Mike Hampton enters his seventh season on Ed Blankmeyer's staff and is in his tenth year of coaching at the collegiate level. He joined the St. John's baseball staff as the program's recruiting coordinator and hitting coach in September 2001. Red Storm hitters have thrived under Hampton's tutelage, as a balanced, fundamentally sound approach has helped the offense break school scoring records in each of the past three seasons. In his role of recruiting coordinator, Hampton has overseen many players that have gone on to play professionally. Most recently Sam DeLuca (Mets), Brendan Monaghan (Orioles) and Anthony Smith (Diamondbacks) signed contracts following the 2007 Red Storm season. Rob Delaney and Will Vogl each signed contracts after the 2006 season as well. In 2005, a record seven Red Storm players were signed, six of which began and ended their playing careers during Hampton's tenure. A former collegiate All-American and fourth-round draft choice himself, Hampton's keen eye for talent has given St. John's a presence in every level of competitive baseball. Last season, St. John's set new single-season records in five offensive categories thanks to steady contributions from veteran leaders DeLuca, Chris Joachim, Ryan Mahoney and Monaghan as well as Gil Zayas and newcomer Brian Kemp. All six players also earned All-BIG EAST recognition for their efforts. During the record-breaking 2007 campaign, the Red Storm scored 458 runs, pounded out 713 hits, tallied 126 doubles, drove in 422 RBI and saw 2,186 at-bats. The squad was seventh in the country with a .326 batting average and also finished 12th in the country in scoring. Zayas had a break out junior campaign in which he established new career highs in numerous categories and led the team with a .353 batting average. The third baseman also led the team with 84 hits and 21 doubles. Kemp, meanwhile, batted .348, totaled 80 hits and a team best 53 runs scored and 25 stolen bases en route to earning freshman All-America honors. Kemp was also tabbed a Top-10 Prospect in the New England Collegiate Baseball League by Baseball America. Playing for the Sanford Mariners, Kemp earned the NECBL Most Valuable Player award, was named to the NECBL first team and the led the league in batting average, runs scored, hits, total bases and stolen bases. Hampton came to St. John's from BIG EAST Conference rival West Virginia, where he served as the Mountaineers hitting coach from 2000-01. He spent the 1999 season as a volunteer assistant on Jack Leggett's staff at Clemson. "Mike's got a great background, and he's been a great addition to our staff," Blankmeyer said. "He's played at the top level in college baseball and his experience there, and as a professional player, have been a great benefit to our student-athletes." Prior to his stay at Clemson, Hampton played professionally in the Cincinnati Reds organization, advancing to high A before retiring due to injury. A fourth-round draft choice by the Reds, Hampton was an All-America third baseman for Leggett at Clemson, helping the Tigers to a 57-18 record and the nation's No. 1 ranking for a portion of the 1994 season. A native of Colorado Springs, Colo., Hampton spent the summer of 2001 in the Coastal Plain League as the head coach for the Wilmington Sharks and the summer of 1999 as an assistant for the Thomasville Hi-Toms, also of the CPL. Hampton earned his master's degree in athletic coaching education from West Virginia in 2001, and his bachelor's degree in biological science from Clemson in 1997.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
