Work ethic defines Bregman LSU shortstop and Academy grad on quest to be best ballplayer ever By Luke Johnson Tiger Rag Assistant Editor (Editor’s note: This story appeared in full on TigerRag , a fan site billing itself as “The Bible of LSU Sports.”) Nearly an hour after a late-season 11-2 home baseball victory over the University of New Orleans, those who were still lingering in the LSU press box witnessed firsthand Alex Bregman’s near mythological work ethic. LSU had just demolished the opposition in a meaningless game. Bregman, a freshman shortstop and Albuquerque Academy graduate, didn’t commit an error and ripped two base hits. Yet the crack of a Fungo bat hitting a baseball wasn’t grounders to one of the coaches’ kids. Instead, with a team manager and a bucket of baseballs, there was Bregman perfecting his craft. The only witnesses were the moon, the stadium lights and a few members of the local media. It wasn’t just for show. Bregman became visibly and audibly upset if he booted a grounder. After one would-be error, he let a few choice four-letter words fly that were loud enough to not be muffled by the closed press-box windows. “He’s not coming out here to try to impress people that are watching,” teammate Mason Katz said. “He comes out here at 10 at night and nobody’s here. It’s easy for someone to come out here late and call a coach to come out here to put it in the back of their mind. But he doesn’t do that; he calls the managers and doesn’t even tell the coaches that he’s coming.” Since the preseason, his work ethic was, without prodding, almost always the first thing brought up by coaches and teammates. “If we were playing out in the parking lot, he’d be the first one to dive for a ground ball on concrete,” Katz said. “His work ethic is going to drive him to be one of the best players ever to play here.” He may be on his way. On Wednesday, Bregman was named national Freshman of the Year by Collegiate Baseball. Last week, he was named thirdteam All-American. Batting third in the powerful Tigers’ lineup since Day One, he has hit a team-best .385 with 102 hits in 63 games, including three hits in Sunday’s 5-1 Baton Rouge regional-clinching win over Louisiana-Lafayette. Along the way, he turned in a 23-game hitting streak, the longest for any LSU player since 2000. Those are great numbers whether you’re a freshman or a senior. Unless, of course, you’re Alex Bregman. When asked whether he was happy with how his first year in college baseball went to this point, Bregman said “kind of” before pausing for several seconds. “I’m not satisfied with how I’ve played,” Bregman said. “I think I haven’t even come close to reaching what I should have this year. Personally, I feel like I haven’t done what I’m capable of and feel that I could do a lot better. ” Being one of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of cleats at LSU is on Bregman’s checklist. Well, sort of. He stated: “The main goal is to be the best that ever lived to play baseball.” Added Katz: “He’s never satisfied. He’s hitting .400 and … he’s been a tremendous shortstop all year long. But he’s never satisfied.” Next up is a Super Regional (best two-of-three) matchup against Oklahoma beginning today in Baton Rouge, La. “The goal is to win a national championship, and we need a shortstop that’s going to make every play that’s hit to him if we want to win a national championship,” Bregman said. Approximately an hour and a half after the New Orleans game’s last out, Bregman ranged to his left and made a diving stop behind second base. There was no roar of the crowd because there was no crowd. There was just Bregman, getting up, pantomiming a throw to a first baseman who had already hit the showers, then flipping the ball back to the bucket overflowing with fielded grounders sitting in shallow left field. “If I want to be the best player ever, I need to be a lot better,” Bregman said. “Because I’m not even close to where I need to be. That’s why I work every day.”
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 19:49:01 +0000
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