COTUIT, Mass. — Through the first two weeks of the season, Jack Natili (Cincinnati) was struggling at the plate. In 12 games, the Bearcat was batting .188, and he didn’t notch his first extra-base hit until June 29.
“The easy thing would have been to cut him and bring somebody else in,” Cotuit head coach Loren Hibbs said. “He’s made some adjustments, and he’s been willing to be coached.”
Those adjustments have paid off, and a spark has ignited the rising junior’s bat.
In the last week alone, the catcher leads the Kettleers in average (.471), slugging (1.294), OPS (1.818), extra base hits (six) and RBIs (eight).
More impressively, he’s leading the team in home runs. The catcher has launched four balls over the fence in the last three games alone.
“The biggest thing for me is taking a little bit more time in between pitches and resetting,” Natili said of what he’s changed. “That’s allowed me to make better swing decisions and just have my mentality a little more relaxed in the box.”
Among those four home runs is a two-run shot in a 14-run sixth inning against Brewster on Saturday, which was the third straight at-bat with a home run for the Ketts.
The following night in Wareham, Natili hit a grand slam over the right field wall to prevent a run-rule loss at the hands of the Gatemen.
“I thought we continued to compete,” Hibbs said of the 16-9 loss. “We didn’t throw in the towel.”
After an off-day, it can be hard to get back into a hitting groove.
Natili never left it.
As the designated hitter Tuesday night against the Orleans Firebirds, the Pennsylvania native cranked a 372-foot solo shot over the wall in right field to put the Kettleers on the board.
He doubled in the sixth, but the Kettleers' bats couldn’t seem to get any more runs on the board.
Until Natili stepped back into the batter’s box in the eighth. He worked the count full against Ryan Oshinskie (Brown).
On the ninth pitch he saw, Natili strapped the baseball into its seat on the roller coaster and gave it a ride. This time around, the ball traveled 410 feet.
“It’s just looking for a pitch I can do damage on, and I got one in both scenarios,” Natili said. “I just happened to take a good swing at it, so that gave me a positive result.”
Along with Natili, the Kettleers' offense has woken up as of late. In the last week, the team leads the league in average (.320), slugging (.508), OPS (.911) and, thanks in large part to Natili, home runs (nine).
“It’s just showing up every day and working on something,” Natili said of the team’s improvements at the plate. “I think we have a lot of talent and now we’re just getting the opportunity to show it.”
