Timely hitting and a stout defense is the name of the game for the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team this year, but only one player has consistently done it so far in 2013 – senior catcher Brett Booth.
Booth, a starter at either catcher or third base since his freshman year in 2010, has been a pleasant surprise both at the plate and behind it, helping lead the Tide (8-4) to its best start since the 2011 campaign.
A career .251 hitter through his first three years at the Capstone, Booth leads the team through 12 games this season with a .353 batting average while primarily batting fourth in the Tide lineup.
“I think it’s definitely having experience,” Booth said about his plate success. “I think the more comfortable and confident you get, the easier it is to see pitches and be patient, because I know when you don’t have that much experience when you’re young, the first thing you want to do is press – you want to swing; you want to try to get a hit. [With experience], you kind of realize you can slow the game down and step back; it helps out a lot with the patience.”
Booth’s patience at the plate has helped him in more areas than just his batting average though. In addition to his batting average, he also leads the team in runs (14), slugging percentage (.471) and on-base percentage (.521).
But it’s the number of walks Booth has forced this season that best represent the type of season he is having compared to years past. In 55 games last season, Booth had only 10 walks. This season, he has already surpassed that figure with a team-leading 12 walks, which also ties him for fourth in the SEC.
Although he currently poses as the biggest threat in the Tide lineup, Booth said he doesn’t believe his walk success is a product of opposing pitchers fearing to pitch at him.
“No, I don’t think they’re afraid of me,” he said. “I think I’m just seeing the ball a lot better than I was last year, just having a little bit more patience working the count over.”
In his best game of the season against No. 21 Southern Miss, Booth went 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. His biggest hit of the game – and maybe the Tide’s biggest as a team this season – came in the bottom of the eighth with the Tide leading 7-5. The Golden Eagles had slowly begun to chip away at the lead in recent innings, and it became apparent that the Tide was likely going to need some insurance runs to hold off the rally.
Booth did just that, hitting a leadoff home run to left center en route to a 10-8 win.
Even with impressive offensive numbers, his play on the other half of the inning has been just as good if not better.
Booth has committed just one error this season (.992 fielding percentage) at arguably the toughest position on the field to play. He also leads the SEC in throwing out would-be base stealers with eight.
Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard broke down Booth’s play the best after the Tide’s big win over Southern Miss in the fourth game of the season – an assessment that still hold true eight games later.
“Brett’s playing as good as I’ve ever seen him play right now,” he said. “The game has slowed down for Brett both [on] offense and defense. He’s been a calming force for this team.”
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