Lucas leads the league in batting average and hits, and is No. 4 nationally in batting average (.466). However, his power numbers (two homer uns, 14 RBI), speed numbers (2-for-3 on stolen bases) and defense (seven errors and a .927 fielding percentage) are not as impressive.
Szymanski has seen his batting average drop to .389 after struggling last weekend, but has stolen six-of-eight bases and shown good power numbers along with phenomenal range and arm strength in the outfield.
Some preseason favorites to win the award—most notably Dartmouth’s Scott Shirrell—have struggled.
The senior outfielder Shirrell is a three-time first team All-Ivy selection, and is most notorious in Cambridge for the three-homer, 14-RBI performance he put up against Harvard his sophomore season.
This season, however, he is struggling at the plate, hitting only .233-2-12.
Other players who could make a run for the award if they get hot include the duo currently leading the league in home runs—Penn centerfielder Nate Moffie and Harvard infielder Zak Farkes.
PROSPECT ALERT
Perhaps the only thing more surprising than the early slide of the Tigers is the meteoric rise of their centerfielder.
Szymanski—who entered the year completely off the scouting radar—is currently projected to be taken in the first round of June’s amateur draft, probably ahead of fellow Tiger top prospect Ross Ohlendorf, a 6’5 fireballer who may also go in the first round.
Szymanski is, according to one scout who talked with Baseball America, “as good an athlete as there is in college baseball.”
WHERE THEY ARE NOW
Three Harvard alumni in professional baseball began their regular seasons in the past week.
Ben Crockett ’02 opened the season with the Visalia Oaks—the high-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies—with a very solid start, allowing one earned run on four hits over five innings.
Crockett was the 2002 Ivy Pitcher of the Year before being selected by the Rockies in the third round of the amateur draft.
Kenon Ronz ’03 also saw his first time on the mound this season, pitching two innings of relief for the West Michigan Whitecaps, the low-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.
Brian Lentz ’02-’03 opened the season with the Mariners’ high-A club, the Inland Empire 66ers, while John Birtwell ’01—a pitching prospect in the Tigers’ organization—has not yet been assigned, but is expected to play for the AA Erie SeaWolves.
—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.