This past offseason, Tripp Myers was working on his swing in batting practice. It was nothing out of the ordinary for his routine, but he went through a stretch, as every baseball player does, where he was struggling to hit the ball. It was then that hitting coach Adam Schlenoff advised Myers to simplify his swing.
After months of tinkering and meticulous work on his swing, Myers made the early-season adjustment and the results have been marvelous.
Myers has emerged as one of the most impressive performers on the Hopkins baseball team this season. In last week’s game against Stevenson University, Myers went three for four with a home run and four RBIs. Bating .333 on the season, Myers leads the team in slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging percentage. Myers also ranks top three on the team in hits, runs and RBIs.
In an interview with The News-Letter, Myers shared how he has emerged as one of the bright spots on the team this season and how watching the veteran players last season prepared him for this moment.
“Sophomore players are usually not expected to be ‘the guy’ on the team, so coming in, I had the mindset of simply doing my part,” he said. “I just have to do my job, come in and play as best as I can to help my team win ball games, whatever it is.”
In high school, Myers was a two-time Perfect Game All-Tournament hitter and won the Alumni Baseball Cup award, all while batting .358 during his junior season. A hometown native, Myers initially wanted to play baseball away from Baltimore and was not considering Hopkins; however the combination of academic and athletics as well as being connected with one of the former assistants on the Hopkins baseball team attracted him.
Myers only appeared in seven contests last season, making one start. Despite not playing much his first year, he learned so much from the veteran players and was preparing diligently for his time to shine. Now that it is here, he is showing out for his team.
He understood his role coming in freshman year that he would be merely learning from the more experienced players.
“My goal coming in was to work hard in practice, get as good as I can and learn from the older guys,” he said. “Seeing how those guys prepared on a daily basis is what stood out to me.”
Pinch hitting is what Myers initially thought his role would be this season; however, after impressive performances in many games this year, he has seen his role increase drastically.
One thing that surprised Tripp coming in was the size of the playbook. It raised his attention to detail coming into games and made him a much more focused and detailed player. As just a second-year player, Myers has recognized what it takes to be successful and impactful.
“At the end of the day it’s just about doing whatever you can to help your team win, placing faith in your teammates and doing your part in the lineup to keep the wheel turning,” he said.
Myers grew up idolizing Mike Trout. Besides being insanely talented and one of game’s greatest players, what Myers really appreciates about Trout is his dedicated mindset and diligent work ethic.
“He’s my favorite baseball player and one of the greatest players in history,” he said. “He’s very humble and silent. People who don’t pay attention to baseball probably don’t know who he is but he’s always hustling and working hard.”
In a lot of ways, Myers has a similar personality — Myers lets his game do the talking.
And his game has been doing a lot of talking.
