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Mittelstaedt a Surprising Hero
by Doug Krikorian, Long Beach Press-Telegram
May 31, 2007
LONG BEACH - TJ Mittelstaedt arrived at Long Beach State as a high school
hotshot from Mission Viejo, where he established a career home run record
of 19 and where he batted .406 his senior season.
But for the first 25 games with the Dirtbags, he was consigned to the
bench for the most part, making only 16 plate appearances and missing
trips to Arizona State and Wichita State.
A lot of young athletes with glittering resumes would have sulked, complained,
felt sorry for themselves, even threaten to transfer, or simply quit.
But the freshman starting left fielder for the 49ers took a different
tack.
He took extra batting practice.
He worked harder at practice.
He became a better ball player.
And he caught the attention of his coach, Mike Weathers, who on April
1 stuck Mittelstaedt in the starting lineup against UC Irvine.
And the 19-year-old Mittelstaedt, listed as 5-foot-10 and 175 even though
he looks an inch or two shorter and 10 or 15 pounds lighter, has become
one of the surprising heroes for a surprising Dirtbag team that will host
an NCAA Regional this weekend at Blair Field, opening Friday night against
Illinois-Chicago.
The left-handed swinging Mittelstaedt has become the quintessential leadoff
batter, working the count on pitchers, piling up the same amount of walks
as base hits (32) and recording an impressive on-base percentage of .473
on the way to .296 average.
"No doubt TJ has been a key guy on this team," says his coach,
Mike Weathers. "When you have someone getting on base as frequently
as he does, that results in us scoring some runs. He's been pretty unbelievable."
Yet throughout February and March, Mittelstaedt was a non-factor, immersed
in oblivion.
"I always have a loyalty to returning players, and the times we did
use T.J he struggled a bit," says Weathers. "But then I noticed
his work ethic at our practices. He started really working on his game.
He was a power hitter in high school, and had been trying to pull everything.
But during batting practice, he started working on going to left field.
Mittelstaedt admits it wasn't a pleasant experience early being a dugout
spectator.
"It was a little frustrating because I knew I could play," he
says. "But even when I was getting the opportunity, I wasn't doing
that well.
I wasn't letting the game come to me. I was trying too hard. I was trying
to hit home runs like I did in high school, and that just didn't work
at this level.
"I hoped when I came here that I'd start between 10 and 20 games
this season, so I kind of expected not to be playing a lot. But I was
determined to get better even though I wasn't playing much early on. On
that weekend I didn't make the trip to Arizona State, I went back to Mission
Viejo, and took a lot of batting practice with my high school coach pitching
to me."
Even though a cousin, Michael Mittelstaedt, had played at Cal State Fullerton,
TJ Mittelstaedt became intrigued with Long Beach State baseball as early
as his junior season at Mission Viejo because of its Dirtbag persona.
During his senior year, he estimates he attended at least 10 49er games.
"This just looked like a good fit for me here," he says. "I
liked the scrappiness of the team. And I have no regrets. Obviously, I'm
enjoying myself."
So are his parents, Tom and Sandie Mittelstaedt, who can be found in the
stands at most 49er games.
Mittelstaedt is a criminal justice major who eventually would like to
get into police work.
"I'm kind of intrigued by the FBI," he says.
When he isn't studying, or playing baseball, he likes to golf and play
racquetball.
And, of course, he one day hopes to be playing baseball for a living before
he turns to law enforcement.
"Certainly, it's my dream to play in the majors," he says.
And one should not underestimate this resourceful young man.
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