Ben Weaver will probably never be the most prominent left-handed hitting baseball fan to come from Wheaton (Ill.) College.
That honor is held by the late, great Billy Graham.
Nonetheless Weaver, a senior lefty outfielder from Plumstead Christian and Doylestown, has left his own stamp on the Thunder baseball program as their season and all-time triples leader … among other marks.
“I don’t recall hitting many triples at Plumstead,” Weaver remembered. “Having a bigger field here, they happened more. I’m just trying to barrel it and have a quality AB. I’m trying to hit it where they pitch it, but if you get it in the corner you have a good opportunity to get to third.”
Weaver has cracked Wheaton’s career top five in career average (.391), slugging percentage (.588) and doubles (41). His 106 RBIs and 117 runs scored are both in the Thunder’s career top 10.
“He is one of the best hitters in school history,” said Wheaton head coach Matt Husted. “This is my 28th year as a college coach. This kid is just different. There is something really special about him as a person. I don’t think it’s farfetched to say he might be the highest character kid that I’ve ever had. He wants to treat people the right way. He wants to lead.”
Husted knows the (incorrect) stereotype of the “soft” Christian athlete. “He is a fierce competitor. You aren’t successful at the level he is unless you are,” Husted emphasized. “He goes to Alaska with high profile Division I guys and ends up on the all-league team. Aaron Judge did that too. This is not a guy in a little D3 league that doesn’t matter who is having success. He is good no matter where you put him.”
Freshman Weaver hit .308 and started all seven of Wheaton’s games in the Thunder’s COVID shortened season.
The next year, Weaver set the single season triples record (six) while batting .367 and making second team all-conference. As a junior, his seven triples and .694 slugging percentage led the CCIW. Weaver was named all-region in both baseball and academics.
“He could always hit. Did he continue to develop that tool? Absolutely,” Husted noted. “But he came in having played mostly corner outfield and he has developed into a very good center fielder. That’s a different world from center field versus the corners. He is getting the reads and jumps.” Weaver committed just one error in over 100 chances this spring.
Ted Williams claimed the hardest thing to do in sports was hit a baseball but Weaver whacked at an unreal .667 clip (20-for-30) over seven games in March. It helps that Weaver nearly always puts the ball in play. He had more doubles (12) than strikeouts (10) this spring.
“Striking out was a journey,” Weaver reflected. “My strikeout numbers my sophomore year were high. One of the bigger parts in that journey was trying to take my focus from many things into the singular. Looking at sophomore year, I see a Ben who was scared of a two-strike situation and started guessing or being anxious about the pitch. Committing to seeing the pitch and not thinking that much more, plus consistent ABs, has helped me to work through that at a steady rate.”
As a Chugiak-Eagle River Chinook who hit .295 with 39 hits in 34 games, Weaver made the All-Alaska Baseball League last summer. His average was sixth best among qualifiers. And of course, he hit two triples in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
“I was pretty scared about Alaska with the skill level there,” Weaver admitted. “My dad and I went to Plumstead every day in between spring and summer ball. I hit the cages and cranked up the velocity a lot to get used to things. It didn’t start off super smooth but once I felt like I got to compete, things started to roll. And living in Alaska was a special thing: very much a blessing.”
Bill Weaver coached Ben at Plumstead. Husted, and obviously dad, both left their mark. “Growing up, my dad emphasized the mental side of the game. He wanted me to have sound mechanics but he taught me about visualization and the things you need to have confidence as you approach a game,” Weaver said. “I could go on forever on the care for his players, which connects to Coach Husted.
“Right away when I got to Wheaton, Coach Husted had a check-in meeting with the freshmen,” Weaver continued. “His care separates him from many college coaches. He knows the importance of the game and he wants to win but he knows that college is a hard time and he wants to serve us in that regard.”
Weaver got on Wheaton’s radar via a junior year spring college tour with the Plumstead baseball team. “Outside of that, I never would have known about him,” Husted said. “As soon as I saw the video, stats no longer mattered. I saw the swing, knew that this was a guy who could play and he was our No. 1 recruiting target in his class.”
Weaver played for the Bucks County Generals program for seven years and attracted interest from higher profile programs. He admits that he went on Plumstead’s tour not to choose a school but rather to have fun with his friends. But Wheaton clicked with Weaver.
“I had a high regard with what Wheaton has historically meant to the nation. There was appeal on being on a team that understood faith, sports and how they interact and being under a coach that has a strong faith,” Weave remembered. “It ended up being an awesome, awesome experience.”
A Christian formation and ministry major, Weaver has an extra year of eligibility. He would like to get into coaching and sports ministry but “I’d love to play the game as long as I can,” he said. He returned to Chugiak this summer where had a .406 on base percentage and four steals in his first eight games.
“There probably aren’t enough adjectives to say about Ben, what he has meant to us and who he is,” Husted pointed out. “He just does things the right way.”
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