Natural Power
April 20, 2023 | Baseball, Joel Coleman
Hunter Hines is smashing baseballs at an unbelievable pace.
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State hitting coach Jake Gautreau could only watch in awe as the baseball sailed far over the right-field wall at Dudy Noble Field.
It was the seventh inning last Sunday against Ole Miss. In the rubber match of the weekend series, the Bulldogs were tied with the rival Rebels 3-3. With two outs and David Mershon at second base, Hunter Hines stepped to the plate, took one mighty hack, untied the ballgame, electrified Starkville and amazed Gautreau.
Now here's the backstory, as told by Gautreau:
"I'm preparing [Colton Ledbetter] and Hines for [Ole Miss pitcher Jackson Kimbrell], the lefty they brought in. I'm giving them the scouting report and kind of what they need to do. Led is hitting and I'm standing there with Hines, and I said, 'It's going to be all sliders. It's going to be sliders down and away. He's going to want you to chase. There's no way he's throwing you a ball you can hit into this wind. It's too dangerous. Just see one. See what it looks like. If it's a strike, so be it.'
"He was like, 'OK. Cool. Got it.' So, I went back to the [dugout] rail. He called me back. We started talking about something else. It was kind of the same plan, but not really. So now we have two different plans and it's like, 'Oh, boy.' But I still felt good about the new plan we had. Then he called me back and said, 'Hey, how about this? I'm going to look for a first-pitch slider and if it starts where I know it has to start, I'm going to swing at it and I'm going to hit a home run.' He said, 'I will hit it out.' He said, 'If it doesn't start where I need it to start, I'll just take it.'
"I'm sitting there laughing to myself and I gave him knuckles and I said, 'Hunt the slider you want and hit it out of the ballpark.' I got back to the rail, and he got up there. [Kimbrell] threw him the first one. It wasn't a terrible slider either. It was down and in [Hines'] nitro zone, but it was a decent little pitch. And he hit that thing and I looked to my left and said, 'Oh my.' It was pretty special.
"I'm watching the ball go out. They're telling me to look at Hines and I missed it, but I've seen all the videos. When he hits hit, he's running down the line. He turns around and he looks in our dugout and smiles at me like, 'I told you so.' It's like, 'Wow.' So it was pretty cool."
Big Game does Big Game things 🧨#HailState pic.twitter.com/V3OvdFZLwr
— Mississippi State Baseball (@HailStateBB) April 16, 2023
It was an incredible moment for an incredible player who continues to do incredible things for the Bulldogs. Hines has followed up his freshman year that included both All-Southeastern Conference and All-America accolades with a sophomore campaign that's on track to be one of the best seasons in MSU history.
Hines currently sits among the Top 10 in the SEC in slugging, RBIs, total bases and homers. He leads the Diamond Dawgs in all of those categories, plus is second on the squad with an impressive .336 batting average.
Yet when you think of Hines, it's his power that understandably first comes to mind. His 17 round-trippers are tied for third-most in all of the SEC, and it's not just the amount of home runs Hines is hitting that's impressive. It's also the pace.
Hines averages a home run every 8.4 at-bats. For comparison's sake, when Rafael Palmeiro cranked 29 balls out of the park in 1984 to tie Bruce Castoria for MSU's single-season home run crown, Palmeiro averaged a long ball every 8.1 at-bats.
To take it even further, consider some of the top Major League Baseball home run paces of all time. Mark McGwire finished his career averaging a homer ever 10.61 at-bats – the best pace in MLB history for hitters with more than 3,000 career plate appearances. Babe Ruth averaged a home run every 11.76 at-bats. Hank Aaron? Every 16.38 at-bats.
Hines' 143 at-bats in 2023 is of course a much smaller sample size than the aforementioned big-league careers, but it goes to illustrate just how special Hines has been.
Gautreau says Hines is such a talented hitter, he in many ways breaks the mold for what you'd expect.
"There's just a handful of people that are natural home run hitters and Hines is one of them," Gautreau explained. "I'm always trying to tell him, 'Don't try and hit the homer. Try and be a good hitter. You're just trying to get your hits and hit the ball hard. Your home runs will come.' It's very true and I think right now he is in that mode of just trying to have good at-bats and quality at-bats and hit balls hard. But he has this freakish deal about him where every once in awhile, when he's locked in, he can try to hit a homer and he'll hit one. Very rarely does anybody in baseball ever do that."
And everyone pretty much got to see that skill firsthand with Hines' game-winning bomb last Sunday.
While there's no denying Hines' remarkable ability, the slugger himself is quick to give others some credit for his success as well. He's been surrounded in the lineup of late by another couple of Bulldogs doing big things – Ledbetter and defending SEC Freshman of the Week, Dakota Jordan.
"It helps to have a good guy in front of you and behind you," Hines said. "I'm just lucky to be in the middle. It's hard to pitch to our lineup when we're rolling. And I feel like with Jordan behind me, then I really get some mistake pitches I can take advantage of."
Hines credits Gautreau, too, for keeping him on track. And the message, Hines says, usually isn't that complicated.
"Just don't get myself out," Hines said of what Gautreau preaches. "A lot of times when I'm struggling, I get myself out. The pitcher isn't getting me out. When I just stay within myself, I'm doing pretty good."
Pretty good, indeed. And the best news of all for Hines and the Bulldogs is that Hines continues to blossom.
"I actually told [head coach Chris Lemonis earlier this week], I'm watching [Hines] grow up quickly this season," Gautreau said. "And it's been more of late. In SEC play I've really started to see him mature as a person, as a teammate and as a hitter."
