 "Photo: Mike Starkey")
The player is Ohio State junior centerfielder Matt Angle, who coach Bob Todd refers to as "one of the best defensive centerfielders ever to play at Ohio State."
A four-sport star in high school, the junior began his OSU career in right field, switched to center last year and was first-team All-Big Ten last year and is currently batting .372 with 15 RBIs and 13 stolen bases.
Long before Angle's name was mentioned in the upper-echelon of all those to come before him, he was a star at Columbus' Whitehall-Yearling high school. There he excelled in football, basketball, baseball and track and was a highly sought-after football prospect by major colleges in the Midwest.
"I played wide receiver, defensive back and returned kicks," he said. "I got recruited by teams like Kent State, Toledo and Kentucky. Minnesota showed some interest, but a lot of those places - other than Kent State - wanted me to just play football and I wanted to play baseball too, so that's why I didn't pursue football any further."
The decision didn't come easy. It came down to which sport he enjoyed playing more and baseball simply won out.
"(Baseball is) just something that I've grown up playing," he said. "Something that I've always loved and thought I might have more of a future in."
That future quickly became uncertain in February during his senior year of high school when an injury to his left wrist (his non-throwing hand) during a pickup basketball game resulted in three hours of surgery, four pins, three screws and sidelined him for the entire baseball season. At the time he had already committed to play baseball at OSU and his scholarship was honored.
Once fully recovered and back on the baseball diamond, Angle wasted no time making his mark on an OSU team that would go on to win the Big Ten tournament. In his first start against No. 4 North Carolina, the then freshman went 2-for-2 in a 2-1 upset victory.
That season, he said, turned out to be his most memorable at OSU because of the way his team battled back and stuck together after an early slump. He started 40-of-54 games at the unnatural position of right field because of the presence of 2004 Big Ten Player of the Year Steve Caravati in center. On the season he batted .307 with 41 hits, 18 RBIs, 13 stolen bases and totaled four assists from the outfield.
"We kind of put ourselves in the same type of situation that we're in right now," he said. "There was a great group of seniors and guys that you can really learn from, and I think that the team came together at the end of the season and played really good baseball."
Moving back to his more natural position of center field for his sophomore campaign, Angle improved on his numbers. He batted .369, scored 63 runs to lead the team, while totaling 25 stolen bases and adding six outfield assists and a .982 fielding percentage. Numbers good enough to earn him first-team All-Big Ten honors and an invite to play in the prestigious Cape Cod summer league for the Cotuit Kettleers.
This year Angle was named a captain by his teammates, an honor, he said, that is one of his greatest accomplishment as a baseball player.
The role has been extremely beneficial to the younger players on the team, said freshman outfielder Ryan Dew.
"Matt Angle, the upperclassmen outfielders, have been great giving me tips," he said. "They keep me calm. They keep me relaxed. If I'm having a bad game they come pick me up."
Todd said it is rare for a junior to be named captain and "is a testimony to his leadership skills and how much he is respected by his teammates."
The hustling centerfielder with a boyish smile who is already the fourth all-time leading base stealer at OSU says he still has unfinished business in the game of baseball.
"Ultimately, everyone's goal is to make it to the major leagues," he said. "That would be my ultimate goal: to sometime step on a major league baseball field."
But, if professional baseball doesn't work out, Angle has other plans.
"I would like to be a high school athletic director," he said. "Go back and help kids get to college. Help them get in the same type of situation that I'm in now."
Dustin Ensinger can be reached at ensinger.3@osu.edu.
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