Baseball | 2/20/2021 1:02:00 PM

 Podcast with Shane Dennis on Shocker baseball. Podcast with outfielder Corrigan Bartlett

 
Home runs are the thing in baseball and launch angles, loft and big data are the tools to acquire power.
 
The mood, however, is different at Wichita State. The phrase "launch angle," as a way to study the swing of a bat and alter the path to hit the ball in the air, is not in the vocabulary.
 
"We don't talk about that," coach Eric Wedge said. "Zero."
 
The Shockers start the 2021 season on Sunday vs. Oklahoma State at Eck Stadium (2 p.m.). Wichita State went 13-2 in the abbreviated 2020 season and perhaps the lone nit-pick available is that the Shockers hit a mere eight home runs. 
 
While this isn't the boom-boom era college baseball, a few more over the fence is helpful for a team with big ambitions.
 
Wichita State won with pitching and defense didn't overwhelm anyone with their pop in 15 games. The Shockers are firm in their belief that good hitting is good hitting and produces more power, as long as you don't think about producing more power.
 
"I know everybody wants you to hit a bunch of home runs," said right fielder Hunter Gibson. "I don't doubt that we will hit a lot of home runs, but the thing is that's not our mindset, not our approach when we're going up to the plate."
 
Wichita State's offense did its job, even if it didn't knock down walls. It scored 6.1 runs a game to rank No. 104 nationally. The Shockers hit 1.87 doubles a game, ranking in a tie for 86^thnationally. Their slugging percentage of .409 ranked No. 79.
 
Cade Clemons, who played shortstop and center field in 2020, led the Shockers with three home runs. Gibson and first baseman Garrett Kocis both hit two and outfielder Couper Cornblum added one.
 
They are all back, a year older and stronger. Third baseman Paxton Wallace hit nine home runs in 2019 and sat out last season with a back injury. The addition of outfielder Corrigan Bartlett, a transfer from St. Louis, should provide another threat in a lineup the Shockers are sure will be deeper.
 
"Home runs just kind of happen on accident," Clemons said. "It's more about just putting the bat on the ball and making the defense make plays and trying to get base hits."
 
Wedge doesn't want his hitters thinking about home runs or elevating their swing or any of those other buzz words.
 
"I know what it takes to be a good hitter," he said. "It's not short-cutting the process. It's about barreling up the baseball, staying through the baseball and trusting that whatever happens is going to happen."
 
Wedge advises watching Shocker batting practice to get a feel for how the hitters are improving from the fall of 2019, his first practices with the team. Batting practice is a time to hit hard groundballs that will turn into line drives in a game. It is not a time to hit the outfield hill at Eck Stadium.
 
"That might look sexy, but it doesn't translate (to games)," he said. "Get on top. Hit the ball hard. Square it up. When you get in a game and things speed, that will translate."
 
That approach isn't always fun. It took time for some of the Shockers to understand. Wedge is confident it will pay off.
 
"You have to hit first," he said. "If you're a hitter first, the power comes after. That's the message we've sent to our kids and they've received it. If you watch our BP now, vs. when I first got here, it's night and day."
 
While Clemons started 13 games as a freshman, he said it wasn't until the past fall that Wedge's messages took hold. Last season, he fell back into habits of hitting the ball in the air too often. Back for a second season, he is better able to hit line drives.
 
"I definitely understand the approach a lot more now," he said. "It was more of a feel thing. I know what it feels like to do it and I've repped it out so many times, it's almost muscle memory."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.