Georgia State’s Nic Wilson said he has no idea how many home runs he has hit this season, which doesn’t seem odd. It’s easy to lose track when you’ve hit so many.
Twelve have flown off his 34-inch, 31-ounce bat, tied for tops in Division I before the weekend series against Troy.
“I don’t think I’m doing anything different than anyone on the team,” he said. “My hits just seem to be finding holes.”
It’s easy to find holes when the balls are sailing over fences.
Wilson is blessed with size (6-foot-6, 240 pounds) and the accompanying strength. But there are three things that have turned Wilson into one of the more fearsome hitters in college baseball: hard work, maturity and glasses.
Wilson, who played at Decatur High, signed with Hofstra, where he said he could tell he wasn’t seeing the ball well. He transferred after one season to Eastern Arizona College, where he hit two home runs and batted .326. He then transferred to Georgia State in 2012.
Because of astigmatisms in both eyes, he started to wear contacts while playing. He didn’t like the feel of the contacts on his eyes and ditched them halfway through the season. Still, he hit eight homers with 32 RBIs while batting .247.
Before leaving to play summer ball in Maine, his mom asked if he wanted to try glasses. They went to a local optician and walked out with a pair. He wore them in Maine, and the results weren’t good: He started the season 2-for-30.
“But I felt more comfortable,” he said.
Things began to click as he began to see the ball better. Wilson finished with a .230 batting average, with five home runs and 22 RBIs in 152 at-bats.
He continued his work in the offseason and began to develop the maturity that comes with experience.
Wilson said his first season facing talented Division I pitchers was a transition, but now he thinks he has a better approach and attitude.
“It’s about just being in the box and not worried about my swing,” he said. “Whatever they throw, I think I can hit it.”
Projecting his stats over 56 games, Wilson is on pace to hit 23 homers with 70 RBIs, stats that are impressive when factoring how college baseball has tried to rein in offenses by reducing the trampoline effect of bats. Wilson would break the school records of 21 homers and come close to the mark of 73 RBIs.
“I see it every day in practice, the power he has,” Georgia State coach Greg Frady said.
Frady said he has a reached a point where he’s confident that Wilson will come through no matter the situation, a rare feeling for a coach.
He points to a home run against Alabama A&M last week. Wilson was fooled on the pitch, but was able to swing through the ball for his 11th home run. Frady said the only players he has seen who are able to do that are very large guys such as Bo Jackson or Frank Thomas.
“It’s power beyond teaching them how to swing the bat,” he said.
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