Miami Ohio University Athletics
A Year to Remember
12/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Dec. 19, 2011
by Jim Stephan, MURedHawks.com
You can't blame Adam Eaton if he doesn't want 2011 to end in a couple of weeks.
Consider this list of things that has happened to the former Miami baseball star during his first full season as a professional:
- played in eight games for the Arizona Diamondbacks during major-league spring training
- was assigned to the High-A Visalia Rawhide after playing rookie ball in 2010
- batted .332 with six home runs and 39 runs batted in over 65 games
- earned a mid-season promotion to the Mobile Bay Bears of Double-A Southern League
- helped the team to its first outright league championship since 1988, batting .302 from the leadoff spot
- had a hit in his first at-bat with the Bay Bears
- was chosen to participate in the prestigious Arizona Fall League, a collection of top prospects from throughout minor league baseball
- helped the Salt River Rafters to the AFL title, batting .344 with 42 hits in 30 games
- was named to the fall league's All-Prospect Team
- became engaged to current Miami softball player Katie Osburn over Thanksgiving
More importantly, what kind of encore can we expect in 2012?
Eaton was pretty stoic about the most recent season, a reaction that could be considered unique by many fans' standards. Not once during a pair of interviews with MURedHawks.com this year did he seem surprised by his early success.
"My expectations are larger than life," Eaton admitted. "I feel that any professional athlete sets his goal (that way). I wanted to be in the Arizona Fall League and I was. I wanted to be a "rising star" this year, but wasn't, so I fell short there. The two championships... that's what you set out to do. As a professional, your goals are higher than you expect, so you aren't surprised when you reach them. I trained last December to sit here today and say I had the season I did."
Eaton made the transition from A to AA to Fall League in seamless fashion. He actually received news of his summertime promotion, not from his manager, but from his Katie, who was told by management. Adam, knowing deep down that he wasn't being demoted, kept the secret long enough to play a joke on his manager. When Adam's manager informed him that he would be going back to rookie ball to work on his baserunning, he pretended not to know about the promotion and played along with his manager's story.
He flew out the next morning and singled in his first three at-bats, just hours after arriving in Mobile.
During his stay in Alabama, he helped his new team to the second-half South Division title, then playoff series wins over Birmingham and Knoxville.
After a week's "vacation" in Oxford -- one spent working out with his former RedHawk teammates -- he returned to the desert, joining top prospects of the Diamondbacks, Astros, Rockies, Dodgers and Tigers as part of the Rafters. He continued to shine, finishing fourth on the team in hitting and playing a team-high 30 games.
"The fall league was the experience of a lifetime," Eaton admitted. "I played with some of the best prospects in baseball. I saw some new pitchers and some heavy, heavy hitters. It was a good opportunity to show my skill set, sharpen my tools and to continue to get better."
The icing on the baseball cake came Nov. 19, when the Rafters defeated the Surprise Saguaros, 9-3, in the one-game championship. A few days later, he presented Katie with a ring under Upham Arch, a traditional start to another Miami merger.
So... back to the original question -- how does Eaton plan to top the experiences?
"In the next couple of weeks, I will sit down and write out my goals as I always do," Eaton said. "They will continue to build as I have more success, getting wilder as I go."
Eaton has heard he will be invited to big-league spring training, although he won't know for sure until closer to the mid-February reporting date. "If that's true, I am not going there for a vacation. I am going to win a roster spot. The Diamondbacks know what they are doing. If I do my job and they think I am ready, I will make the team. It's all about what position I put myself into."
At a minimum, he should return to Mobile or make the jump to the Triple-A affiliate in Reno. However, in the current baseball culture, players make the jump to the majors just as often from Double-A as from the higher level.
But Eaton has never settled for minimums. His list will likely include a new home in Phoenix, a locker at Chase Field and a perfect wedding.
