Meet Duke baseball’s MJ Metz, the former D-III player who slugs home runs with one ACL
Challenging situations simply don’t faze MJ Metz, something he’s shown long before his superhuman performance for Duke baseball last weekend.
The Blue Devils’ designated hitter wound up on ESPN’s SportsCenter after hitting three home runs in Friday’s NCAA Tournament win over UNC Wilmington, despite playing with a torn ACL in his left knee.
Metz added a fourth home run Monday night when Duke beat Coastal Carolina, 12-3, to lock up the Conway Regional Most Outstanding Player award and send his team to this weekend’s Charlottesville Super Regional series against Virginia.
Duke coach Chris Pollard described it as something out of a Disney movie. But, as is usually the case with such tales, there’s far more to the story.
How Metz arrived at Duke
The 23-year-old Metz came to Duke last summer after playing four seasons at Division III Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. With an extra season of eligibility remaining due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he enrolled at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business for graduate school so he could give Division I baseball a try with the Blue Devils.
“I’ve always known what kind of player I was,” said the 6-6, 240-pound Metz, who grew up in San Diego, California. “I’ve never really doubted myself in that sense. To get the opportunity to come here, it’s been great. The coaches have been really awesome and making sure that we’re all doing well.”
At Trinity, arriving as a 210-pound freshman, Metz only hit six home runs over his first three seasons combined. That included the 2020 season that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But he added 15-20 pounds to his frame through hard work in the weight room.
He improved greatly last season, batting .382 with 26 doubles and 12 home runs to give him a .710 slugging percentage.
Overcoming a tough start
Metz’s plate performance during Duke’s fall scrimmages and games didn’t exactly impress.
“I wasn’t sure in the fall if, offensively, it would work at this level,” Pollard admitted.
Metz batted ninth in Duke’s season-opening game on Feb. 17, and he started his season off well, going 3-for-4 with a home run while batting ninth in a 16-0 win over St. Joseph’s. He had a 4-for-4 game against Baylor on Feb. 24.
But over the next six games, he struggled through a 1-for-19 skid.
When Duke lost two games during a three-game ACC series at North Carolina from March 23-25, Metz went 0-for-3 in the opener, didn’t play in the second game and struck out in a pinch-hit appearance in the series finale.
By late March, he’d hit only two home runs and was out of the starting lineup.
“I mean, there’s give and take, and I definitely found myself in a little bit of a slump,” Metz said. “But I just tell myself I’ve seen a lot worse and I’ve been through a lot in my career so I was able to channel some of those times where I’ve maybe struggled and learn from that.”
He kept working, found success and forced his way back into the lineup.
Metz hit a home run off the bench when Duke beat Campbell, 15-6, on April 4 and really busted out of his slump a week later when he returned to the starting lineup. In Duke’s 19-0 win over Davidson on April 11, Metz went 2-for-4 with a home run and seven RBIs.
He started every game the rest of the season and became a consistent power producer.
“It’s been special here for sure,” Matz said, agreeing that proving doubters wrong always feels good before adding, “But, you know, it feels better to prove yourself right.”
Battling through injury
The only game Metz has missed since April was a 7-6 loss to Miami on May 26, in the ACC Tournament, a game played three days after he suffered his knee injury during Duke’ 8-7 ACC Tournament loss to N.C. State.
Pollard and Duke’s staff had plenty of fear that injury would render Metz unavailable for the NCAA Tournament. But Metz worked with the medical staff. Since the injury was to his left leg, he could still generate power at the plate since he’s a right-handed hitter and he thus loads his weight on his right leg while batting.
Metz took batting practice last Thursday in Conway, S.C., one day prior to Duke’s opening game in the NCAA Tournament against UNC Wilmington. Pollard still had doubts and was considering leaving Metz off the roster.
“We sat down over at the hotel,” Pollards said, “and I just said `Hey, man, this is your call. You’ve earned the right to make this decision.’”
Metz asked to give it a shot, playing designated hitter instead of first base, even if he was unsure how he’d run the bases. Pollard acquiesced.
Offensive explosion
All Metz did on Friday was slam home runs in three consecutive at bats, each home run traveling further and faster than the one before.
“I was just really grateful to be back on the field again,” Metz said, “grateful to be given the shot, especially given what happened. I wasn’t trying to do too much.”
That approach led Metz to push Duke to its first NCAA Tournament regional title since 2019. He’s now batting fifth, and has 17 home runs to share the team lead with Alex Stone. His OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 1.020 is second on the team, showing he’s more than just a free-swinging slugger.
“We certainly couldn’t have predicted the type of offensive production that he’s provided us,” Pollard said. “Again it goes back to his toughness, his competitive fight, his savvy as a baseball player to be able to make some adjustments. Throughout the course of this season, he’s been really good at adjusting at-bat to at-bat and sometimes pitch to pitch to be successful.”
The Blue Devils must win two of three games over Virginia this weekend to earn a trip to Omaha, Nebraska, for the College World Series.
They’ve come a long way from a team that finished with a losing record in 2022, and Metz, the unlikely star who was playing Division III baseball last spring, is a major reason for Duke’s success.
This story was originally published June 7, 2023 at 5:45 AM.