Maui Ahuna stood at his normal spot at shortstop looking more like he was about to rob a bank than play a baseball game.
The Kansas sophomore had on a turtleneck beneath his Jayhawks uniform, had his face covered by a garter mask and was wearing tights underneath his pants.
At one point, a light snow began to fall on the baseball field.
“A little drizzle and they stop the game, but 20- to 30-degree weather with like 15- to 20-mile per winds, we just keep playing,” Ahuna said.
Such is the life playing baseball in the Midwest.
Not even snow has managed to slow down the 2020 Hilo High alumnus, who has torn up the competition at the Division I level from the moment he arrived on campus.
After hitting .314 as a freshman, the 6-foot-1 Ahuna said he added 20 pounds in the offseason.
Through 22 games this season, Ahuna is batting an astounding .434 with eight doubles, three triples, three homers and 22 RBIs.
He’s a mainstay in the three-hole in the Kansas lineup and he’s ranked by all the major publications as one of the top 10 draft prospects from the Big 12 in 2023, including as high as fourth by Baseball America.
“Coming into this year, I just tried to focus a little more over the summer on getting bigger and stronger and that was a big factor,” Ahuna said. “I knew I had to step up and I’ve got to play good, because if I play good, everybody else is going to follow and play good.”
Ahuna was ranked as a top-five prospect out of Hawaii his senior season, which ended abruptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It also cut the 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft down to just five rounds and 160 total selections.
Ahuna said he kept his name in the draft to see if he would get picked, but it’s all worked out for the best.
“It’s the best decision I’ve made,” Ahuna said. “It’s fun to experience (playing baseball) at the college level and hopefully one day I’ll get to experience professional life.”
Ahuna is another big-time prospect to come from the Big Island, where he would work out with Kaha Wong, the father of Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Kolten Wong.
His father, Walter, played on the only Hilo High team to win a state baseball championship, in 1985.
The pandemic kept Maui Ahuna from matching his dad.
“It was tough because if we would have played, we had a sneaky good team to win a state championship,” Ahuna said.
Walter Ahuna stayed home to play at Hawaii Hilo, while Maui Ahuna followed a pipeline from Hawaii to Kansas that has been established for more than a decade.
Head coach Ritch Price, now is in his 20th season in charge, began the pipeline to Hawaii recruiting Wally Marciel out of ‘Iolani in 2006.
Marciel has been the director of baseball operations for the past eight years.
The Jayhawks had four players from Hawaii on the roster before the pandemic. Ahuna played with Punahou alum Logan Williams last season before Williams transferred to North Dakota State, where he ranks in the top 10 in the country with 10 home runs, leaving Ahuna as the only one left.
“It doesn’t bother me,” Ahuna said. “I’m just doing my part to make (my parents) proud, make Hawaii proud, and make Hilo town proud. That’s all what I’m trying to do — make everybody proud.”
He’s certainly doing that.
MAUI AHUNA
>> School: Kansas
>> Class: Sophomore
>> Height: 6 feet 1
>> Position: Shortstop
>> High school: Hilo (2020)
CAREER STATISTICS
YEAR GP AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG.
2021 50 185 33 58 11 3 1 25 .314
2022 22 83 16 36 8 3 3 22 .434
