Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, Jordan Hart: One pulsating

performer

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - Like his emblematic last name, Jordan Hart’s

efficiency is rhythmic and methodical. Pumping pitches inning after

inning, each seemingly as unremarkable as the last, it’s sometimes easy

to forget the magnitude of the job he performs.

Though 6-foot-5 and 200 pounds, the Estancia High left-hander is what

hitters call a comfortable 0 for 4. His fastball doesn’t resonate on a

radar gun and his breaking ball won’t make a front leg flinch. But, with

an occasional change-up mixed in, Hart typically dispatches bat-wielding

opponents back to the dugout with inconspicuous ease.

“He knows what pitches he has to make for him to be successful,”

summed up Estancia Coach Doug Deats, who knows when he hands Hart the

ball, he usually won’t have to take it back.

Coming into this week, the junior standout had thrown four straight

complete games, limiting foes to just 18 hits in 28 innings, including

three-hit victories over Costa Mesa and Corona del Mar.

Hart’s complete-game win over CdM, April 24, was the Sea Kings’ first

defeat in 10 Pacific Coast League games. He also drove in a run to aid

the Eagles’ 5-2 win and went 4 for 7 with three RBIs in two games against

the Sea Kings to earn Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week recognition.

“He has done a solid job,” said Deats, who watched his team struggle

when Hart was sidelined the first five league games by minor surgery to

remove a cyst from his back.

But Hart, expected to be out for the season with an incision that

required 15 stitches, pestered his doctor until he was cleared to play.

His comeback began by pitching the Eagles to a 6-2 victory over the

crosstown-rival Mustangs.

“We were counting on him from the get-go and his physical ailment set

us back,” Deats said. “But, since he has been back, he wants the ball and

he has been swinging the bat well.”

Coming into the week, Hart, who plays first base when he’s not

pitching, was 15 for 44 (.340) with two doubles and 11 RBIs in the

cleanup spot.

On the mound, he was 3-3 (including two tough-luck one-run losses)

with a 1.79 ERA. He had yielded only 37 hits in 46 2/3 innings, with a

pedestrian 21 strikeouts and 18 walks.

“He didn’t even have his best stuff against Corona del Mar,” Deats

said. “He didn’t pitch much last year, and, as he matures physically, he

should be able to throw the ball a little harder. But he competes out

there.”

Hart, whose diamond heroes include Cal Ripkin Jr., brings about as

much flair to an interview as he does to the mound. Both confident and

self-effacing, he acknowledges his unimpressive stuff.

“I try to catch hitters off balance and just hit the corners,” Hart

said of his pitching style. “I know I’m not going to strike a lot of guys

out, so I try to get ground balls.”

The latter approach can be hit or miss with the Eagles’ infield, which

has, on occasion, compiled errors in bunches.

And while both Hart and his coach say he has also benefited from

sterling glove work by his teammates, Hart’s unflappable demeanor comes

in handy when bobbled grounders and errant throws force him to work out

of unnecessary trouble.

“He’s an easy going guy,” Deats said. “Not much bothers him out

there.”

Said Hart, “I do get frustrated, but I know my teammates will pick me

up, too. I try to stay calm and I have always been able to compete pretty

well when things are going badly.”

Taking this season’s success to, well, heart, Hart has vowed to work

hard in the offseason, adding muscle in the weight room and refining his

pitching skill by attending a summer baseball camp.

If everything falls into place, Hart may end up quickening the pulse

of college recruiters next spring.