittsburgh where he attended Central Catholic Mount Union second baseman received a taste of collegiate baseball his freshman year.
In 2008 the 5’9, 145 right-handed hitting Tracy appeared in 12 games, making three starts. In the dozen games 15 at-bats were recorded with four hits tallied for a .267 average. Tracy scored seven runs, drove one in, and collected four walks against one strike out in the limited duty.
The experience was valuable. Even though his overall abilities are game was not quite at the level to be an everyday start, Tracy learned what was needed of him to become a staple in the line-up and took to the offseason with determination and high goals for his sophomore season.
Mission accomplished.
In 2009, Tracy led the Purple & White with a .402 average, finishing with a team high 51 hits in 127 at-bats. Starting every game for the 20-18 Raiders, Tracy ended the season with 33 runs scored, two doubles, a team-best four triples, and 26 RBI. The 61 bases Tracy totalled produced a .480 slugging percentage, and the 12 walks drawn, one via a hit by pitch against 10 strike outs allowed the diminutive Tracy to reach base an ever 45% of the time he stepped to the plate.
Batting behind the speedy Ferrell, Tracy proved to be the excellent choice for a two-hole hitter, providing coach Paul Hesse with unlimited managing decisions, hit-and-run, run-and-hit, bunt singles, were all available with the consistent contact hitter at the plate. On the bases Tracy wasn’t used often, successfully stealing two of three bases. In the field seven errors in 180 chances were committed for a .961 fielding percentage.
Tracy is a player who knows his role, knows his strengths and weaknesses and goes to work everyday fulfilling what is asked of him. A second-team All-Ohio Athletic Conference in 2009, Tracy will continue to perfect his small ball game while doing so as one of the OAC’s best. Tracy and Ferrell give Mount Union a talented top of the line-up that can stack up against anyone.
Filed under: Division III
