Weber looks to fit in with NU

LINCOLN n Thad Weber is an unrecognizable face on the Nebraska baseball team, and yet his first contributions could loom bigger than those made by the Huskers’ poster boys — preseason All-Americans Ryan Wehrle and pitcher Tony Watson.

That’s right. A guy who’s yet to take his first hacks or throw his first pitches for NU figures to be just as important as a middle-of-the-lineup hitter like Wehrle, who led last year’s team in five offensive categories, or Watson, who has a two-year record of 16-3.

So says coach Mike Anderson, who banks on getting big results from proven performers like Wehrle, Watson and a host of others who’ve helped keep NU among the nation’s elite programs.

With guys like Weber — who grew up in nearby Friend dreaming of wearing the Nebraska pinstripes but had to go the junior college route to make that a reality — it’s different.

He has the kind of talent Anderson believes will fit nicely into the Huskers’ mix. But some trials are likely to come before Weber finds a groove.

“The men that are new to our program, or have new roles, producing the results we need will be the key,” Anderson said. “If we get those guys to succeed with the strong corps of kids we’ve got back, I think we’ve got a chance to be a very good, sound team.”

Weber comes to Nebraska by way of Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, where last season, while splitting time playing first base and pitching, he hit .435 and compiled a 10-0 record. Those numbers led to him being named All-American, and reinforced an attitude that his game would transfer well to the NCAA Division I level.

And to think, Weber’s the product of a high school that doesn’t play baseball, and came out of American Legion summer action as a skinny middle infielder who was so inexperienced his coaches at Hutchinson slotted him to redshirt his first year there.

“Of course, growing up in Nebraska, I wanted to come here in high school — and I thought I was good enough,” Weber said. But “the development I had down there, I’d say it changed me completely as a baseball player.”

Nebraska’s hitting coach Andy Sawyers agrees.

Weber is no longer the thin kid Sawyers thought would have the chance to be a college shortstop because of his unusually good arm action.

“He’s a different player. He’s a different-looking body now,” Sawyers said.

And he’s trained his 6-foot-1, 202-pound frame to perform multiple skills.

The right-handed swinging and throwing Weber struggles to describe himself as a hitter. He notes simply that when he’s feeling the best at the plate is when he’s thinking the least — “when everything’s clear and you’re just going up there.”

Sawyers labels him as someone who understands and is comfortable knowing he often has to work deep into pitching counts before finding a delivery to his liking. That awareness is one of the reasons why Weber is a strong candidate to be a designated hitter when he’s not in the field.

“He’s an older guy and he knows how to play the game,” Sawyers said. “It’s not like he’s got a dominant style or trait, (but) he’s been around the block.”

Weber had no plans to venture toward the mound when he went to Hutchinson. But when injuries added up, he volunteered that he pitched some in high school.

“I didn’t throw a whole lot early, and about the middle to end of the year I was starting and it just kind of snowballed,” Weber said.

At Nebraska, he’ll throw in short relief, making use of a knuckle curveball that pitching coach Dave Bingham calls special.

“He’s going to pitch extremely well for us. We don’t have many guys with that kind of curveball,” Bingham said. “It’s a power breaking ball, and he’s got enough velocity to go with it, too. I mean, he’s a 90 mile-an-hour arm, but 82 mile-an-hour curveball.”

Considering the different directions Weber is being pulled in with the Huskers, it would be understandable if, at times, he got a little dizzy.

Then again, juggling those duties probably doesn’t feel like much work compared with the rest of his schedule. In addition to being a biology major who’s emphasizing pre-med and pre-dentistry, Weber’s a newlywed.

“I told him from the beginning ‘You’re going to be asked to do an awful lot here, you can get confused in a hurry. This is not the Jayhawk Conference, you’re going to have to make some adjustments.’ ” Bingham said. “He’s been really good about learning what’s happening, making the adjustments to the competition here.”

Those attributes have helped Weber, and some rookies like him, position themselves into becoming something as big as a missing part to Nebraska’s puzzle. Even if they are starting off like a link from the border. It’s the same spot where guys like Wehrle, Watson, left fielder Andy Gerch and second baseman Jake Opitz were before they became anchor pieces.

“Those guys, you don’t even talk about,” Weber said in regard to questions about production. “You know Tony Watson is going to win games. Andy Gerch is going to drive in runs. All those guys. (The) newcomers really have to develop and perform to help this team achieve what we want.”