Nov. 10, 2010
WASHINGTON - Every college baseball player dreams of being a major leaguer. It's another thing to learn first-hand from someone who works with those major leaguers every day. That's what members of the Georgetown Baseball team experienced last week when Washington Nationals Hitting Coach Rick Eckstein visited with the team. "Learning first-hand from a guy who works with guys like Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman, guys we see on ESPN and SportsCenter every day, is really an exciting experience," junior utility player Kevin Johnson said. "This experience really makes us appreciate what Coach Wilk does for us, and it really gives us a better sense of what it takes to get to the next level."
The Georgetown baseball team was host to a very special visitor in Eckstein, as he came out to Georgetown's campus to address the club last week. He talked with all of the young ballplayers about the game of baseball, and more specifically about the mental and physical aspects of hitting, which was an awe-inspiring experience for the Hoyas.
Head Coach Pete Wilk and Eckstein met in 2007 when the Georgetown baseball team scrimmaged the Nationals under then-head coach Manny Acta. Even though Acta is no longer with the Nationals, Wilk has stayed in touch with Eckstein. He asked the Nats coach to come out and visit his players on the Georgetown ball club, and Eckstein headed right on out to the Hilltop to talk hitting with the Hoyas.
Eckstein is the brother of long-time Major League infielder David Eckstein, who despite being burdened with the "undersized" label as a young prospect has helped lead two different teams to World Series Championships. He was named the World Series Most Valuable Player in 2006, and was also a two-time All-Star selection.
Similarly, his brother Rick was quickly developing a reputation as an extremely hard worker and an expert in regards to the art of hitting. In just five years at the minor league level, Eckstein worked his way up the ranks to becoming a well-respected big league hitting coach.
Eckstein just finished his second season as the Nationals hitting coach, and has had great success, as the Nationals offense was one of the top offensive units in the National League over the last two seasons. In his first year with the big league club, Eckstein helped lead the Nationals to organizational single-season records with 617 walks (2nd in NL) and 38 triples, while finishing behind only the 2006 Nationals club with a .258 batting average, .337 on-base-percentage, .406 slugging percentage, 710 runs, 1416 hits, 156 homers and 685 RBI. Additionally, Eckstein coached third baseman Ryan Zimmerman to his first-ever All-Star and Silver Slugger award in 2009.
Although, Eckstein has spent the past seven years working at the professional level, he still really enjoys getting out of that realm to talk with the next generation of young baseball players.
"It's really a great experience for me as well," Eckstein said. "I like picking these young guy's brains, and they do the same with me...They've got some young guys that can really play, and it will be fun to watch them mature and progress."
