Friday, April 6, 2007
Brock Simpson has danced up, down, in and out of the Kansas batting lineup this season, but he might finally be focusing in on his responsibilities as the Jayhawks’ cleanup hitter.
Thursday afternoon Simpson was matched-up against one of the Big 12’s best left-handed starters, Texas’ James Russell. The Simpson, junior right fielder, responded by sending his second home run of the season over the right-centerfield wall.
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One thing we ask from our guys is to play hard, hustle and to respect the game. If you’re not going to do that, you’re not going to play.
-Kansas coach Ritch Price
“He got a chance to get back in the lineup and a chance to redeem himself today and he made something positive happen,” Price said.
The round-tripper came just four days after Kansas coach Ritch Price yanked Simpson from the series finale against Missouri in the first inning.
Simpson came up to the plate in the top of the first on Sunday against Missouri and popped out to the third baseman near the foul line. Despite strong winds that made pop-ups adventurous for fielders, Simpson didn’t run the play out.
When the Jayhawks trotted onto the field in the bottom half of the inning, sophomore Nick Faunce took Simpson’s place in right field.
“Part of my job is to discipline players when they don’t play the game the right way,” Price said. “One thing we ask from our guys is to play hard, hustle and to respect the game. If you’re not going to do that, you’re not going to play.”
Faunce had a solid game, driving in two runs in his second at-bat, but he also left four men on base.
“His spot in the lineup came up with runners in scoring position three times on Sunday,” Price said of Simpson’s fourth spot in the batting order. “From my standpoint, that’s being a real bad teammate, too. You put your teammate in a position to fail because you didn’t play the game the right way.”
However, even before the Missouri series, Simpson wasn’t exactly putting up cleanup-hitter numbers.
After beginning the season as Kansas’ leadoff hitter, he dropped down to the seventh spot in the order before winding up in the cleanup spot. Coming into Sunday, he’d gone nine straight games without recording multiple hits and he went hitless in six of his 12 games leading up to Sunday.
When Kansas played Kansas State on Tuesday, Simpson’s name was nowhere to be found on the lineup card.
“Obviously there wasn’t a coach in America who would have played him Tuesday night,” Price said.
But since returning to the starting lineup on Wednesday, Simpson appears to have refocused.
Against Kansas Wesleyan, he went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI and a run. And in addition to his two-run home run Thursday, he reached base two more times on walks and scored a second time.
Following solid back-to-back performances, Price is hopeful that Simpson is officially on his way to becoming a reliable cleanup hitter.
“He has really struggled. It’s been tough to watch,” Price said. “He’s got great talent, he’s just had an awful season.”
Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@kansan.com.
— Edited by Kelly Lanigan
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