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| Photo Credit: MLB.com |
Baseball players love routine–it’s human nature. Once the routine is set, you can get comfortable in your surroundings, no matter where you might be playing your games. That get thrown into disarray when you are forced to relocate more than once. For someone like Joe Daru, outfielder for NYIT, change is something you are forced to embrace.
“I was born in Bangkok, Thailand,” he said. “My mom is Thai and my dad is American. He is a retired US Diplomat, so we moved every couple years to a new post,” he added.
Those moves were not measured in miles but time zones.
“Born in Thailand, moved to Washington D.C., then Lasos, Hawaii; Barbados, back to Hawaii, then Ft. Lauderdale, Fla; then Bangkok, Thailand, then high school at IMG baseball academy in Florida, then California for a year, then NYIT.”
Wow. That is enough to even make Octavio Dotel’s head spin. Dotel, of course, set a record for playing with 13 MLB teams through his 15-year career. At least all those were within the confines of the country.
“Playing in other countries changes the game a little,” he said.
Well that much is obvious, playing in another state can sometimes be an adjustment, but across the world?
“The biggest difference was while playing in Japan for few weeks. I saw a lot of breaking balls–probably 60 percent curveballs and sliders.
“Their game is fundamentally sound. A lot of hitters swing for contact and home runs weren’t as frequent as they are in the states.”
For anyone that has watched big league games this season, you know that is not the direction that MLB is heading. Strikeouts are through the roof and many teams, like the Toronto Blue Jays, have an offense that is predicated on extra-base hits and three-run home runs.
Daru feels that being exposed to both styles of play has benefitted him, it’s hard to argue. He had a tremendous sophomore season with the Bears of NYIT. He led the team in numerous offensive categories–including a .301 average with 56 hits, 27 runs and 31 steals in just 34 tries.
Teams generally have no difficulty signing the best high school players in their city, but how did the Bears track down a player that travels more than the vice president?
“One of my good friends from my high school, Nick Sebastian, is the catcher on the team and he put me in contact with the coaches,” he said. “I really felt comfortable with the players and coaches and knew it would be a good fit,” he added.
The competition was not too much for Daru, who played against some of the best players in the world when he played with Thailand in the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers in Taiwan.
“It was a great experience being able to represent my mother’s country,” he said of the tournament. He joined his brother, Jack, on the team as well.
“Playing alongside Johnny Damon and many other professionals gave me a good taste of what baseball is at the next level. Experiencing that made me want to play baseball at the highest level,” he added.
Being a switch-hitter may enhance Daru’s chances of fulfilling his dream. This was his second-year hitting from both sides of the plate, and he feels he did a good job on “cutting down my strikeouts” considering he only had about 150 at bats from the left-side in his career.
Entering his junior season, Daru will be the leader of a team that struggled to a 4-46 record. He feels that was primarily due to the inexperience on the field.
“Sometimes we had seven freshman starting a game,” he said. “I think having a year of experience and getting a feel of what a 50-game schedule is really makes a difference,” he added.
“As you move up in levels, the game gets a little faster and I think at first it was a big adjustment for the team,” he said.
If anyone is used to making adjustments it is certainly Daru, who has literally lived all over the world in his life. He still has two more college seasons to go, and the behavioral science major that is a leader on the team is looking to be part of the solution at NYIT to return the team to prominence.
Link to Daru’s RBI single which scored Johnny Damon in the WBC:
http://m.mlb.com/video/v25487285/phitha-daru-singles-home-the-first-run-of-the-game
