Yeager Settling In For State
March 17, 2022 | Baseball, Joel Coleman
RJ Yeager’s bat is coming alive headed into SEC play.
STARKVILLE – There was absolutely no doubt.
It was this past Monday night at Dudy Noble Field. Mississippi State was playing host to Binghamton when RJ Yeager came to the plate in the fourth inning with the Bulldogs down a run. The count was even at 2-2, and Yeager took a mighty hack. He connected. The ball soared towards the Left Field Lounge.
The only question was, exactly how far over the wall would it fly? Then, four innings later, he did it again.
This was the RJ Yeager MSU knew it was getting when he transferred in from Mercer. It just took a couple of weeks to see it.
"Trust me, I was waiting on it, too," Yeager said. "It was a good night [on Monday]. It felt good to get that first [home run]Â and the second one was just icing on top. Hopefully keep it rolling through conference play this weekend."
Indeed, Yeager could be heating up at just the right time. Mississippi State is in Georgia opening up SEC play with a three-game set starting Friday. Yeager walks into Athens in a different spot than he was at only a couple of weeks ago.
After the Southern Miss game on March 2, Yeager was hitting just .091. He was only 2-for-his-first-22 as a Diamond Dawg.
"Starting off the year, I wasn't at my best by any means," Yeager said. "I think it was a little bit of just being in a different environment. I knew it coming in, but I get off to the slow start and it kind of started snowballing. As a player, you don't want that to happen."
The bad news was Yeager was slumping. The good news was this wasn't some wide-eyed youngster trying to find his way. This was a seasoned veteran who started every single game at Mercer from 2018 through 2021.
Before ever landing in Starkville, Yeager had 769 collegiate at-bats under his belt and was a .291 career hitter. He'd played in 197 games prior to putting the M-over-S hat on his head.
You don't play the humbling game of baseball at this level for four years without learning how to get back up after falling down. So, this season's first few games were far from the first time Yeager has had to bounce back. And bounce back he has as he's continued to trust in his own ability.
"Baseball is a crazy game," Yeager said. "You just have to come in and keep working. I was still confident and staying ready and trusting in my work day in and day out. Regardless of what's happening, I don't let my highs get too high or lows get too low. So just having that mindset and attitude about it has really helped me."
Of course it doesn't hurt to also get a little help from your friends. Despite the fact Yeager's middle-infield mates Tanner Leggett and Lane Forsythe are Yeager's primary competitors for playing time, the whole group is close, and they relentlessly support each other.
"It's a crazy dynamic, because I root so hard for those guys and they root for me and those guys are like my best friends on the team," Yeager said. "It's the craziest thing, but I think that's good. I think competition is good for all of us. We have players that when I'm not playing good or they're not playing good or whatever, we know someone is going to step right in there and we're all going to be rooting for them. I love those guys."
A rising tide lifts all boats and right now, the Yeager tide is certainly getting higher. Since the aforementioned Southern Miss game, Yeager has hit .400, going 8-for-his-last-20. In his last two games, Yeager has gone 4-for-7 with two homers, a double, a walk and six RBI.
"I feel a lot better, ever since probably at Tulane, where I felt like I broke out a little bit," Yeager said. "I'm just a lot more confident. I try to stay confident day in and day out, but it's a lot easier when you're getting some hits. So yeah, I'm feeling good."
Now, the task is to keep it up. State head coach Chris Lemonis knows it's a gamechanger if Yeager keeps looking like the All-Southern Conference player he was at Mercer.
"There's a really good hitter in there," Lemonis said of Yeager. "The two bombs [he hit on Monday] help obviously, but he's a really good player and he's done it over a long amount of time. So, I'm hoping he can get going."
There's no time like the present for Yeager as the 30-game SEC gauntlet gets underway. And while Yeager knows better than most there are no guarantees in this game, he does have one prediction he's going to do all he can to help make become reality.
"The best is yet to come," Yeager said.
