Player of the Week: MSU’s Jack Frank excels through busy week
EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – It’s not easy to play five games in six days, but that is often what’s required of key players over the course of a college baseball season.
Michigan State right fielder Jack Frank exceled through such a stretch last week, batting 7-for-20 with a home run and eight runs batted in.
The hot five-game stretch was a continuation of what’s been a strong season for Frank. The senior is leading the Spartans with a .352 batting average and has hits in nine of his last 10 games.
Frank said there isn’t really one thing he can point to that has allowed him to be locked in day after day. He just tries to bring the same approach to each game, regardless of how well or how poorly he performed the day before.
“I try to just keep it the same. Friday was not a good day for me. I struggled a little bit and had a couple of bad at-bats. But to me, you just treat it the same every day. You get a little information on who’s pitching that day but I control my own destiny in the way I see it.”
Frank’s consistent approach and level of play has been crucial for an MSU team that has had to replace a number of talented players from a season ago, including four players who were drafted or signed with MLB organizations (Brock Vradenburg, Mitch Jebb, Bryan Broecker and Tate Farquhar).
“I think guys want to listen to you when you do perform,” Frank said of leading both through his words and his play on the field. “I think there is some challenge to, if you’re not performing, can you still lead the same way? I would argue yes you can. I think guys are really receptive to me and a lot of the other guys on the team no matter what you do on the field. We always talk about the way you go about your business, the process of what you’re doing, and the results just are what they are. I think when the guys think of me when I’m gone, [they’ll think] of a guy who showed up with the same attitude every day, a guy who was excited to play every game.”
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