24 July 2008

Dominguez’ power has offset a slow start

By George Kostinas
The Register

Chris Dominguez of the Hyannis Mets, steps into the cage for batting practice. He is 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 235 pounds — all chiseled muscle.

A right-hand batter, he stands in the box with a wide stance, his front leg almost straight out at a 45-degree angle from his torso with his weight leaning toward the back foot.

As the pitch comes in, he doesn’t really step into it; he kind of stutter-steps and then brings the bat around in a long, broad sweep.
Crack!
A line drive to left field that is fielded easily.
Crack!

Another liner to center, this one a little longer that bounces at the base of the fence.
Then, “Whoa!” from his teammates who are watching.

The ball sails high, going, going. It’s into the trees, well over the fence in left-center field at McKeon Park.

It is that kind of power that has put Dominguez at the top of the Cape League in home runs and has landed him a spot on the Cape Cod Baseball League’s Western Division All Star roster.

Dominguez leads the league in homers with eight. He was also among the league leaders in the other power number categories of slugging percentage (.548), extra base hits (18), total bases (62) and RBI (23).

As with many hitters in the league, July has been a big month for Dominguez.

His only home run was June 21 until the month started. Then he hit another on July 6 and his third of the season on July 8.

But the next day, he exploded with three homers, while driving in five runs in a 6-4 win over the Falmouth Commodores.

That performance tied a Cape League record for home runs in a game and it was the first time anyone had done it since Frank Thomas with the Orleans Cardinals did it on July 14, 1988.

It was the eighth time the feat was accomplished in Cape League history.

He credited some of his success this season with having played last year and getting to know the league and some of the pitchers, but he also felt his success from last spring at the University of Louisville carried over into the summer.

At Louisville, Dominguez hit .325 with 21 home runs and 75 runs batted in.

Dominguez has struggled in terms of batting average — .267 — well below his average last spring.

“I struggled a little at first. I didn’t play the first few games: I was waiting for the draft results, so I had three weeks off and it took some time to get back into it,” says Dominguez.

He did not play the first three games of the season and then went hitless in the first three games he played.

“The biggest thing is we don’t have a person in the lineup to protect him. They [opposing pitchers] can pitch around him, so what’s happening is he doesn’t see the quality pitches,” says Mets’ field manager Rick Robinson.

“Then again he needs to be more selective and to be more aware of the strike zone,” Robinson adds.

As is the case with many power hitters, Dominguez has struck out a lot. He is second in the league in strikeouts with 37.

Then gradually he began to get his hits and he has been more consistent, averaging a little better than one hit a game with 32 hits in 30 games.

“Just seeing the pitchers and getting back into the flow of things has helped,” he says.

And then the home runs started coming — and they have been impressive.

“At Cotuit he one into the trees 10 rows deep,” says Mets’ assistant coach Chad Gassman. “Most of them have been straight out, just quick line drives out of the park.”
However, Dominguez doesn’t focus on hitting home runs.

“My biggest thing is to stay focused on every pitch. I don’t worry about hitting home runs or even on getting hits. I just want to get a good swing on the ball. You can’t control what happens after that when you’re hitting against nine fielders. But as long as I can get a good swing and hit the ball hard that’s big for me,” Dominguez says.

While Robinson acknowledges Dominguez’ strength and power, he is quick to point out other qualities.

“What people don’t see is that he’s got all these fast twitching muscles, and that makes him a good athlete. He’s a really, really good runner and he can play defense [third base]. He’s a complete player,” says Robinson.

That’s what makes an All-Star in the Cape League — or any other league, for that matter.