Growing up in Arlington, Texas, Jantzen Witte pounded ball after ball.
On the tennis court it meant forehands, backhands and overhead smashes.
In the batter’s box, Witte lined balls into the gap.
Witte became quite the tennis player, ranked No. 1 in his age group in Texas.
But tennis is not baseball. There are no teammates and, well, for Witte, it just wasn’t as much fun.
“Just got burned out,” said Witte, who left tennis at the ripe age of 14. “I stuck with baseball. Hopefully that’s the right call.”
So far, so good. Witte, 25, is in his third year with the Boston Red Sox organization, his first with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs.
Witte is following a solid 2014 in Class A ball with a good start to 2015: a .313 average, two doubles, one home run, a .919 OPS and team-leading six RBI. He went 1 for 3 on Tuesday night with two RBI.
“A very small sample but impressive,” Sea Dogs Manager Billy McMillon said. “He’s put together some very professional at-bats.”
McMillon spent extra time with Witte before Tuesday’s game but it wasn’t in the batting cage. With Witte covering first base, McMillon threw balls in the dirt at him. Witte has had trouble scooping them.
“Right now I’m struggling with those picks,” Witte said. “I think I just need more work.”
Witte was a third baseman when the Red Sox drafted him in 2013 (24th round) out of Texas Christian.
On the last day of spring training in 2014, the Red Sox moved Witte to first base. He seemed to adjust well and it didn’t hurt his batting: combined .312 average, 12 home runs and an .879 OPS in Class A Greenville and Salem.
Twelve home runs sounds good, but a 6-foot-2, 195-pound corner infielder may be expected to hit more. Witte is not planning to adjust.
“You get a few (at-bats) where you say I’m going to try and juice the ball. And for me, that is not when I’ve had the most success,” he said.
“I don’t think I’m a real home run guy at this point in my career.”
For advice, Witte sought out Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter, a TCU senior when Witte was a freshman.
“He was moving from second base back to third and I asked him that same question – Are they going to expect you to be more of a power guy? He told me he’s not going to change a thing,” Witte said.
Witte works out in the offseason with Carpenter in Fort Worth, where Witte has lived since his TCU days.
There was never a doubt Witte would play baseball – swinging a bat since he was a toddler. He picked up tennis because there was a tennis center across the street from his father’s work.
“It became my day care,” Witte said.
But eventually he progressed to an advanced facility in Dallas – a 2-1/2-hour roundtrip from his home.
Witte kept improving but his heart was on the diamond.
“You want to be with your friends. And that’s what baseball is – you’re with the team,” Witte said. “In tennis you’re by yourself. Plus I was traveling a bunch.”
So Witte put away the racket. His bat got him a scholarship to TCU, where he redshirted and took advantage of being on campus for five years. He is four courses short of his master’s degree in liberal arts.
But the books can wait. Witte is moving up the pro baseball ladder, now in Double-A.
“It’s not the ultimate goal,” he said, “but I’m glad I’m here – the next step in the process.”
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