Buckeye State Baseball

Name:  Matt Groezinger

Position:  C/DH/1B/OF

Year:  Senior

School:  Wooster

Selecting the big bat from a national power may seem like the easy pick for Preseason Player of the Year, but I can assure you that it was anything but.  

After some serious debate amongst the Buckeye State Baseball staff as well as other key contributors we decided on Wooster senior Matt Groezinger as our choice for DIII Preseason Player of the Year.  

I doubt anyone will find fault with that choice.  With his resume, it’s certainly not a tough case to make.  The problem is that he plays in a state that has more than it’s fair share of talented players.  In the end, Groezinger was just a hair above the rest in our minds.

Entering his third season in the Fighting Scots’s line up, Groezinger will be the focal point of a team that has serious National Championship aspirations.  Luckily for the Upper Arlington native he will have plenty of help as the Black and Gold return a strong nucleus of talented and experienced players.

If his final season plays out anything like the first two there will be a lot of happy people in Wayne County.  Groezinger wasted no time making a splash in the NCAC.  In 2008 he hit .314 with 10 home runs (2nd in the NCAC) en route to a spot on the All-NCAC 1st team.  Highlighting his first season were a 13 game hitting streak and 14 multi-hit games.  

These things are only made more impressive when you factor in that Groezinger spent his first two years after high school serving as a bullpen catcher at Purdue prior to transferring to Wooster and beginning to see game action again on a consistent basis.

In his second full season Groezinger developed into a complete hitter.  He raised his average by over 50 points to .369 in 2009.  Equally as important, the switch hitter did so without sacrificing his power as evidenced by his 12 home runs and 73 RBI.  

By season’s end Groezinger was firmly established as an offensive force in not just the NCAC, but the nation.  When D3baseball.com tabbed him a 1st team All-American it removed any doubt; Groezinger was a known commodity in the world of DIII baseball. 

Furthering Groezinger’s status was his performance in the NCAC tournament in his 2 years on campus.  Playing a total of eight games over the past two seasons, Groezinger has posted an impressive .367 batting average in conference tournament play.  In addition he has scored 10 runs and driven in 13 more over those eight contests.  In particular, Groezinger stepped up in 2009 with a fantastic effort (.421 average, 2 HR, 9 RBI in 5 games).

Heading into 2010 Groezinger has to be confident.  He has awards, sure, but more importantly he has been close enough to a National Championship to taste it.  Great players don’t get that close without thinking “I can get us there again.”  Groezinger and his teammates undoubtedly spent the summer and fall doing everything in their power to make sure they finish the job in 2010.

 While there were several other great players around the Buckeye state that would have been worthy of being Preseason Player of the Year, we felt that Groezinger was poised to further raise the bar and play a key role in a potential National Championship run better than anyone.  

STATISTICAL SNAPSHOT:

Games Played:  99

Career Batting Average:  .346

Career Home Runs:  22

Career RBI:  106

Career On Base Percentage:  .447

Awards:  2010 D3baseball.com Preseason All-American (1st team), 2009 D3baseball.com All-American (1st team), 2009 All-Mideast Region (2nd team), 2009 All-NCAC (1st team), 2008 All-NCAC (1st team)

The entire list of the Top 30 Division III Players to Watch in 2010