First baseman Alex Baeza is adding another chapter to his University of Hawaii baseball career.
Baeza has applied for graduate school with the intent of returning to UH as a fifth-year junior.
Baeza, who grew up in Utah, said he relishes “just getting to go back there and enjoy college for another year and just being around all my best friends and enjoy the fall and then playing through the season. I’m looking forward to it.”
The Rainbow Warriors were off to an 11-6 start when the remainder of the 2020 season was canceled because of the pandemic. The NCAA decided to allow the spring-sport players to maintain their 2020 class standing for another year, meaning Baeza would be allowed to repeat his junior year.
As a draft-eligible player, Baeza had the option of pursuing a professional career or returning to UH. Baeza has received interest from several Major League Baseball teams — they can offer up to $20,000 in signing bonuses to undrafted free agents — but is poised to return to UH and redeem a lost season.
“I mean, we kind of have a sour taste in our mouth after the way the season ended,” Baeza said. “But that’s all around the country — high school, college, everybody.”
UH head coach Mike Trapasso said: “We’re more than happy to have him back. We’re better for it because of the type of person and leader he is. He is one of those great stories. He comes in as a freshman, redshirts, and a few short years later, he’s a team leader, a guy everybody looks up to, a high-character person. One of the reasons we were a good team this year is the maturity we had on the roster, and he tops that list.”
Baeza earned a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies in May.
“I knew I wanted to get a degree but, I swear, it was like yesterday I was an incoming freshman not knowing what I was doing,” Baeza said. “It was pretty stressful the last two semesters. Mixing (classes) with the early morning weights and practices and games, it can get kind of stressful. But it’s time management. You get better at that throughout the years of college. That was nice being done with it and knowing I have a college degree and a piece of paper with my name on it.”
Baeza said he is the first college graduate in his family.
Baeza followed Trapasso’s advice of using baseball as a means to a degree.
“When college is over,” Trapasso said, “whether your baseball career continues or not, you’re the winner because you used baseball to get — do they still call it a sheepskin? — that degree.”
Trapasso added: “Like most 18 year olds, he comes into play baseball, and that’s cool. It’s incumbent on me and our academic staff, which does the lion’s share of the work, to make sure he takes care of business in the classroom. He’s come off as a win-win.”
Baeza hopes to pursue a master’s degree in educational administration. His long-range goal is to become a college coach. Trapasso said Baeza will be successful in any field.
“It goes to his family,” Trapasso said. “His dad comes out almost every weekend. To see a family bond like that, it tells you why Baeza is a solid person.”
Baeza recently began working as an instructor at an indoor baseball facility in Utah. Beginning today, he will be playing in the Utah College League at Salt Lake Community College. He expects to return to Honolulu in August.
