University of Georgia Athletics
Wrenn's Development Paying Off For Dogs
March 27, 2015 | Baseball
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
ATHENS, Ga. -- The Georgia Bulldogs enjoyed a good smile and chuckle earlier this month when leadoff hitter Stephen Wrenn smacked the first home run of the sophomore's career, a two-run shot to left field in a 4-0 win against Appalachian State on March 11.
There were postgame jokes about moving him to the cleanup spot to take maximum advantage of the centerfielder's newfound power. Ha-ha, right? The lean, 6-foot-2 Wrenn has gone deep twice more since then and is tied for third on the team with three homers.
OK, maybe he's not the next Babe Ruth, but going deep clearly wasn't a fluke, either.
"And the last two were to opposite field, as well," said sophomore second baseman Mike Bell, who also has three career homers -- all hit this season.
The initial grins and pats on the back from Wrenn's first career homer were certainly understandable, given that it took him 72 games in the red and black, and 279 at-bats, to go deep. But nobody's cracking jokes now.
"Stephen's developed a little more power and he's hitting balls in the gap a little bit more," Georgia coach Scott Stricklin said, adding that gaining strength and confidence from his freshman year to now is paying big dividends for Wrenn at the plate.
"I've said it before and it's one of my favorite sayings, but the best thing that happens to freshmen is they become sophomores."
Any power Wrenn provides is just a bonus. The No. 1 job of a leadoff man is to get on base and set up his teammates to drive him home, not unlike a basketball point guard facilitating the offense with assists.
Wrenn is getting on base at a much higher rate than he did as a freshman, when he started 55 games, batted .254 and had an on-base percentage of .337. He also had 16 stolen bases and 20 runs batted in during his first collegiate season.
Now, Wrenn has come into his own this spring -- in a big way. Some players experience a sophomore slump; this is a sophomore surge.
Wrenn, already one of the best outfielders in the SEC, heads into this weekend's series at eighth-ranked South Carolina with a team-high batting average of .323, along with 21 runs scored, a .412 on-base percentage and 14 stolen bases in 17 attempts. And with his two-run single against Kennesaw State on Wednesday, he has reached base in all 26 games this season.
It's the result of hard work to improve physically and mentally, Wrenn said, especially between the ears.
"I would say the biggest difference is the mental part of the game," he said. "I told the coaches this fall -- I came back and I said there's a lot that I need to work on mentally, that I needed to mature in. So this fall I put in a lot of work just trying to figure out the game and figure out stuff at the plate, mostly."
Wrenn cited as an example of his mental development his performance at the plate against Missouri on March 14. In the Tigers' extra-inning win, Wrenn struck out his first three at-bats. But he didn't let that affect at-bat No. 4, in which he belted his second homer of the season, part of a two-run frame that tied the game.
"That was the hat trick, that was no good," he said of the strikeouts, "but with just the mental conversations I was having with myself in the outfield, I knew that I was due in my next at-bat, rather than just being upset with it. I knew that I was going to make a turn around and I knew that I was going to put a hurtin' on the ball."
Despite producing showing off some power this season, Wrenn knows his strengths and knows his role as a leadoff hitter. Swinging for the fences isn't part of his job description.
"There have been a few at-bats where I felt myself putting too big of swings on balls, but most of the time my approach has stayed pretty sound," he said.
To be an elite leadoff hitter, Stricklin said, Wrenn needs "to hit some more balls on the ground and get a bunt down here or there, but, again, that's just growing as a player."
Georgia (16-10, 3-3 SEC) plays the first game of the three-game series at South Carolina (18-7, 4-2) tonight at 7 p.m.
John Frierson is a staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Hall of Fame at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. He can be found on Twitter @TheFrierson and @ITAHallofFame.
