Red Raider Profile: Nick Hanslik
November 12, 2010 | Baseball
Nov. 12, 2010
Red Raider Profile - Nick Hanslik
LUBBOCK, Texas - Although the Texas Tech baseball team has wrapped up its fall season, Texas Tech Athletics Communications will continue taking an inside look into the Tech program with Red Raider Profiles on each player.
Nick Hanslik (OF - 6-2, 225 - R/R - RS So./1L - Wolfforth, Texas/Frenship)
If there is one thing Nick Hanslik is ready for, it is to starting playing baseball again. Hanslik, like teammates Zach Fowler, Duke von Schamann and Robbie Kilcrease, missed all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Hanslik will play as a redshirt sophomore this spring, after playing in 18 games as a freshman in 2009 and redshirting last season. Hanslik batted .231 with one home run, four walks and a .333 on-base percentage during his freshman season.
He will be one of several players trying to earn a starting position in the outfield, which returns zero starters from last year. Sophomore Barrett Barnes - who was a Freshman All-American in 2010 - will make the switch to center field after playing first base last year while junior Scott LeJeune looks to be the top candidate to start in left field after mostly serving as the team's designated hitter last season while leading the Big 12 in doubles (28).
So that leaves right field as the position that several newcomers, and Hanslik, will be trying to lock down for the spring season.
"Nick, since he has been here, we have thought has just needed time to become a good player," head coach Dan Spencer said. "Nick is a great athlete, has a great work ethic, is very strong and can run. He is a guy that we feel like we can play. We feel like he has a chance to be a good player for us."
Hanslik owns the Frenship High School single-season record with 55 RBI during the 2008 season. Hanslik was also a four-time all-district selection during his prep career.
