The Humbler

RICHMOND — Jared Bolden’s father Howard, a Lynchburg reverend, has coached his son in baseball as long as Jared can remember.

Perhaps the lesson that Jared has embraced most comes from scripture, and not Ted Williams’ “The Science of Hitting.”

“One of the quotes he’s always told me is ‘pride comes before the fall,’” Jared said. “I try to take that to heart.”

Baseball has come so easily to Bolden that it’s almost surprising to hear him talk about the humbling nature of the game.

Bolden, who leads VCU into town tonight for a non-conference game at Liberty, is coming off a sensational weekend at Hofstra in which he had seven hits in 12 at-bats, scored three runs, hit three home runs and drove in four runs.

The 2005 E.C. Glass graduate raised his season batting average to .360 and leads the Rams in 10 offensive categories, a fact made more impressive by the maddening slump that plagued the middle of his season, one that dropped Bolden’s stock for next month’s MLB amateur draft.

Prior to the season, he was tabbed by experts to go somewhere in the top 10 rounds, a spot that would almost guarantee this season would be Bolden’s last in VCU black and gold.

After the slump — an 0-for-27 skid in late March — there were whispers. Had Bolden slipped to the mid-teens? The 20s? Was he ready for professional baseball? Did he have more to prove at the collegiate level?

Bolden’s stint in last summer’s Cape Cod Baseball League raised the same concerns.

Playing for the Harwich Mariners in the premier summer league for the nation’s top college baseball players, Bolden started so poorly that he spent much of the season on the bench.

The final tally: A .189 batting average, zero home runs and eight RBIs in 106 at-bats.

Bolden earned News & Advance all-area player of the year honors as a senior at E.C. Glass and was the 2005 state MVP while playing for the Post 16 North American Legion team.

So the struggles on the Cape were certainly an eye-opener.

“I had a little trouble adjusting to the wood bat,” Bolden said. “As the season went along, I found myself doing a lot better. But because I didn’t produce at the beginning of the season, I found myself on the bench a lot more.

“It humbled me a whole lot.”

The previous summer, Bolden played for the Torrington (Conn.) Twisters of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.

“I kind of snuck around and hid my batting average because I knew how to bunt,” Bolden said. “I was bunting all the time, so the batting average sat a little higher than it really was.”

Bolden has always been a gap-to-gap player, one who loads up on doubles and triples. Only recently has he started to show the power befitting of a corner infield prospect. His 12 home runs this season matched the total of his first two years at VCU.

There’s an obvious implication to be made. Bolden’s college and high school success is the result of his ability to find gaps with the aluminum bat.

“With the metal bat, you can hit with the whole part of the barrel,” said Bolden’s VCU teammate, Chris Jackson, who roomed with Bolden in Torrington. “In the first couple of weeks I’m playing, I try not to use my nicest bats, since you break a few right when you get up there.”

By the end of the Cape Cod League season, Bolden found his hitting stroke, batting around .600 in the final week of the season, giving him confidence that he could swing the wood.

Scouts weren’t scared away by Bolden’s rough summer. He earned a preseason spot on the watch list for the Wallace Award, given to college baseball’s top player. His draft stock was so high that his departure after his junior year seemed imminent.

Then came the slump. Even during the Cape Cod season, Bolden never went through a stretch of 27 straight hitless at-bats.

“If you get too up, baseball has a way of knocking you back down and making you recognize that you can fail at times as well,” Bolden said.

He consulted his father, who came to Richmond and noticed some mechanical flaws in Bolden’s swing. Teammates, usually reticent to give advice, found some issues as well.

“After about 20 or so (at-bats), I pulled him aside,” Jackson said. “He was getting real long with his swing, and pulling off the ball. I tried to give him a little tip about that.”

Bolden has caught fire since the slump, and his draft stock has recovered as well. Though everyone in his inner circle — from his teammates to his advisor to his girlfriend to his family — wants to know if Bolden will forgo his final year of eligibility to turn pro, Bolden is trying to push thoughts of the draft to the back of his mind.

“You know, let’s just wait until June 6, June 7, when the draft is done,” Bolden said. “Then I’ll decide. I do realize this could be my last year playing and I want to be able to enjoy it and not deal with that pressure. I’ll deal with that when it comes.”

Bolden has a long list of VCU alumni to draw from when looking for advice for his situation. Former Rams pitcher Cla Meredith is part of the San Diego Padres’ bullpen. Scott Sizemore, currently in the Detroit Tigers’ system, returned to campus in the offseason to work out with his old teammates. Another former Ram, Brookville High graduate Brandon Inge, plays for Detroit.

The Chicago White Sox selected Sergio Miranda, one of Bolden’s roommates last year, in the 13th round of the 2007 draft. Miranda and Bolden still speak, and Miranda has been quick to offer advice on how to handle the month leading up to the draft.

“I told him he has to be mentally tough, and to keep working hard,” said Miranda, who was in town last week with the White Sox’ Carolina League affiliate in Winston-Salem. “He’s a really good player. The only thing he has to worry about is his game right now. He can worry about the draft after it happens.”

Bolden’s long-term future is probably in the outfield, but Rams coach Paul Keyes has played Bolden mostly at first base because the junior is by far the team’s best defensive option at the spot.

“I don’t blame him,” Bolden said. “If I was a coach, I’d worry about defense as well.”

Keyes has shifted Bolden to the outfield several times; the better to give major-league scouts a view of Bolden’s skills at both positions.

Bolden will have plenty of time to contemplate his options. Last weekend, the Rams were eliminated from CAA tournament contention for the first time in school history, meaning Bolden’s junior season will end Saturday when the Rams host Delaware.

Bolden will surely savor every at-bat this week, especially tonight, which could be his final chance to play in front of friends and family in Lynchburg as a collegian.