The RoundHouse | 9/4/2021 2:27:00 PM

Summer baseball often puts a hitter on his own. Most instruction and improvement come from within.
 
"You become your own best coach," Wichita State outfielder Couper Cornblum said. "When you come back here, you're able to feel more relaxed in the box and make quicker adjustments."
 
The lead teaching tool is the wood bat. Wood bats expose holes in swings and bad timing, forcing hitters to hit the ball solidly to earn a reward.
 
"You get a lot of quick feedback with a wood bat," Cornblum said. "If you get jammed, you're going to know you got jammed and you're doing something wrong with your swing and your bat is lagging. Sometimes with a metal bat, you can get away with that a little bit easier."
 
Cornblum received a lot of good feedback over the summer in the Northwoods League. He hit .320 with nine doubles and 12 stolen bases in 42 games for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters.
 
The Shockers started team practices for the fall on Thursday, kicking off coach Eric Wedge's third season. Wichita State went 31-23 last season and returns All-American Athletic Conference first baseman Garrett Kocis, Freshman All-American pitcher Jace Kaminska and five other position players who started 20 or more games in 2021.
 
Coaches regard the summer as a baseball internship. Hitting with a wood bat and playing top competition from around the country can boost college performance and indicate professional aptitude.
 
"It's a free season for them to go out and get better," Wedge said.  "Then they can bring that to the fall and the spring."
 
Cornblum, who played both center and right field, hit .285 last season with five doubles, five triples and 12 steals. After the season, coaches told him to work on developing more power by staying behind the ball and using his hips and legs.
 
After hitting .250 in his first 22 games, Cornblum hit .320 over the final 24 games of the season.
 
"We wanted to carry that on and trying to be as consistent as possible with what I was doing," he said. "I stood up a little bit more to help free my hands up, and allow myself to use my back-side more. Get more power, get my hand-speed up. They talk about hand-speed a lot here."
 
Statistics with a wood bat matter to Wedge.
 
"That's real," he said. "There's a smaller sweet spot. We talk about barreling the ball up. We talk about getting the bat head to touch the baseball, and that's a real thing."
 
 

Picking up where he left off! 1st HR of the Fall for @GarrettKocis
Exit Velo: 99 MPH
Launch Angle: 30.64 degrees
Distance: 403 feet pic.twitter.com/RmNCrXAhBE

— Wichita State Baseball Analytics & Equipment (@GoShockersBSBEQ) September 3, 2021

Returners such as Kocis, infielder Jack Sigrist and catcher Ross Cadena mix with the newcomers to give the Shockers a feel of continuity missing during the transition to Wedge and the COVID-19 pandemic. Wichita State will play Cowley College (Sept. 13) and Team Canada (Sept. 27) before starting the five-game Fall World Series on Oct. 9.
 
Wedge likes the physical stature of his incoming class and is thrilled veterans such as Kocis, Cadena and Sigrist are back to guide and interpret for the rookies.
 
"That's what this program has been about all these years – you want people to come here ahead of you that show you the way and understand what it's all about," Wedge said.
 
 

Robert Cranz with a filthy CH for his first K of the fall @CranzRobert pic.twitter.com/ZuctLc1la6

— Wichita State Baseball Analytics & Equipment (@GoShockersBSBEQ) September 3, 2021

Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.