MORGANTOWN — Quintin Smith lives by the phrase, “If you look good, you play good.”
After helping the Mohawks hockey team claim the West Virginia state championship in February, Smith decided to keep his hockey look for baseball season.
As the Morgantown High leadoff hitter and starting shortstop, Smith is easy to pinpoint with a long flow rolling out of the bottom of his cap and batting helmet.
“You just gotta show off the flow if you got good hair,” Smith claimed.
And like Samson, the long hair may be giving Smith extra strength this year. With 11 home runs, he now holds the school record for most in a season. The previous record was eight, held by John Ferguson in 2000.
Teammate Caleb Taylor also broke the previous record, hitting nine home runs.
Smith also leads the team in doubles, with 12, and is third in RBIs, with 32, behind Taylor’s 44 and Devon Neal’s 36.
Smith isn’t your prototypical leadoff man, and hitting for more power was a conscious effort he made heading into his senior year.
“I definitely wanted to hit for more power this year and I am seeing the ball better and just picking good pitches to hit,” Smith said. “I had no clue I broke it either to be honest. Just this winter, I really bought into living with Ryan (Leibreich) at [Pro Performance] and just working hard. I wanted to hit a couple this year but I had no clue I would hit 11 before the regional tournament.”
Leibreich, along with Andy Altemus and JT Heenan, worked with all five seniors for the Mohigans — Smith, Taylor, Neal, Colton Matthews and Gavin Cottle — and Leibreich believes it starts with the foundation to help a player gain power. There are no magic tricks or special exercises, it starts with the basics.
“On the strength side, we squat, deadlift and press, and to get those movements perfect,” Leibreich said. “We do a lot of medicine ball throws as well as unilateral exercises. We train in all planes of motion. It’s a holistic approach which everyone gets to see the culmination of years of hard work and consistency.
“The power development is due to a solid foundation of strength and growing through them moving well as athletes.”
Although his power numbers are up, Smith is still contributing as a leadoff hitter should. He’s hitting .408, but more impressive, his on-base percentage is .538 — he’s gotten on base in more than half his at-bats. He’s also scored 52 runs in 32 games.
“It’s awesome because I know the guys behind me put the bat on the ball and put it in play, so it’s just giving us a better chance to score runs and put teams away,” Smith said.
Smith and the Mohigans (27-5) will begin the Class AAA Region I championship series against Wheeling Park (18-8) at 5 p.m. Monday at Mylan Park. Game 2 will be Tuesday in Wheeling and if needed, Game 3 will be back in Morgantown on Wednesday.
